As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, it gives me a chance to share some stories of my family's history and how it intersects with our country's. Once a week until Independence Day, I'll add to this dual timeline.
1610 First up is the first of my ancestors to land on this soil: Stephen Hopkins, an 11x great-grandfather. He arrived here in 1610 as part of a rescue mission to the struggling Jamestown colony, after himself surviving a shipwreck that stranded him for a time in the Caribbean. His exploits are believed to have inspired the character Stephano in Shakespeare's The Tempest.
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| Stephano, center. By Johann Heinrich Ramberg - Cornell University, Public Domain |
After a few years at Jamestown, Hopkins returned to England, but soon after was recruited in London to join the Mayflower's voyage, because of his firsthand experience of the New World. His knowledge ended up being crucial for the Mayflower passengers during their earliest years. There is a terrific book about Hopkins if you want to learn more about his fascinating life: A Stranger Among Saints: Stephen Hopkins, the Man Who Survived Jamestown and Saved Plymouth, by Jonathan Mack.
1620 After sixty-six days at sea, 102 people arrived at modern-day Cape Cod on the Mayflower, Stephen Hopkins, his wife Elizabeth (Fisher), and three Hopkins children among them. Four passengers had already died at sea, while another fifty or so did not survive the first winter, including the Hopkins' infant son Oceanus, so named because he was born at sea during the voyage.
In addition to Hopkins and Fisher, I am descended from eleven more of the survivors, a mix of Puritan separatists, servants, and recruits from the London Merchant Adventurers. 11x great-grandparents are Edward Doty, Peter Browne, John Tilley, Joan Hurst, Isaac Allerton, Mary Norris, Francis Cooke, and Constance Hopkins (daughter of Stephen and his first wife); and these 10x ggs: John Howland, Elizabeth Tilley and Mary Allerton.
A few years back during a trip to New England, we visited the Plimoth Patuxet Museums, a wonderful recreation of both the “pilgrim” homes and those of the native Wampanoag people, with amazing, historically accurate buildings and skilled reenactors inviting you to learn, participate, and maybe even share a meal. I can’t recommend it enough.
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| from left: Mr Allerton, an interior, some Wampanoag photos courtesy your humble blogger, 2019 |
A friend once accused me of being smugly proud of having historic (rather than merely historical) ancestors. I’m really not; “fascinated” would be a better descriptor. I certainly can’t claim any of their achievements–all I did was discover I was related to them. And you might be too! It’s believed that up to 10% of Americans have Mayflower forebears.
Whether it’s a new country or just a new ancestor, remember: they’re already there, just waiting to be discovered. The rest is up to you.
1640 The Great Migration had begun. By 1640, nearly 20,000 people--mostly English--had emigrated to the colonies. A couple dozen of those brave voyagers were ancestors of mine. Despite many struggles, these years were a time of great opportunity and rapid change. Six additional future New England states had been established as colonies, joining Virginia and Massachusetts: New Hampshire in 1623, New York in 1624 (by the Dutch), Maryland in 1634, Connecticut and Rhode Island in 1636, and Delaware in 1638.
Along with these new colonies and towns came new political philosophies. The earliest and most important was the Portsmouth Compact, from 1638, which defined an independent colony that would be Christian in character but non-sectarian in governance. A 12x gg of mine, John Coggeshall, was one of the Compact’s signers. He was later the first President of the Colony of Rhode Island.
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| The Portsmouth Compact, in the Archives of the State of Rhode Island. Grandpa John's signature is the fourth from the top. |
Another town established in 1638 was Providence RI. John Greene, 11x gg, was one of its twelve original proprietors. His son John’s next door neighbor was Benedict Arnold, son of another proprietor.
1639 added more new settlements, and I have ancestors among those founders, including:
* Guilford CT by Thomas Norton and Francis Bushnell, both 11x gg.
* Newbury CT by Edward Woodman 9xgg and Percival Lowell 10x gg.
* Hartford CT by Thomas Hungerford 10x gg.
* Milford CT by Robert Treat 11x gg and Edmund Tapp 12x gg.
* Newport RI by John Coggeshall--again--along with Jeremiah Clarke 12x gg and Nicholas Easton 11x gg.
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| Sites around Newbury, including (left to right), the First Landing Place, a memorial headstone for Edward Woodman, and Lowell's and Woodman's names on a memorial plaque. Interestingly, the names that appear are an incomplete list; if descendants did not make a contribution, their ancestor's name did not appear. Photos courtesy of your humble blogger, 2019. |
And in 1642, John Greene [ibid] and Samuel Gorton, 11x gg, founded Warwick RI.
Along with John Coggeshall, mentioned above, grandpops Clarke, Easton, and Gorton also served as (respectively) the 2nd, 4th, and 5th Presidents of the Rhode Island colony. Young Benedict Arnold–no relation–was 10th, for what it’s worth.
Needless to say, their wives were there as well, but with women not allowed to own land or hold office–yet!--their contributions, alas, are not recognized, beyond appearing in surviving marriage and birth records, and if lucky, a will.
Percival Lowell, mentioned above, is one of my “Gateway Ancestors.” They are folks who arrived here during the Great Migration and whose verifiable roots connect them back to English royalty and aristocracy. If you’ve got any New England ancestry, you might discover a Gateway Ancestor too! You can read more about how I made that discovery on here.
#America250
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