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Who Was Stephen Hopkins?

12/20/2018

12 Comments

 
What do Jamestowne, the Mayflower and Shakespeare have in common? The answer is Stephen Hopkins: a Jamestowne settler, Mayflower passenger and survivor of the wreck of the Sea Venture, reputed to be the basis for Shakespeare’s comedy, The Tempest.
 
Hopkins (1581-1644), second son of John Hopkins (1550-1593) and Elizabeth Williams (b. and d. unknown), was baptized at All Saints church, Upper Clatford, Hampshire, England 30 April 1581. In 1603/4, he married his first wife, Mary. By 1608, they had three children, when Hopkins’ life took a dramatic turn; he was hired by the Reverend Richard Buck and charged with the reading of the Psalms and Chapters at Sunday services for the Virginia Company.
 
On 2 June, 1609, he boarded the Sea Venture with Jamestowne Governor Sir Thomas Gates, , Admiral Sir George Somers, and Christopher Newport, who previously was Captain of the Susan Constant that brought the first settlers to Jamestowne in 1607. On 28 July 1609, the Sea Venture was separated from the remainder of the third supply fleet during a hurricane. For three days the vessel was tossed by monstrous waves, became sailless and took on water. Just as hope seemed lost, Somers spotted land and Newport beached the ship on the coast of the “Isle of Devils” – Bermuda.
 
Life on Bermuda proved to be so easy that when Somers and Gates ordered two smaller ships built from the wreckage of the Sea Venture and local cedar to take the survivors to Jamestowne, some crew members refused to cooperate. Their leader was Stephen Hopkins. He was apprehended and tried for mutiny. Sentenced to death, he pleaded for his life so eloquently that he was pardoned.
 
The story of the Sea Venture is said to be the inspiration for The Tempest by William Shakespeare, when it first appeared on the London stage in November 1611.  The episode when drunken, power-hungry butler Stephano tries to depose the island’s ruler, Prospero, may be based on Hopkin’s mutiny.

Finally, on 24 May 1610, the shipwrecked party with Stephen Hopkins and 140 others arrived at Jamestowne after having been marooned for nine months on Bermuda.  There, Hopkins witnessed the results of Jamestowne’s Starving Times of 1609-10, when only 60 out of a population of 240 colonists had survived. He remained in Virginia until 1614, when the death of his wife forced his return to England. He worked as a shopkeeper and married Elizabeth Fisher in 1617/8.
 
Still longing to return to the New World, he, his wife and three children joined the voyage of the Mayflower in 1620. His wife gave birth in route to a son named Oceanus. Hopkins signed the Mayflower Compact on November 11, 1620. In Plymouth, he served an ambassador between the settlers and Native Americans and as an aid to the Governor. In later life he became a shopkeeper and died a wealthy man between 6 June and 17 July 1644. He had 10 children, 37 grandchildren and about 330 great-grandchildren.
 
This biography was submitted  by Mary Jane Simpson, Central North Carolina Company Historian, and later supplemented by  Frederick Cron, Registrar of the First Colorado Company.
Descendants of Stephen Hopkins who belong to the Central North Carolina Company include Dr. John Blue Clark, Jr. and Mr. Samuel M. Hobbs.
 


12 Comments
Richard C. Bradley III
2/27/2019 07:28:15 am

Very interesting history. Great blog.

Reply
.
11/21/2019 08:39:01 am

.

Reply
James
5/7/2020 12:42:06 pm

Stephen Hopkins was my 9th Grate Grandfather on my Mothers side

Reply
Jeanne DeSantis
6/6/2020 06:24:48 pm

My aunt has done extensive research on ancestry.com and Stephen Hopkins is most likely my 11th great grandfather through his daughter Constance.

Reply
Amber Jelen
6/15/2020 01:15:13 am

This is my 10th grate grandfather

Reply
Sylvia Leann Thomas link
2/2/2021 12:38:07 am

he is my 9th great grandfather on my fathers side

Reply
Cheryl Weaver
7/15/2020 02:08:24 pm

I am a member of the Mayflower descendants,I am Stephen Hopkins 13 Great Granddaughter, Through his Son Giles.

Reply
Adam J Gould
9/22/2020 10:26:43 am

I am a 10th or 11th great grandson of Stephen Hopkins, from his daughter Constance Hopkins and her husband Nicholas Snow. I also have William Brewster and Kenelm Winslow the brother of Governor Winslow as my ancestors.

Reply
Unanimous link
11/2/2020 08:29:45 am

I am related to Stephan Hopkins somehow, my grandmother has done a lot of ancestry research and traced our family back to him

Reply
Dave Cunningham
11/2/2020 02:03:45 pm

Thrice. Twice by Giles, one line through Constance. 10th and 11th great grandfather. They intermarried a lot, and I have 11 signers and 5 other passengers.

Reply
River link
12/22/2020 12:47:05 am

Wow, it's so cool to see all the comments on here from distant relatives I've probably never met!! Stephen was my 11th Great Grandfather on my father's side. Hello, long lost fam!

Reply
Janet Wright
12/27/2020 06:54:49 am

I am related to both Stephen Hopkins and Edward Doty his indentured servant. Their respective lines meet at my great grandparents in Texas. We are through the Co stance and Nicholas Snow Chain of Stephen Hopkins. So proud to be a part of such History

Reply



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