PILGRIM H OPKINS H ERITAGE S OCIETY ATLANTIC C ROSSINGS ENGLAND ~ BERMUDA ~ JAMESTOWN ~ ENGLAND ~ PLYMOUTH Mayflower Sea Venture VVVOLUME 1, I SSUE 1 SSSUMMER 2007 The English Origins of Stephen Hopkins ith its eighteenth century beth (Williams) Hopkins. By W brick porch, its twelfth his first wife, Agnes (Borrowe) century blocked doorway and Hopkins, John had two other sixteenth century tower, the All children, William Hopkins Saints Church lies in a meadow (1575) and Alice (1577/8), on the River Anton in Upper Stephen’s older half brother and Clatford, Hampshire, England. half sister respectively. The parish register of this Christensen spent seven years church contains what is very The parish register of the All Saints Church, Upper researching 137 parish records probably the baptismal record Clatford, Hampshire County, England contains and other sources in Hampshire Stephen Hopkins’ baptismal record. of Mayflower passenger to come up with these and addi- Stephen Hopkins: His research results, published tional findings. His work 1581: Stephen the son in The American Genealogist builds on that of Caleb Johnson of John Hopkins the last 79 (October 2004), indicate that (see p. 7). In The American Ge- of April Stephen and his sister Susanna nealogist 73 (July 1998), John- This record was unearthed by Hopkins (baptized in 1584) son publishes baptismal entries Hopkins descendant Ernest were the children of John Hop- of Stephen’s first three children Martin Christensen of Florida. kins and his second wife Eliza- continued on page 4 The Hopkins/Shakespeare Connection t is widely thought that the The Sea Venture , carrying board was the I ill-starred voyage of the Sea some 150 crew and colonists, “admiral of Venture inspired Shakespeare’s was the flagship of a fleet of the flotilla”, play The Tempest . The real seven ships and two pinnacles Sir George Stephen Hopkins, aboard the owned by the Virginia Com- Somers. Sir Sea Venture when it sailed from pany of London. This was the Thomas Gates, also on the Sea Plymouth for Jamestown on “Third Supply Relief Fleet”, Venture , had been appointed June 2, 1609, might even have whose mission was to bring Governor of the colony of Vir- had something to do with the fresh supplies and additional ginia. The boat was com- character “Stephano, a drunken colonists from England to the manded by Captain Christopher Butler”, in this famous play. Jamestown settlement. On continued on page 5 AAATLANTIC C ROSSINGS Message from the Governor he last 18 months has ter have agreed to be co- Positions Available T been a rocky start for our editors of our newsletter. association. Hopefully now with the as- n September 2008 we will Our Historian Loren Somes sistance from our primary I elect new officers for the has had health issues and has founder Susan we are back on PHHS. Positions available in- moved back to New England track. We are, however, still clude that of Governor, Deputy but is still not on line yet. looking for someone who can Governor, Treasurer, Corre- Jackie Sheldon, our Corre- take over the position of Cor- sponding Secretary, Historian, sponding Secretary has sub- responding Secretary. and three assistants. The dura- mitted her resignation for per- tion of office is three years. sonal reasons and my wife To indicate your interest in Catherine has agreed to act as filling any of these positions or interim secretary until we can to find out more about them, find a replacement for Jackie. contact Susan Abanor at (All correspondence should be [email protected] addressed to Catherine Hop- or write to her at: kins at 80 Keene Woods Rd. Susan Abanor Damariscotta, ME 04543; e- 14 W. 17 th St., Apt. 11-S mail [email protected]) Governor Chester I. Hopkins New York, NY 10011 Susan Abanor and Judith Bris- From the Editors ith genealogy and fam- Stephen Hopkins heritage. Shakespeare page 1). It was W ily history, you never First, a word about the news- after returning to England a few know what you’ll find. We letter’s name. Atlantic Cross- years later and remarrying that might wish we could control ings was chosen to highlight he arranged for passage for who our ancestors were or what one of Hopkins’ distinguishing himself and his family on the they did, but we can’t. Very attributes. When he reached Mayflower. often they surprise us. This is Plymouth in 1620, Hopkins was As to the newsletter’s specific especially so with Stephen among just a few aboard the purposes, it will strive to bring Hopkins. The more we learn Mayflower and the only passen- you news of Pilgrim Stephen about him, the more unexpected ger to step on American soil for Hopkins Heritage Society ac- twists and turns of his life we the second time. In 1609 he tivities, past and planned. It discover. had already landed in James- should also become a vehicle We go to press with this inau- town, following a voyage for sharing lineage information gural issue of Atlantic Cross- across the Atlantic from Eng- and questions, as well as re- ings in the hopes that, with your land on the Sea Venture , a ship- search projects, findings and help, it will become a useful wreck, a sojourn in Bermuda, controversies (your contribu- networking and information- and a final voyage to Virginia tions welcome!). A regular sharing tool as we broaden our on a small vessel built by the knowledge of our Pilgrim castaways (see Hopkins/ continued on page 4 PPPAGE 222 Page # VVVOLUME 1, I SSUE 1 First Gathering Photograph * 11 September 2005, Plymouth, MA continued on page # 1. 15. 29. Art Young 2. Annette Sechen 16. Eleanor Johnson 30. Ryan Tobin 3. Jay Ceran 17. Carole Dilley 31. 4. John H. Nardozzi 18. Peter Johnson 32 . 5. 19. Loren E. Somes 33. Jenny Vittum Tobin 6. Margery Ceran 20. Catherine Hopkins 34. 7. Tracy Dielman 21 35. 8. Susan B. W. Abanor 22. Chester I. Hopkins 36. Shirley Vittum 9. 23. Harold S. A. Woolley 37. Susan P. Baker 10. Elizabeth A. Mac Lean 24. 38. Faith Edwards 11. 25. 39. 12. 26. 40. Barbara Dillon 13. Judith Brister 27. 14. Bea Brown 28. *If your name was missed, please help us fill-in the blanks by contacting Susan Abanor PPPAGE 333 AAATLANTIC C ROSSINGS English Origins From page 1 found in parish registers of Hursley, Hampshire, some fifteen miles from Upper Clatford. Hop- kins had these children with his first wife, Mary, who died in 1613 (presumably while Hopkins was in Virginia). The three Hursley-born chil- dren were Elizabeth (1604), Constance (1606), and Giles (1607). By his second wife, Elizabeth after his return to England, he had seven addi- tional children: Damaris, Oceanus, Caleb, Deb- orah, Damaris, Ruth, and Elizabeth. Johnson’s article also reproduces the estate in- ventory from the probate record of Mary Hop- kins in 1613. Some of the inventory items make clear that Mary and Stephen were shopkeepers. The estate inventory also indicates that Mary was a widow, which Johnson attributes to the fact that at this time Hopkins was in Virginia but pre- sumed dead. Johnson speculates that, “..the court or parish might well have found it expedient to assume he was dead in order to make the prop- Location of town where Stephen Hopkins was baptized. erty available for his children’s support…”. Courtesy of Google Maps For those who want the latest research on Hop- kins’s English roots, the above two articles are kins descendants, they may even inspire a so- “must reads”. And for the really dedicated Hop- journ into the Hampshire countryside. From Editors but was a “stranger”. In Plymouth, he had several From page 2 brushes with the law. Over the years, he did ap- parently gain respect for his courage and for his feature will be “Letters from readers”. Another diplomacy with the Native Americans, and be- will be “Increasings and Decreasings” (i.e., births came a community leader. It is our guess, how- and deaths) of Society members. Finally, we in- ever, that he remained an independent-minded vite you to submit brief stories that shed light on maverick to the end. In keeping with Hopkins’ the lives and times of Hopkins and his descen- character, we’ll do our best to keep this newsletter dants. This material should serve to flesh out the lively. social history of the Hopkins family, both in New These are our initial thoughts on the aims and England and as members spread out into the rest the shape of Atlantic Crossings . We’re always of the country – and beyond. We suspect these open to your suggestions on improvements. Your stories will prove to be a fascinating slice of our feedback and contributions are vital to making country’s social history.* Atlantic Crossings a success. In terms of style and tone, we’d like the news- Susan Abanor and Judith McLoud Brister, Co- letter to be as far from the staid and stuffy as was editors our colorful common ancestor. Stephen Hopkins, *Send contributions to: it bears remembering, led a mutiny in Bermuda. Susan Abanor,14 West 17th Street, New York, He was not among the “saints” on the Mayflower, NY 10011 or [email protected] PPPAGE 444 Page # VVVOLUME 1, I SSUE 1 Hopkins/Shakespeare pany. He notes that Shakespeare’s patron, the From page 1 Earl of Southampton, was one of the promoters of the Virginia Company, and that Strachey Newport, who had led the first expedition to moved in Shakespeare’s literary circles. Stra- Jamestown two years before. Twenty-eight year chey had in fact been a shareholder in an acting old Hopkins was clerk to the ship’s chaplain.