It Seems Proper To Suggest
That It Is High Time That All Lovers Of Reliable History Should
Stand Firmly Together Against The Flood Of Loose Statement Which Is
Deluging The Public; Brand The False Wherever Found; And Call For
Proof From Of All New And Important Historical Propositions Put
Forth.
Stephen Hopkins may possibly have had more than one wife before
Elizabeth, who accompanied him to New England and was mother of the
sea-born son Oceanus.
Hopkins's will indicates his affection for
this latest wife, in unusual degree for wills of that day. With
singular carelessness, both of the writer and his proof-reader, Hon.
William T. Davis states that Damaris Hopkins was born "after the
arrival" in New England. The contrary is, of course, a well
established fact. Mr. Davis was probably led into this error by
following Bradford's "summary" as affecting the Hopkins family. He
states therein that Hopkins "had one son, who became a seaman and
died at Barbadoes probably Caleb, and four daugh ters born here."
To make up these "four" daughters "born here" Davis found it
necessary to include Damaris, unmindful that Bradford names her in
his list of MAY-FLOWER passengers. It is evident, either that
Bradford made a mistake in the number, or that there was some
daughter who died in infancy. It is evident that Dotey and Leister,
the "servants" of Hopkins, were of English origin and accompanied
their master from London.
Gilbert Winslow was a brother of Edward Winslow, a young man, said to
have been a carpenter, who returned to England after "divers years"
in New England. There is a possibility that he was at Leyden and
was a passenger on the SPEEDWELL. It has been suggested that he
spent the greater part of the time he was in New England, outside of
the Pilgrim Colony. He took no part in its affairs.
James Chilton and his family are but little known to Pilgrim writers,
except the daughter Mary, who came into notice principally through
her marriage with John Winslow, another brother of Governor Edward,
who came over later. Their name has assumed a singular prominence
in popular regard, altogether disproportionate to either their
personal characteristics, station, or the importance of their early
descendants. Some unaccountable glamour of romance, without any
substantial foundation, is probably responsible for it. They left a
married daughter behind them in England, which is the only hint we
have as to their home just prior to the embarkation. There has been
a disposition, not well grounded, to regard them as of Leyden.
Richard Gardiner, Goodwin unequivocally places with the English colonists
(but on what authority does not fully appear), and he has been
claimed, but without any better warrant, for the Leyden list.
John Billington and his family were unmistakably of the English
colonists. Mrs. Billington's name has been variously given,
e.g. Helen, Ellen, and Eleanor, and the same writer has used them
interchangeably. One writer has made the inexcusable error of
stating that "the younger son, Francis, was born after the arrival
at New Plymouth," but his own affidavit shows him to have been born
in 1606.
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