Elizabeth (Fisher) Hopkins (abt. 1585 - bef. 1644)

Born about 1585 in London, Middlesex, England

Wife of Stephen Hopkins — married 19 Feb 1617 in St. Mary Matfellon, Whitechapel, Middlesex, England

Descendants

Died before 6 Jun 1644 before about age 59 in Plymouth, Plymouth Colony, New England

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Biography

Elizabeth Fisher was born in England perhaps about 1585-1590. Her identity has not been conclusively established, but there were several Fisher families in the area near where she married in Whitechapel in London. One was an Elizabeth Fisher baptised at St. Mary's on 03 March 1582, an intriguing possibility. She may also have been a widow when she married Stephen, so Fisher as her maiden name is not certain.^[1]

Elizabeth Fisher married Stephen Hopkins as his second wife on 19 February 1617/18 at St. Mary's, Whitechapel, London.^[2][3][4] Their home had been just outside of London Wall on the high road entering the city at Aldgate in the vicinity of Heneage House. In this neighborhood lived John Carver and William Bradford of the Mayflower Company; Robert Cushman, the London agent for the Pilgrims; and Edward Southworth, who all later came to New England. Steven returned to the New World after perhaps another voyage to Jamestown on the Sea Venture, this time with his wife and three children when he joined the voyage of the Mayflower in 1620.^[5]

Elizabeth (Fisher) Hopkins traveled with her husband, Stephen Hopkins in 1620 on the ship Mayflower, along with Stephen's two children from his previous marriage, Constance and Giles, and their toddler daughter, Damaris, to Plymouth Colony in the New World. She gave birth to a son while on the ship. He was named Oceanus Hopkins, born between 16 September and 11 November 1620. He died in Plymouth, New England before 1627.^[5]

In the late spring of 1621, Elizabeth was one of only four adult women who had survived the brutal, killing, first winter after their arrival in Plymouth Colony. The voyage had begun with 18 women.^[1] Many of the children of the colony were left as orphans.

It was once published that Elizabeth died after 04 February 1638/9,^[6] which was the date of the Plymouth court session that weighed the situation of Stephen Hopkins' pregnant servant, Dorothy Temple, but Stephen's wife was not mentioned.^[7] Elizabeth was certainly dead by the time her husband executed his will on 06 June 1644, in which he directed that he be buried near his deceased wife,^[8] an error corrected in a later edition of the same book.^[5]

The children of Stephen and Elizabeth (Fisher) Hopkins:^[5]

1. Damaris Hopkins, b. say 1618, d. before 22 May 1627 (division of cattle). Either Damaris or Oceanus must have d. before the 1623 land division, which indicates as Robert Wakefield has shown, that there were then five members in Stephen Hopkins' family.^[9]
2. Oceanus Hopkins, b. on the Mayflower (and named to memorialize that) between 6 Sept. and 11 Nov. 1620 (Old Style), the dates that the ship was at sea, d. before 22 May 1627 (division of cattle) and possibly before the 1623 land division.
3. Caleb Hopkins, b. say 1623, living Plymouth, 30 Nov. 1644, when he signed an agreement with Richard Sparrow to rear his sister Elizabeth, d. Barbados, before spring 1651, when Bradford called him deceased.
4. Deborah Hopkins, b. Plymouth, say 1626; m. Plymouth, 23 April 1646, Andrew Ring (widow Mary).^[10][11]
5. Damaris Hopkins (again), b. Plymouth, say 1628 (after May 1627 [division of cattle]); m. shortly after 10 June 1646 (antenuptial agreement), Jacob Cooke (son of Francis of the Mayflower).^[12][13]
6. Ruth Hopkins, b. say 1630 (after 22 May 1627 [division of cattle]), d. unmarried after [30 Nov.?] 1644 (distribution of father's estate) and before spring 1651 (since Elizabeth must be the unmarried sister mentioned by Bradford).
7. Elizabeth Hopkins (again), b. say 1632 (after 22 May 1627 [division of cattle). She had left Plymouth by 29 7m [Sept.] 1659 when the process of settling her estate began; the records, however, are careful not to state that she was dead.

Research Notes

mtDNA Results H27

Elizabeth (Fisher) Hopkins is Notable.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Johnson, Caleb, Here Shall I Die Ashore - Stephen Hopkins: Bermuda Castaway, Jamestown Survivor, and Mayflower Pilgrim (Xlibris, 2007), pp. 61, 105-8.
2. ↑ Ancestry Sharing Link Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812]. London Metropolitan Archives. Stephen Hopkins Eliza Fisher marriage feb 19 1617 St Mary, Whitechapel, Tower Hamlets 1558-1643, image 87 of 234
3. ↑ Torrey, Clarence A., New England Marriages Prior to 1700. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2004. Pg 387.
4. ↑ Bradford, William, 1590-1657. History of Plymouth Plantation 1620-1647 Vol 1 (Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856) and Volume 2 Vol. 2:406.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3} Austin, John D., Mayflower Families Through Five Generations, Stephen Hopkins, Vol. 6 (Plymouth, MA: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2001 [3rd edition]) pp. 1-6.
6. ↑ Austin, John D., Mayflower Families Through Five Generations, (Plymouth, 1995) 6:7.
7. ↑ Shurtleff and Pulsifer, Records of the Colony of New Plymouth (New York : AMS Press, 1855) Vol. 1:111-13. Archive.org
8. ↑ "Massachusetts, Plymouth County, Probate Records, 1633-1967," images, FamilySearch (20 May 2014), Wills 1633-1686 vol 1-4 > image 71 of 616; State Archives, Boston.
9. ↑ Wakefield, "1623 Plymouth Land Division," Mayflower Quarterly. 40:8, 10.
10. ↑ Shurtleff, Records of the Colony of New Plymouth, Vol. 2:98 Archive.org.
11. ↑ For the Rings, see John Insley Coddington, "The Widow Mary Ring, of Plymouth, Mass., and Her Children," TAG 42(1966):193-205 AmericanAncestors.org (by $ubscription); and Robert Charles Anderson, Great Migration Begins - Immigrants to New England 1620-1633 (Boston, Mass. : New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995) Vol. 3:1586-88. AmericanAncestors.org (by $ubscription.)
12. ↑ Bowman, George Ernest, "Plymouth Colony Deeds," Mayflower Descendant, Vol. 2(1900):27-28. Archive.org
13. ↑ For this Cooke family, see Ralph Van Wood Jr. Mayflower Families, Vol. 12: Francis Cooke, (Camden, Maine, 1996); and Robert Charles Anderson, Great Migration Begins - Immigrants to New England 1620-1633 (Boston, Mass. : New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995) Vol. 1:467-71. AmericanAncestors.org (by $ubscription)

See also:

• Ferris, Mary W. Dawes-Gates Ancestral Lines: A Memorial Volume Containing the American Ancestry of Rufus R. Dawes, ([Milwaukee] : Priv. print. [Wisconsin Cuneo Press], 1931). Volume 2:443-451. Archive.org

• Stoddard, Francis R., Jr. "The Truth about the Pilgrims" (New York, NY : Society of Mayflower Descendants in the State of New York, 1952) Hathi Trust.org

• A Munsey-Hopkins Genealogy. Lowell, D.O.S. Boston: Privately Printed, 1920 Archive.org

• Johnson, Caleb H., The Mayflower and her passengers (Indiana:Xlibris Corp., Caleb Johnson, 2006)

• Hills, Leon Clark Hills. History and Genealogy of the Mayflower Planters and First Comers to Ye Olde Colonie (Baltimore : Genealogical Publishing, 1981) Archive.org

• Bradford, William. History of Plymouth Plantation (Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856) p. 448

"8. Mr. Steven Hopkins, & Elizabeth, his wife, and 2. children, caled Giles, and Constanta, a doughter, both by a former wife; and 2. more by this wife, caled Damaris & Oceanus; the last was borne at sea; and 2. servants, called Edward Doty and Edward Litster." p. 452 (5.) Mr Hopkins and his wife are now both dead, but they lived above 20. years in this place, and had one sone and 4. doughters borne here. Ther sone became a seaman, & dyed at Barbadoes; one daughter dyed here, and 2. are maried; one of them hath 2. children; & one is yet to mary. So their increase which still survive are 5. (4.) But his 4. some Giles is maried, and hath 4. children. (12.) His doughter Constanta is also maried, and hath 12. children, all of them living, and one of them maried.

• Bradford, William, 1590-1657. Of Plimoth Plantation: manuscript, 1630-1650. State Library of Massachusetts "List of Mayflower Passengers. In Bradford's Hand.

DNA

• Mayflower DNA Project and mtDNA profile of Elizabeth (Fisher) Hopkins

Mayflower Project Checklist Completed Nov 2023