So many places and so little time! One unusual place has appeared in a branch of my family tree that I have only recently begun researching more deeply. That place is Bermuda. Why a tropical paradise and vacation destination extraordinaire? Well, it wasn’t by design.
Last year, I wrote that I was interested in researching the Cloud family line, and in the process I discovered a remarkable origin story that began in the earliest Quaker settlements of Pennsylvania. Unsurprisingly, these Quakers were dissenters who came to America to escape the reach of the British Crown and the Church of England. But they were not the only troublemakers in my family tree.
My 11th-great-grandfather, Stephen Hopkins, began life as an adventurer. Drawn to the Jamestown colony by the promise of land after a period of indentured service and the opportunity for a new beginning, he left his young wife and children in England and set sail for Virginia in 1609. He traveled aboard the Sea Venture, which carried the incoming governor and much-needed supplies for the struggling colony.
By circumstances that seem almost Shakespearean—think The Tempest—the ship was blown off course by a hurricane and wrecked on the shoals of Bermuda. The survivors faced a difficult choice: remain on the island and establish a new settlement, or salvage materials from the wreck and continue on to Jamestown.
Although the governor insisted that the voyage continue, Stephen argued that because they were no longer in Virginia, the terms of their indenture no longer applied. He became involved in a rebellion against the governor, was sentenced to death, and then successfully pleaded for mercy. In the end, he and the other survivors completed the journey to Jamestown.
Stephen remained in Virginia for several years before deciding he had had enough. He returned to England, where he found that his wife had died in 1613. Left to raise their children, he remarried around 1617/18 and started a second family.
One reason Jamestown may have lost its appeal was the colony’s leadership. Many of its English gentlemen were more interested in extracting wealth than in building a sustainable community. Early hopes of finding gold and silver came to nothing, and the colony struggled with starvation and poor planning. Wealth would eventually come through tobacco cultivation, while labor demands would tragically be met through the expansion of African slavery. Stephen, however, witnessed only the colony’s hardships and shortcomings.
He could have remained in England and lived a quieter life, but adventure called again. This time he joined a group of religious separatists who had fled to the Netherlands and planned to establish a colony farther north. These settlers were, of course, the Pilgrims.
Their ship, the Mayflower, also sailed off course, eventually landing at Cape Cod rather than their intended destination. Stephen’s previous colonial experience proved invaluable. He participated in the exploration parties that searched for a suitable settlement location, eventually helping to select Plymouth.
Before landing, the settlers drafted the Mayflower Compact, establishing a more egalitarian system of self-government in which each male settler had a voice. The Compact differed significantly from the structure of the Virginia colony and reflected the values of a community determined to govern itself. Combined with the Pilgrims’ strong work ethic and religious convictions, it helped the colony survive its difficult early years—even if Massachusetts was no Bermuda.
We cannot know how much Stephen’s experiences in Bermuda and Jamestown influenced the creation of the Compact, but he was one of its signers. His prior experience also helped foster good relations and trade with Indigenous peoples, relationships that were crucial to Plymouth’s survival.
Stephen prospered in Plymouth as a tavern keeper, though he occasionally found himself in trouble because his establishment attracted rowdy patrons and because he was somewhat more tolerant of such behavior than religious authorities preferred.
So Bermuda appears to have been the place where Stephen’s independent streak first became evident. Yet I cannot help but think that his brand of troublemaking—questioning authority, challenging established hierarchies, and insisting on fair treatment—was part of a larger spirit that contributed to America’s longstanding discomfort with rigid class systems and helped lay the groundwork for the rebellion that would come more than a century after his death in 1644.
Pictures:
"Stephen Hopkins, his wife and daughters, Damaris and Constance, with their son Oceanus" By Edward P. McLaughlin - https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/70795q878, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=173082245
Mayflower Compact: Transcription by William Bradford (1590-1657) - Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=847329
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