He would join the father of our Margaret Wampanoag, the brother of King Massasoit (pronounced Mass-A-SO-it),  our direct ancestor, called Quadequina, future Chief of the Wampanoag Nation, our own 10th great grandfather all by way of famed Catherine Whelden, one who is as likely descended from same Native American royalty as not, we would certainly like to think so.

 

 

 

 

Click here for a wonderful site to learn about the 1621 Thanksgiving, attended by our ancestors in New England.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stephen Hopkins (born about 1582 – 1644), was a tanner and merchant who was one of the passengers on the Mayflower in 1620, settling in Plymouth Colony. Hopkins was recruited by the Merchant Adventurers to provide governance for the colony as well as assist with the colony's ventures. He was a member of a group of passengers known to the Pilgrims as "The Strangers" since they were not part of the Pilgrims' religious congregation. Hopkins was one of forty-one signatories of the Mayflower Compact and was an assistant to the governor of the colony through 1636.

Onboard ship Sea Venture A Shipwreck and Mutiny

Hopkins had made a previous attempt to reach the New World in 1609 aboard the new flagship of the Virginia Company, the Sea Venture, on which Sir George Somers took the helm. Hopkins had embarked as a Minister's Clerk on the "Sea Venture", the Admiral of the Fleet. The ship was on the way to the Jamestown Colony in Virginia with much needed supplies when it was deliberately driven onto the reefs of Bermuda to prevent its foundering as a result of the damage it had sustained during a severe storm. All aboard, 150 passengers and crew and a dog, survived. The ship's longboat was fitted with a mast and sent to Virginia for help, but it and its crew were never seen again. Hopkins attempted to start a mutiny while stranded on the island. He was sentenced to death when this was discovered but was eventually set free after complaining of the "ruin of his wife and children". Hopkins and the remaining survivors spent nine months on Bermuda building two smaller ships, the Deliverance and Patience, from Bermuda cedar and materials salvaged from the Sea Venture. He and the other castaways eventually made their way to Jamestown, where Hopkins appears to have stayed for (some say) two years before returning to England. The Hopkins family is considered one of the First Families of Virginia. The story of the Sea Venture shipwreck (and Hopkins' mutiny) is said to be the inspiration for The Tempest by William Shakespeare.

Diplomat and Veteran

Hopkins was respected for his previous experience with Indians and was elected ambassador for native relations. When Squanto arrived in Plymouth he resided with the Hopkins family. In 1621 Hopkins, Edward Winslow and William Bradford were delegated by their associates to treat with the Indians in the Plymouth vicinity on behalf of the Pilgrims and succeeded in winning the friendship of Chief Massasoit (1580-1661), concluding a peace treaty on 22 March 1621 in the Hopkins home. He later served in the Pequot War of 1637.

 Marriage

1. Mary: She may have died while Hopkins was on his first attempt to reach New World.

2. Elizabeth Fisher: married Hopkins at St. Mary Matfellon, Whitechapel, London, on 19 February 1617/8, and was a Mayflower passenger who died in Plymouth, 1639.

 Children

Stephen and Mary had three children:

• Elizabeth b. England; she more than likely died before the Mayflower voyage.
• Constance b. England, 1607; Mayflower passenger; married Nicholas Snow, who came to Plymouth on the ship Anne in 1623; died in Plymouth Colony, 1677.
• Giles b. England, 1607/8; Mayflower passenger, married Catherine Whelden, daughter of Gabriel Whelden of Malden and Yarmouth

Stephen and Elizabeth had eight children:

• Damaris b. England, 1618; Mayflower passenger.
• Oceanus b. en route to Plymouth onboard the Mayflower.
• Caleb b. Plymouth, 1623; dead by spring 1651.
• Elizabeth b. Plymouth, 1623.
• Deborah b. Plymouth, 1626, married Andrew Ring, son of William and Mary Ring
• Damaris b. Plymouth, 1628, married Jacob Cooke, son of Pilgrim, Francis Cooke and Hester Mayhieu (Cooke)
• Ruth b. Plymouth, 1630.

 

 

 

 

 

Culture

See also: Massachusett.

Leader of the tribe was called Massasoit (pronounced:  Mass-a-SO-it) or sachem.

The Wampanoag were semi-sedentary, with seasonal movements between fixed sites in present-day southern New England. The "three sisters," corn (maize), beans and squash were the staples of their diet, supplemented by fish and game. More specifically, each community had authority over a well-defined territory from which the people derived their livelihood through a seasonal round of fishing, planting, harvesting and hunting. Because southern New England was thickly populated, hunting grounds had strictly defined boundaries. Land was hereditary and descent was reckoned matrilineally, wherein both hereditary status and claims to land were passed down through women. Mothers with claims to specific plots of land used for farming or hunting passed those claims to their female descendants, irrespective of their marital status.^[2]

The work of making a living was organized on a family level. Families gathered together in the spring to fish, in early winter to hunt and in the summer they separated to cultivate individual planting fields. Boys were schooled in the way of the woods, where a man's skill at hunting and ability to survive under all conditions were vital to his family's well being. Women were trained from their earliest years to work diligently in the fields and around the family wetu, a round or oval house that was designed to be easily dismantled and moved in just a few hours.

The production of food among the Wampanoag was similar to that of many Native American societies. Food habits were divided along gendered lines. Men and women had specific tasks and Native women played an active role in many of the stages of food production. Since the Wampanoag relied primarily on goods garnered from this kind of work, women had important socio-political, economic, and spiritual roles in their communities.^[3] Wampanoag men were mainly responsible for hunting and fishing, while women took care of farming and the gathering of wild fruits, nuts, berries, shellfish, etc.^[4] Women were responsible for up to seventy-five percent of all food production in Wampanoag societies.^[5]

The Wampanoag were organized into a confederation, where a head sachem, or political leader, presided over a number of other sachems. The English often referred to the sachem as “king,” a title that misled more than it clarified since the position of a sachem differed in many ways from that of a king. Sachems were bound to consult not only their own councilors within their tribe but also any of the “petty sachems,” or people of influence, in the region.^[6] They were also responsible for arranging trade privileges as well as protecting their allies in exchange for material tribute.^[7] Both women and men could hold the position of sachem, and women were sometimes chosen over close male relatives.^[8] Two Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Wampanoag female sachems, Wunnatuckquannumou and Askamaboo, presided despite the competition of male contenders, including near relatives, for their power. These women gained power because their matrilineal clans held sway over large plots of land and they themselves had accrued enough status and power—not because they were the widows of former sachems.

In addition, polygamy was practiced among the Wampanoag, although monogamy was the norm. Even within Wampanoag society where status was constituted within a matrilineal, matrifocal society, some elite men could take several wives for political or social reasons. Multiple wives were also a path to and symbol of wealth because women were the producers and distributors of corn and other food products. However, as within most Native American societies, marriage and conjugal unions were not as important as ties of clan and kinship. Marriages could be and were dissolved relatively easily, but family and clan relations were of extreme and lasting importance, constituting the ties that bound individuals to one another and their tribal territories as a whole.^[10]

 Language

The Wampanoag originally spoke a dialect of the Massachusett-Wampanoag language, which belongs to the Algonquian languages family. Currently English speaking, the Wampanoag are spearheading a language revival under the direction of the "Wampanoag Language Reclamation Project."

The decline of the Wampanoag language began to accelerate rapidly after the American Revolution. At this time, New England Native American communities suffered from huge gender imbalances due to premature male deaths, especially due to military and maritime activity. Consequently, many Wampanoag women were forced to marry outside of their linguistic groups, making it extremely difficult to maintain the various Wampanoag dialects.^[11]

In 1997, Jessie Little Doe Baird (Mashpee Wampanoag), instituted the "Wampanoag Language Reclamation Project", along with Helen Manning, (Aquinnah Wampanoag). Baird's stated purpose was the revival of the Wampanoag language; that Wampanoag tribal members should once again become fluent in Wampanoag and speak Wampanoag within their tribal territories. Seventeenth century printed texts provide a basis, including the translation of the 1663 Eliot Bible (a Bible translated into Wampanoag by Wampanoag converts under the direction of missionary John Eliot), as well as examples from related neighboring Algonquian languages. Today Baird's teaches classes in Mashpee and Aquinnah. Only Wampanoag is spoken during the lessons, and only Wampanoag people are permitted to attend classes. Baird is also compiling a Wampanoag dictionary which currently contains roughly 8,600 words, and through the initiative of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, has begun to implement a language reclamation project there.