Stephen Hopkins | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Born: 29 Oct 1581, Wortley, England |
Mayflower Passenger |
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Stephen Hopkins was one of only a few passengers on the Mayflower to have made a prior trip to America. He came in 1609 on the Sea Venture headed for Jamestown, Virginia. But instead, they were marooned on an island following a hurricane, and the 150 passengers were stranded for nine months. Hopkins led an uprising, challenging the governor's authority, and was sentenced to death. But he begged and moaned about the ruin of his wife and children, and so was pardoned out of sympathy. The company eventually managed to build a ship, and escaped the island. After spending several years in Jamestown, Hopkins returned to England sometime between 1613 and 1617. Stephen Hopkins brought with him on the Mayflower his wife Elizabeth, children Giles and Constance by his first marriage, and Damaris by his second marriage. A son Oceanus was born while the Mayflower was at sea. Stephen participated in the early exploring missions and was an "ambassador" along with Myles Standish for early Indian relations. In 1636, Hopkins was fined for the battery of John Tisdale, in 1637 he was found guilty of allowing men to drink on a Sunday at his house, and in 1638 he was fined for not dealing fairly with an apprentice-girl, Dorothy Temple. He was also charged with several other minor crimes, including selling glass at too high a price, selling illegal intoxicants, and allowing men to get drunk at his house. However, this in no way indicated he was disloyal to the Colony--in fact he was Assistant governor from 1633 until 1636, and he volunteered to fight in the Pequot War of 1637. |
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