Steven Hopkins ( – ) was an English adventurer to the Virginia Colony and Plymouth Colony. Most notably, he was a passenger on the Mayflower in 1620, one of 41 signatories of the Mayflower Compact, and an assistant to the governor of Plymouth Colony through 1636.George Ernest Bowman. The Mayflower Compact and its signers (Boston: Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1920). Photocopies of the 1622, 1646, and 1669 versions of the document. He worked as a tanner and merchant and was recruited by the Company of Merchant Adventurers of London to provide the governance for the colony and to assist with the colony's ventures. He was the only Mayflower passenger with prior New World experience, having been shipwrecked in Bermuda in 1609 en route to Jamestown, Virginia. Hopkins lived in Jamestown from 1610 to 1614, then returned to England. Hopkins settled in Plymouth Colony and died there in 1644.
English origins Hopkins was baptized on 30 April 1581 at Upper Clatford, Hampshire, England,Baptisms, Marriages and Buriales of Up-Clatforde", HampshireErnest M. Christensen, "The Probable Parentage of Stephen Hopkins of the Mayflower," The American Genealogist, 79 (October 2004):241-249 the son of John Hopkins and Elizabeth Williams. He died at Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts between 6 June 1644 and 17 July 1644.Robert Charles Anderson, New England Historical Genealogical Society (NEHGS) Pilgrim Family Sketch Stephen Hopkins Not much is known about his early life in Hampshire, but his family appears to have moved to Winchester, Hampshire, by 1586. His father died there before 4 September 1593 when his estate inventory was taken,Hampshire Record Office 1593 AD/42 and Administration of John's estate given on 4 October 1593 to widow Elizabeth and an unknown William Hopkins (her son possibly too young to be a co-administrator) and by 1604 Stephen had moved to Hursley, Hampshire.
Early adventures in the New World Scholars affirm that Stephen Hopkins was the only Mayflower passenger who had previously been to the New World, and that Hopkins had adventures that included surviving a shipwreck in Bermuda ("Isle of Devils") and working from 1610 to 1614 in Jamestown.Charles Edward Banks, The English Ancestry and Homes of the Pilgrim Fathers (New York: Grafton Press, 1929)National Park Service, "Historic Jamestown: Stephen Hopkins" Genealogy experts appearing on the TV series Who Do You Think You Are? with his descendant Allison Janney agreed.
In early 1609, Stephen Hopkins began employment as a minister's clerk, reading religious works to a congregation including members of the Virginia Company. On 2 June 1609, Hopkins left his wife and family, and in his ministerial clerk's position, departed for Jamestown in Virginia on the 300-ton Sea Venture, flagship of a flotilla led by Sir George Somers. The Sea Venture was carrying the new Jamestown governor, Sir Thomas Gates, to his post, as well as resupplying the colony with goods and new settlers.
After almost two months into the voyage, a severe tropical storm separated the ships of the flotilla on 24 July 1609, and by evening, the storm began raging worse and lasted for five days. Just when the Sea Venture was about to sink from storm damage, "land" was called out, with that being the island of Bermuda. The ship was forced to run itself aground about a mile offshore to keep from sinking. The castaways soon found that Bermuda was a Paradise, with plentiful water and food.
The colonists were unwilling to continue the voyage, and made repeated attempts to escape and stay in the islands. Hopkins argued that the hurricane had dissolved the settlers' indentured labour contract with the Virginia Company, as the Virginia Company had not kept its promise to deliver them safely. Each of them could, then, freely choose to accept Gates' governance, strike out alone, or join a co-operative settlement. His arguments have been interpreted as an early statement of social contract theory. This Hopkins urged secretly, and Gates considered it mutinous, as he insisted on proceeding, and had organized the settlers as a prison labour camp to prevent escapes.
On 1 September 1609, a month after the shipwreck, they had built up their ship's longboat for an ocean voyage. They sent eight men out to try to reach Jamestown to get help, but they never returned. In late November 1609, they commenced construction of boats enough to take everyone off the island. By January 1610, even though Stephen Hopkins had remained with Governor Gates' group, he started voicing dissatisfaction with the governance of Thomas Gates and questioning his authority. Hopkins was arrested and charged with mutiny and was found guilty, for which the sentence was death. Many persons begged mercy for him, and he obtained a pardon. Hopkins ceased voicing controversial issues.
The English in Jamestown, and those later in Plymouth Colony, were the antithesis of each other—with those in Virginia composed of titled leaders who were in charge of often inexperienced settlers as well as soldiers who were veterans of European wars, such as Capt. John Smith. All at Jamestown were focused on returning a profit to their London investors, and under great stress when no gold, minerals, or anything else of much value to London was found in the Chesapeake area. The colonists could not or would not farm, bartered for food with the natives, and later there was some theft in both directions between some of the colonists and the Pamunkey.Tee Loftin Snell, The Wild Shores: America's Beginnings. National Geographic Society. (c. 1973 NGS) Ch. 4, pp. 83–85; p. 110
On 10 May 1610, the two newly constructed boats departed Bermuda with all on board and arrived at Jamestown eleven days later. What they found there was that the colonists in Jamestown were starving to death due to their inability and in some cases unwillingness to produce food. They were afraid to go outside their fort, so were tearing down their houses for firewood. They were not planting crops, nor trading with the natives or catching fish. Much of this had to do with some settlers feeling it was beneath their dignity to work and the violent abuse they gave the native people, which caused much enmity towards the English. At his arrival from Bermuda, Governor Gates estimated there was only days worth of food left, and decided to voyage to Newfoundland and from there find a ship heading for England. Just as they were preparing to depart, an English ship came into the harbor with supplies and new settlers, along with a new governor, Lord de la Warr. The colonists were forced to return and reestablish their fort, albeit reluctantly.
Back in England A report of the wreck of the Sea Venture and later events reached England. Most scholars believe that William Shakespeare based his play The Tempest on the report.Vaughan, Virginia Mason; Vaughan, Alden T. (1999). The Tempest. The Arden Shakespeare, Third Series, p.287. It was first performed in November 1611. The play depicts the experiences of a group of passengers being shipwrecked by a mighty storm. A subplot involves a comic character called Stephano, who tries to take over as leader on the island. It is possible that Stephano is based on Stephen Hopkins.
While he was away, Stephen's wife Mary had survived by being a shopkeeper as well as receiving some of Stephen's wages. But she unexpectedly died in May 1613, leaving her three young children all alone. By 1614, a letter arrived for a "Hopkins" in Jamestown, and it is presumed that this is how he learned of her death, as he did return to England soon afterward to care for his children.
He then took up residence in London, and there married his second wife Elizabeth Fisher.
Although he had been through all manner of hardships and trials in the New World, including shipwreck, being sentenced to death with a last-minute pardon, and traveling to the Jamestown colony where he labored for several years, when he learned of the planned Mayflower voyage to northern Virginia to establish a colony, he signed on to go to America along with his family.
The Mayflower voyage Stephen Hopkins and his family, consisting of his wife Elizabeth and his children Constance, Giles and Damaris, as well as two servants (Edward Doty and Edward Leister), departed Plymouth, England, on the Mayflower on 6/16 September 1620. The small, ship had 102 passengers and a crew of about 30 to 40 in extremely cramped conditions. By the second month out, the ship was being buffeted by strong westerly gales, causing the ship's timbers to be badly shaken, with caulking failing to keep out sea water, and with passengers, even in their berths, lying wet and ill. This, combined with a lack of proper rations and unsanitary conditions for several months, is attributed as what would be fatal for many, especially the majority of women and children. On the way there were two deaths, a crew member and a passenger, but the worst was yet to come after arriving at their destination when, in the space of several months, almost half the passengers perished in the cold, harsh, unfamiliar New England winter.Allison Lassieur & Peter McDonnall, The Voyage of the Mayflower. Mankato, Minnesota: Capstone Press (2006)
On 9 November 1620 (O.S) (19 November 1620 (N.S.)), after about three months at sea, including a month of delays in England, they spotted land, which was the Cape Cod Hook, now called Provincetown Harbor. After several days of trying to sail south to their planned destination of the Colony of Virginia, strong winter seas forced them to return to the harbor at Cape Cod Hook, where they anchored on 11/21 November. The Mayflower Compact was signed that day.Eugene Aubrey Stratton, Plymouth Colony: Its History and People, 1620-1691. Salt Lake City: Ancestry Publishing (1986) The passengers of the Mayflower argued, as the passengers of the Sea Venture had argued, that they had been freed from their indentures to the Virginia Company, and could now choose their own governance. Stephen Hopkins was among the signatories.
In Plymouth Colony
Hopkins was a member of the early Mayflower exploratory parties while the ship was anchored in the Cape Cod area. He was well versed in the hunting techniques and general lifestyle of the Native Americans from his years in Jamestown, which was later found to be quite useful to the Pilgrim leadership.
The first formal meeting with the natives was held at Hopkins's house, and he was called upon to participate in early Pilgrim visits with the natives' leader Massasoit. Hopkins's home was used to house Samoset and Squanto. (Uses modern spelling.) Over the years Hopkins's assistance to Pilgrim leaders such as Myles Standish and Edward Winslow regarding his knowledge of the local languages was found to be quite useful.
Hopkins Plymouth Tavern
The Mayflower Quarterly of December 2011, in an article on Plymouth-area taverns, has a paragraph on Stephen Hopkins, who kept an "ordinary" (tavern) in Plymouth on the north side of Leyden Street from the earliest days of the colony.Stephen C. O'Neill, "Suitably Provided and Accommodated: Plymouth Area Taverns". The Mayflower Quarterly (Plymouth, MA: The General Society of Mayflower Descendants), December 2011, vol. 77, no. 4, pp. 335, 336
The article defines a 17th-century "ordinary" as a term for a tavern where set mealtimes and prices were offered. Terms such as "inn", "alehouse" and "tavern" were used interchangeably with "ordinary" in early Plymouth records.
Hopkins kept this tavern from the early colony days until his death in 1644. In the early 1600s he had also had an alehouse in Hampshire with his wife Mary and his mother-in-law Joan, which they maintained after he left for America in 1609.