Stephen hopkins mayflower biography

Discontentment spread like a contagious disease. In January Hopkins was charged with mutiny for insisting that, since they were not in Virginia Company territory, they were not obligated to obey the Virginia Company authorities. Though he apologized, he was none-the-less sentenced to death. He threw himself on the mercy of the Governor and the court, begging for mercy for the sake of his wife and children left behind in England.

He lived to see other adventures. By April , nine months after they shipwrecked, they had two pinnaces ready to sail — appropriately named Deliverance and Patience. They arrived in Jamestown on May 21 to discover those still alive were desperate. No one had planted any crops. Their food supplies were nearly gone. Relationships with the Natives had degenerated to the point they were afraid to leave the fort.

Governor Gates was preparing to lead them all north to Newfoundland and from there, back to England on a fishing vessel. Before they left, an English ship sailed into the harbor, carrying Lord de la Warr and fresh supplies and labor.

Stephen hopkins mayflower biography

Hopkins stayed in the colony several years, but stories about their horrific shipwreck made it back to England. She died in May Hopkins returned to London to assume care of his orphaned children. Their daughter, Damaris was born about a year later. The harrowing experiences of his first trip to North America did not dissuade him from wanting to return.

When he learned a group of Pilgrims planned to establish another colony in Northern Virginia, he decided to go with them. This time he took his entire family, which now consisted of his children Constance and Giles born to his first wife, Mary; his second wife Elizabeth, their daughter Damaris, and two servants, Edward Doty and Edward Leister.

He was so penitent, asking the court to consider the plight of his wife and children, that he was pardoned. The group eventually made their way to Jamestown and spent the next few years rebuilding the colony. When Stephen returned to England by , he learned that his first wife had died. In the land division, he received six acres. The cattle division of lists he and his wife Elizabeth, with children Gyles, Caleb, Deborah, and daughter Constance and her husband Nicholas Snow.

He helped determine a suitable place to settle, and his dealings with the Native Americans were especially helpful. Stephen went on to serve as an Assistant of the Governor for many years, however he sometimes found himself on the other side of the law. At least three times he was fined for allowing men to drink excessively at his house, and several times fined for charging excessive prices for liquor and goods.

Oceanus Hopkins, born at sea on the Mayflower, between 16 September and 11 November ; died before 22 May In May, , the Sea Venture survivors reached Jamestowne. His mutinous efforts in Bermuda gained him such notoriety that Shakespeare wrote him into "The Tempest" as the plotting butler. While "The Tempest" contains only one direct reference to the Bermudas, when Ariel tells how Prospero called him 'to fetch dew From the still-vex'd Bermoothes' , Stephanos could easily refer to Stephen Hopkins, a caricature portrayed as a drunken clown or court jester with ambitions of grandeur.

William Shakespeare moved in the same circle as a fellow writer, William Strachey. Both were writers. Strachey wrote a letter dated July 15, , to an unnamed 'Excellant Lady'. The letter was started while in Bermuda and finished in Jamestown. A longer and more polished version was written after he became secretary of the Colony and was published in , now known as A True Reportory.

Both the letter and the longer account would have circulated quickly among the Londoners belonging to the Virginia Company. He may have even learned about the voyage from the sailors returning home or from his friends, the Earls of Southampton and Pembroke, who had business interest in the expedition. The theory is that Stephen Hopkins remained in Virginia until at least late , when the death of his wife May forced his return to England.

A brief English docket item dated 20 September records a letter was sent "to Sir Thomas Dale Marshall of the Colony in Virginia, to send home by the next return of ships from thence Eliezer Hopkins" [35] Apparently, an examination of the court record by Michael J. Wood verified that this is the correct reading, and the docket item does not refer to Stephen Hopkins.

But, as is so often the case, the name could have been entered into the court record incorrectly. The original letter is lost. The date fits when that sort of an order would have been issued for Stephen. If he didn't leave then, he may have finished out the 7 year indenture agreement and left We can assume that the administrator or court thought it more expedient to list her as a widow so the estate could be available for their children's care more quickly, especially since they didn't know if he was alive or dead.

Their home had been just outside of London Wall on the high road entering the city at Aldgate in the vicinity of Heneage House. Perhaps wanting more adventure, he returned to the New World, this time with his wife and three children as they joined the voyage of the Mayflower in Stephen Hopkins was invited to and did return to America aboard the Mayflower departing London before the end of June, , with his second wife, Elizabeth, and children, Constance Constanta , Giles, and Damaris.

A fourth child, Oceanus, was born on the ship during the voyage. Hopkins signed the Mayflower Compact on November 11, At the time of the voyage, he was considered a tanner or leather maker, but later was a merchant and planter. Hopkins was one of twelve Mayflower passengers given the title "Mr. This is also reiterated by the fact that he brought along two servants, Edward Leister and Edward Doty.

On the 6th of December Stephen Hopkins, in the company of 17 other men, Capt. Standish at the head, started on a second voyage of discovery, with the shallop, which lasted 5 or 6 days, during which they had an encounter with the Indians. They entered Plymouth bay and landed on the 11th of December. We send captain Standish and Mr Hopkins over the brook towards them, one only with a musket, which he lays down in sign of peace and parley… [43].

That Stephen Hopkins was a man of more than ordinary force of character and influence is shown by the part he played in the early history of the colony. Stephen Hopkins headed a list of persons chosen to arrange for trade with outsiders-- a sort of incipient chamber of commerce. He was added to the Governor and Assistants in as an assessor to raise a fund for sending aid to the Massachusetts Bay and Connecticut colonies in the impending Indian War.

In the same year, he and his two sons, Giles and Caleb, were among the forty-two who volunteered their services as soldiers to aid these same colonies. We find also him repeatedly mentioned as an appraiser of estates, administrator, guardian, juryman foreman, apparently , etc. Hopkins' two servants fought what was the first duel on record in New England, with sword and dagger.

Hopkins petitioned for the release of his servants from cruel punishment. Both were wounded, one in the hand and the other in the thigh. Stephen Hopkins also became Indian Ambassador of the Plymouth Colony, during which time he befriended and invited the famous Native American, Squanto, to live in his home. He went with Governor Winslow and Squanto on the first embassy sent to the Massasoit to conclude a treaty.

It was in Hopkins' home that the first ever Indian treaties were signed. As Indian Ambassador, Stephen Hopkins participated in the arrangement and planning of the first Thanksgiving. Hopkins opened the first bar, built the first port of ships and erected the first trading post in American history. He was engaged in trade, selling liquors and various other articles.

Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikidata item. Mayflower passenger, married to Elizabeth Fisher Hopkins. For other people named Stephen Hopkins, see Stephen Hopkins disambiguation. South East England. Plymouth Colony. English origins [ edit ]. Early adventures in the New World [ edit ].

Back in England [ edit ]. The Mayflower voyage [ edit ]. In Plymouth Colony [ edit ]. Hopkins Plymouth Tavern [ edit ]. Family [ edit ]. Will and death [ edit ]. Servants on the Mayflower with the Hopkins family [ edit ]. See also [ edit ]. Notes [ edit ]. His wife Mary's maiden name was unknown until References [ edit ]. ISBN Photocopies of the , , and versions of the document.

Season Episode 3. Retrieved 19 February National Geographic Society.