Stephen Hopkins a Sarah Palin Mayflower Ancestor
A Pilgrim of Substance with a Problematical Past
Jun 27, 2009
Stephen Hopkins was not one of the religious dissenters aboard the Mayflower but, like Richard Warren, signed on for the voyage from London. He, too, seemed to be a man of some standing, probably a leather worker and merchant. With him on the Mayflower were his second wife, Elizabeth, children Giles and Constanta to his first wife, and, to his second wife, Damaris, and Oceanus, born during the voyage, plus two indentured servants, Edward Doty and Edward Lister.
Was He the Virginia Stephen Hopkins?
Caleb Johnson maintains in his 2007 book, Here Shall I Die Ashore: Stephen Hopkins, Bermuda Castaway, Jamestown Survivor, and Mayflower Pilgrim, that the Stephen Hopkins on the Mayflower is the same Stephen Hopkins that was onthe ill-fated 1609 voyage of the Sea Venture to the Virginia Colony, was shipwrecked during a storm and spent nine months stranded on an island before he and his fellow mates finished building a sturdy enough vessel to get to Jamestown.
The Virginia Stephen Hopkins defied authority, tried to incite a rebellion and was sentenced to death, but pardoned after he whined about his fate. This doesn’t seem to describe the Stephen Hopkins of Plymouth Colony, who is often mentioned in Plymouth Colony records as a responsible man. He was chosen to accompany Gov. Winslow to meet with Chief Massasoit to conclude a treaty with the Indians, was selected to sit on the first Council of Governor’s Assistants and was chosen to serve on it three more years. Yet, it is important to balance against this the Plymouth Colony records that also show Hopkins ran afoul of the law several times, for assault, for not properly regulating other people’s alcohol intake, and for overpricing.
Who Were the Stephen Hopkins Wives?
Many professional genealogists hesitate to say much about the immediate family of Mayflower passenger Stephen Hopkins. Some sources say he had a wife, Mary, that died in England in 1613 and was buried at Hursley in Hants. Others claim Stephen married Constance Dudley (1580-1613) in 1599 in London and that it was she who died in 1613. He married 2) Elizabeth Fisher in 1618 in London and she died in Plymouth, MA, in 1639.
Sarah Palin’s Descent from Stephen Hopkins
Sarah Palin’s descent is through Stephen’s son, Giles, whose age places him as a son of the first wife, be she Mary or Constance. Many have questioned why Hopkins bypassed Giles, his oldest son, to make Caleb Hopkins, born by a second wife, his heir and the beneficiary of a handsome estate. It may be because Giles, who had come with his father on the Mayflower, was by then well established and a substantial land owner. Here is Sarah’s lineage:
~ Pilgrim Stephen Hopkins was born ca. 1579 and died at Plymouth, MA, in 1644.
~ Giles Hopkins (1607-1690) was baptized at Hursley and married Catherine Weldon/Wheldon (ca. 1618-ca.1688) in 1639 at Plymouth. They lived at Yarmouth and Eastham, MA.
~ Deborah Hopkins (b. 1648) married Josiah Cook(e) in 1668 at Eastham, MA.
~ Deborah Cooke, born at Eastham, MA, in 1678, married, ca. 1700, Moses Godfrey (1667-1743) of Eastham and Chatham, MA.
~ George Godfrey (ca. 1707-1768) married Mercy Knowles (1717-1758) at Chatham in 1733. She was a descendant of William Brewster.
(See continuation of this line in an article giving Sarah Palin’s descent from Mayflower Pilgrim William Brewster.)
Sources:
Presented by William Addams Reitwiesner, a Library of Congress staff member, from data primarily compiled by genealogists Robert Battle and Michael Hurdle; arranged in this form by the current author.
The Pilgrim Hall Museum, Plymouth, MA
 |
 |
