Richard Warren, As He Had A Wife And Five Pretty Well Grown Daughters,
Must Have Been Forty-Five Or More When He Came Over.
He is
suggested to have been from Essex.
Stephen Hopkins is believed to have been a "lay-reader" with Mr. Buck,
chaplain to Governor Gates, of the Bermuda expedition of 1609 (see
Purchas, vol. iv. p. 174). As he could hardly have had this
appointment, or have taken the political stand he did, until of
age, he must have been at least twenty-one at that time. If so, he
would have been not less than thirty two years old in 1620, and was
probably considerably older, as his son Giles is represented by
Goodwin ("Pilgrim Republic," p. 184) as being "about 15." If the
father was but twenty-one when the son was born, he must have been
at least thirty-seven when he became a MAY-FLOWER Pilgrim. The
probabilities are that he was considerably older. His English home
is not known. Professor Arber makes an error (The Story of the
Pilgrim Fathers," p. 261) in regard to Hopkins which, unless noted,
might lead to other and more serious mistakes. Noting the
differences between John Pierce and a Master Hopkins, heard before
the Council for New England, May 5/15, 1623, Arber designates Master
Hopkins as "Stephen" (on what authority does not appear), and leaves
us to infer that it was the Pilgrim Hopkins. On further inquiry it
transpires that the person who was at variance with Master John
Pierce over the matter of passage and freight money, on account of
the unfortunate PARAGON, was a Rev.
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