Stephen Hopkins (1581-1644)

Mr Hopkins and his family were passengers on the 1620 Mayflower and early settlers of Plymouth_Colony.

bapt. Wortley, parish of Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, England, ?

Biography
Stephen Hopkins (born about 1582 – 1644), was a tanner and merchant who was one of the passengers on the Mayflower in 1620, settling in Plymouth Colony. Hopkins was recruited by the Merchant Adventurers to provide governance for the colony as well as assist with the colony's ventures. He was a member of a group of passengers known to the Pilgrims as "The Strangers" since they were not part of the Pilgrim's religious congregation. Hopkins was one of forty-one signatories of the Mayflower Compact and was an assistant to the governor of the colony through 1636.

Sea Venture shipwreck and Mutiny
Hopkins had made a previous attempt to reach the New World in 1609 aboard the new flagship of the Virginia Company, the Sea Venture, on which Sir George Somers took the helm. Hopkins had embarked as a Minister's Clerk on the "Sea Venture", the Admiral of the Fleet. The ship was on the way to the Jamestown Colony in Virginia with much needed supplies when it was deliberately driven onto the reefs of Bermuda to prevent its foundering as a result of the damage it had sustained during a severe storm. All aboard, 150 passengers and crew and a dog, survived. The ship's longboat was fitted with a mast and sent to Virginia for help, but it and its crew were never seen again. Hopkins attempted to start a mutiny while stranded on the island. He was sentenced to death when this was discovered but was eventually set free after complaining of the "ruin of his wife and children". Hopkins and the remaining survivors spent nine months on Bermuda building two smaller ships, the Deliverance and Patience, from Bermuda cedar and materials salvaged from the Sea Venture. He and the other castaways eventually made their way to Jamestown, where Hopkins appears to have stayed for (some say) two years before returning to England. The Hopkins family is considered one of the First Families of Virginia.

Marriage
1. Mary: She may have died while Hopkins was on his first attempt to reach New World.

2. Elizabeth Fisher: married Hopkins at St. Mary Matfellon, Whitechapel, London, on 19 February 1617/8, and was a Mayflower passenger who died in Plymouth, 1639.

Children
Stephen and Mary had three children:
 * Elizabeth b. England; she more than likely died before the Mayflower voyage.
 * Constance b. England, 1607; Mayflower passenger; married Nicholas Snow, who came to Plymouth on the ship Anne in 1623; died in Plymouth Colony, 1677.
 * Giles b. England, 1607/8; Mayflower passenger, married Catherine Whelden, daughter of Gabriel Whelden of Malden and Yarmouth

Stephen and Elizabeth had seven children:
 * Damaris b. England, 1618; Mayflower passenger.
 * Oceanus b. en route to Plymouth onboard the Mayflower.
 * Caleb b. Plymouth, 1623; dead by spring 1651.
 * Elizabeth b. Plymouth, 1623.
 * Deborah b. Plymouth, 1626, married Andrew Ring, son of William and Mary Ring
 * Damaris b. Plymouth, 1628, married Jacob Cooke, son of Pilgrim, Francis Cooke and Hester Mayhieu (Cooke)
 * Ruth b. Plymouth, 1630.