USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Plymouth > The truth about the Pilgrims > Part 11
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35-Francis Eaton came with his wife and son (B 409). He was the twenty-third signer of the Mayflower Compact. He was a carpenter by occupation. He probably came from Bristol (BK 52) and has been called one of the London con- tingent (HS I 21). He married, first, Sarah ,who
died at Plymouth, early in 1621, certainly after January 11. His second wife, whom he married at Plymouth, was be- lieved to be "Mrs. Carver's maid." After her death, he mar- ried, third, at Plymouth, in 1624 or 1625, Christian Penn, a passenger on the "Ann" who survived her husband (HX II 23). He died at Plymouth between November 4 and
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18, 1633. Inventory of his estate has been published (MD I 197-200). His widow married Francis Billington and died at Middleborough about 1684 (MD II 116-117). He has had many descendants (MI).
36-Sarah ( ) Eaton, first wife of Francis, came. with her husband and son (B 409). She died during the first general illness early in 1621 (MD II 117) (B 413).
37-Samuel 2 Eaton came as a baby with his parents (B 409). He was born in 1620. He first lived with his father in Duxbury, but when he reached maturity, he moved to Middleboro. In 1636, with approval of his mother, he bound himself as an apprentice to John Cooke, Jr., for seven years (PCR I 143). There is a record, "in the year next before 1652 the General Court admonished Samuel Eaton and Goodwife Hall, of Duxbury, for mixed dancing." (HX II 23). He was something of a real estate speculator. He married, first, before March 20, 1647, Elizabeth
, who died between 1652 and 1661. He married, second, at Plymouth, January 20, 1661, Martha Billington, daughter of Francis and grand-daughter of Pilgrim John. Samuel died at Middleboro in 1684 before November 8. His inventory has been published (MD II 172-173) (Ply- mouth Colony Wills and Invent., Vol. IV, part 1, pg. 83). His wife died after November 8, 1684 (MD II 117). He has had many descendants.
38 -- Ely, whose first name is unknown was hired to stay a year. He did not sign the Mayflower Compact, probably be- cause he did not intend to remain. When his time was out, he returned to England (B 409). He was not known as Ellis in any source record. He left no known descendants.
39-Thomas English was a seaman who was hired to be master of the shallop (B 409). He was the thirty-ninth signer of the Mayflower Compact. He may have been a resident of Leyden because a Thomas English appears there in the records (BK 53). He took part in the third expedition which left the "Mayflower" on December 16, 1620, in the shallop
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to find a suitable place for a permanent settlement. He thereafter took part in the First Encounter with the Indians and later landed and helped select Plymouth as the place for the permanent settlement (MR 43) (B 9). He died in the general sickness at Plymouth between January 11 and April 10, 1621 (MD II 117). He left no known descendants.
40-Moses Fletcher came alone (B 409). He was the twenty-seventh signer of the Mayflower Compact. He came from St. Peter's, Sandwich, County Kent, England. He had a son Moses born there on October 10, 1602. He was a smith by occupation and is supposed to have been living in Ley- den when the Pilgrim group sailed. (BK 54). His first wife was Maria Evans, who died before November, 1613. He married, second, at Leyden, Holland, December 21, 1613, Sarah ( ) Dingby, widow of William Dingby and died at Plymouth between January 11 and April 10, 1621 (MD II 117) (R 211). He left no descendants.
41-Edward Fuller came with his wife and son (B 408). He was the twenty-first signer of the Mayflower Compact. He was baptized September 4, 1575, son of Robert Fuller of Redenhall, Norfolk, England (FE 23). There is no record of him at Leyden. He probably joined his brother Samuel at Southampton when the "Mayflower" sailed (BK 55). He died at Plymouth between January 11 and April 10, 1621. His wife died early in 1621, after January 11 in the first gen- eral sickness (MD II 117). They have had many descendants (FE) (MI), including Chief Justice Melville Weston Fuller of the United States Supreme Court.
42-Ann ( ) Fuller, unmarried name unknown, came with her husband and son (B 408). She died early in 1621 in the general sickness (MD II 117) (HX II 19).
43-Samuel ª Fuller, son of Edward and Ann Fuller came with his parents (B 408). He was born about 1612. He was made a freeman of the Colony in 1634. He went from Plymouth to Scituate on April 8, 1635, and joined the church there on November 7, 1636. On the day he arrived
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in Scituate he married Jane Lothrop, daughter of Rev. John. She was born at Edgerly, Kent, England, on Septem- ber 29, 1614. They were in Barnstable by 1644, and he is the only "Mayflower" passenger who settled there. His wife died at Barnstable on October 31, 1683 (HX II 19). He died at Barnstable on November 10, 1683 (MD II 117). His will has been published (MD II 237-241) (Plymouth Colony Wills and Invent., vol. IV, part 2, pgs. 138-139). He has had many descendants (MI).
44-Mr. Samuel Fuller came leaving his wife and a child to come afterwards. He brought a servant William Butten. (B 407). He was the eighth signer of the Mayflower Com- pact. He was the son of Robert Fuller and was baptized January 20, 1580, at Redenhall, County Norfolk, England (FS 10). He was called a serge maker of London, but he later was also a doctor. He was Deacon of the Church in Leyden and at Plymouth (HX I 23). He was married first to Alice or Elsie Glascock, who died before 1613. He married, second, at Leyden, Holland, on March 15, 1613 (BK 56), Agnes, daughter of Alexander Carpenter (MD VIII 129-130) who » died before 1617. He married, third, at Leyden, Holland, 27 May 1617, Bridget Lee (MD VIII 129-130) (R 212). She was daughter of Joyce Lee and a sister of Samuel Lee. She came over in the "Anne." Samuel Fuller was an able letter writer (B 70-71). In 1624, he interceded for The Rev. John Lyford and was referred to by Bradford as a "tender heart- ed" man (B 189). In 1629, he was sent to Salem where many of the newly arrived colonists under John Endicott were very ill. On May 11, the latter wrote to Bradford expressing appreciation of Dr. Fuller's services (B 260). He was an Assistant in 1632. He was the first physician to settle in New England. Bradford called him "a man godly, and for- ward to doe good, being missed after his death." (B 302). He died at Plymouth between August 9 and September 26, 1633. His will (MD 1 24) and inventory have been pub- lished (MD II 8) (Plymouth Colony Wills and Invent., Vol.
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I, Fol. 22). His widow died after March 11, 1664 (MD II 117). He has had many descendants, (FS) (MI), including George A. Fuller, the construction engineer.
45-Richard Gardiner came alone (B 409). He is described as a seaman employed by the company to remain (BK 57). He has been identified as son of John and Lucy (Russell) Gardiner of Harwich, County Essex, and so related by mar- riage to Captain Christopher Jones (BK 57). He was a man of some education because he and some other author are thought to have written the Nauset and Nemasket narra- tives which were sent on the "Fortune" by John Pierce, a friend of the Pilgrims, and later were delivered to George Morton (B 12). He was the thirty-seventh signer of the May- flower Compact. He was living late in 1624, but though he partook of the division of lands early in that year, he had no share in the division of cattle in 1627. No more is known of him except that he died in England or at sea between 1624 and 1651 (MD II 117). He left no descendants.
46-John Goodman came alone (B 409). He came from Leyden where he had married Sarah Hooper in 1619. He brought two dogs on the "Mayflower." He was the twenty- eighth signer of the Mayflower Compact. He had a lot as- signed to him on Leyden Street in Plymouth in 1620 (BK 58). On January 12, 1621, he had the adventures with Peter Brown in the woods already described in connection with the latter (MR 73-74) (T 31). On January 19, 1621, not satisfied with his former experiences, he decided to ramble again in the woods with his spaniel. The dog was attacked by two wolves and fled to the legs of his master for safety. Goodman had no weapon except a stick. The wolves sat some time, snarling at him but at length let him escape (MR 77-78) (T 32). He died at Plymouth before: 1627 (MD II 117). He left no descendants. He never changed his name to Dunham.
47-William Holbeck came as a servant of William White (B 408). He did not sign the Mayflower Compact probably
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because he did not intend to stay. He is credited as one of the Leyden contingent (BK 59). His family name is found in St. Andrew's parish in Norwich where the Rev. John Robinson was before he went to Leyden. He died without issue in the first winter (BK 59) early in 1621, after January 11 (MD II 117).
' 48-John Hooke was described as a servant boy of Isaac Allerton (B 407). He was too young to sign the Mayflower Compact. He is credited as one of the London contingent (BK 60) (HS II 149). He died at Plymouth early in 1621 (B 410-411), after January 11 (MD II 117). He left no descendants.
49-Mr. Stephen Hopkins of London came with his sec- ond wife and his four children. Giles and Constance were from a previous marriage. Damaris and Oceanus were from the second marriage. He also brought two servants, Edward Doty and Edward Leister (B 408). He was the fourteenth signer of the Mayflower Compact. He is probably the per- son who had a son Stephen baptized December 22, 1609. The name of his first wife is alleged to be Constance Dud- ley in "The Compendium of American Genealogy," but I do not know the basis for the statement. His second mar- riage was to Elizabeth Fisher, February 19, 1617/18 at St. Mary Matfellon (White Chapel), London. (BK 61 (HX 24).
Stephen Hopkins was one of the passengers on the "Sea Venture" of 300 tons, which was one of a fleet of seven ships and two pinnaces which started a voyage to Virginia on July 23, 1609. On the vessel were the "sturdy soldier" Sir Thomas Gates, Deputy Governor of the Virginia Colony, and "the old sea rover" Sir George Summers, Admiral of the Seas. The Captain was the famous Christopher Newport who had made many trips, including the first, between England and Virginia. When about seven or eight days sail from their destination, a terrible storm arose which lasted for several days. The "Sea Venture" became a wreck and on July 28, 1609, was driven ashore on the Island of Bermuda
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where the passengers and crew to the number of 150 men, women and children alighted by means of their small boats. There were no inhabitants there probably because of Span- ish slave hunters. Fortunately there were a great number of birds on the island which were tame and easily caught. There were also thousands of wild hogs on the island which were probably descendants of those left on the island by Oviedo in the year 1515. There were also many turtles.
Attempts were made to build vessels so that the voyage might be continued. On September Ist, a conspiracy was discovered which was suppressed. The connection of Ste- phen Hopkins with a later conspiracy is described as fol- lows in "Shipwrecks and Disasters at Sea," pages 9 and 10, published in London by H. G. Bohn in 1856:
"Yet this could not be a warning to others, who began more insidiously to shake the foundations of our peace and tranquility. Stephen Hopkins, a fellow of consider- able knowledge in the Scriptures, who had been chosen by our minister as clerk, to read the psalms and chapters on Sundays, to the people assembled, leagued with Sam- uel Sharp and Humphrey Reed, on the 24th of January, alleging, by arguments both civil and divine, that it was no breach of honesty, conscience, nor religion, to decline the authority of the governor. He urged that, in point of conscience, even the meanest must be sensible how much each was bound to provide for himself and his whole family, whence there were two evident reasons for remaining here: first, by God's providence, abundance of food; secondly, the prospect that, in a reasonable time, they might grow weary of it, and then build a small bark with the help of Nicholas Bennet, who, although now / absent assisting Sir George Summers, they insinuated, was of the conspiracy. By such means they might get free of this country when they pleased; but, if they went to Virginia, they should assuredly want provisions, and might well apprehend that they would be detained there
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by the authority of the commander, and thenceforth ever be bound to serve the purposes of the adventurers.
"Sharp and Reed, however, disclosed the conspiracy, on which the governor ordered Hopkins to be seized and brought out in irons before the whole people; where, after hearing his accusation, he was allowed to plead an exculpation to every particular fact laid to his charge. It was proved, nevertheless, that he was the ringleader and promoter of the mutiny; and the general opinion was that his life should atone for the offence; therefore the governor, by a court martial, sentenced him to that pun- ishment which rebellion deserves. But he behaved with such penitence, made so much lamentation, and so pa- thetically deplored the ruin of his wife and children, which would be the consequence of his trespass, that com- passion was excited in all the higher orders of our com- pany. Thus they repaired to the Governor, and besought him to pardon the culprit, which, after much entreaty, he consented to do."
It was not until May 21, 1610, that was left of the passen- gers of the "Sea Venture" reached Virginia in a small boat which they had built in Bermuda. It is related that the voy- agers found the Virginia Colony in a distressed condition. The buildings were going to waste. The scarcity of pro- visions increased daily. In a short time hardly sixty of six hundred settlers survived and these were starving. Gates, Somers and Newport determined to abandon the settle- ment which would have been accomplished except for the arrival of Lord Delaware with supplies from England. The wreck of the "Sea Venture" is said by the historian John Fiske to have suggested to Shakespeare many hints for the "Tempest," which was written within the next two years and performed before the King in 1611. It seems clear that Shakespeare made use of Strachey's narrative of the wreck of the "Sea Venture" which was published in 1610.
Hopkins could not have met Captain John Smith in
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Virginia because it was in October, 1609, that Smith, after being wounded by an explosion of gun powder, returned to England for surgical treatment. When Smith's health had been restored, he formed a partnership with certain London merchants with the idea of obtaining some profits for the Plymouth Company from its American grant. This led to his expedition to the New England Coast in 1614 and his unsuccessful attempt to send over two other vessels later. Hopkins returned to England on an unknown date, and he must have been in a position where he could meet Smith had .he desired to do so. One reason why the historians believed that the Stephen Hopkins of the "Sea Venture" and the Stephen Hopkins of the "Mayflower" are the. same persons is because of the knowledge of America which Hop- kins had. When the Pilgrims were on their first exploring party and Bradford had been caught in an Indian trap made by a noose attached to a bent tree, Hopkins explained that it was an Indian trap for deer (B 8-9). He was sent with Standish to try to interview strange Indians (MR 81). When Samoset came to Plymouth, he stayed overnight in the house of Hopkins, probably because Hopkins knew more about Indians than the others (MR 85). It was Hopkins who went in early July, 1621, with Winslow to confirm the treaty with Massasoit and to strengthen amicable relations be- tween the settlers and the Indians (M 48) (MR 98-111) (B 10) (B 117). When a messenger came from Cononicus bringing the snake skin full of arrows, Hopkins was able to learn from the Indian what it meant. It seems probable that Hopkins was selected by Weston to accompany the Pilgrims because of his previous experiences in Virginia. (BK 61-64) (HS I 117).
Hopkins was a member of the first expedition which pro- ceeded by land on November 25, 1620 (MR 13-14), and also the third expedition which started in the shallop on De- cember 16, 1620, and which engaged in the first encounter on December 18, 1620, and eventually landed at and se-
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lected Plymouth as a settlement (MR 43). He was an Assis- tant from 1633 to 1636. He was a volunteer in the Pequot War in 1637. His second wife died at Plymouth between 1640 and 1644 (MD II 117) (BK 61). He was a member of the Council of War for the Colony, 1642 to 1644. He was mentioned several times in court orders (HS I 120-121). He died at Plymouth between June 16 and July 27, 1644. His daughters are described (MD IV 114) (MD V 47). His will and inventory have been published (MD II 12) (Plymouth Colony Wills and Invent., vol. I, folios 61, 62 and 63). He had many descendants (AM 19/536), (HB), (MI), including John Howard Payne, author of "Home Sweet Home", Major General Amiel Weeks Whipple, the explorer of the Southwest and Colonel Charles W. Whiffle.
50-Elizabeth (Fisher) Hopkins came with her husband, two children and two step-children (B 408). She died at Plymouth between 1640 and 1644 (MD II 117) (BK 61).
51-Gyles & Hopkins was born about 1607. He was a child of Stephen Hopkins by a former marriage and came with his father and step-mother, also with his sister Constance and his half-sister Damaris and half-brother Oceanus born on the "Mayflower" (B 408). He was a volunteer in the Pequot War in 1637. He married October 19, 1639, Kather- ine Wheldon and removed to Yarmouth. She died after March.15, 1689. He died before April 26, 1690 (MD II 117). His will has been published (HS I 138-139) (Probate Rec- ords of Barnstable County, vol. I, pg. 32). He left many descendants. (MI).
52-Constance & Hopkins, child of Stephen Hopkins by a former marriage came in the family of her father and step- mother (B 408). She was born about 1605 (HS I 126). She married at Plymouth between 1623 and June 1, 1627, prob- ably about 1626, Nicholas Snow of Hexton, Middlesex; England. In 1644, many families determined to leave Ply- mouth and to settle in Eastham. Nicholas Snow was one of this number. He was town clerk in Eastham from 1646
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to 1662. He died at Eastham, November 25, 1676. His will has been published (HS I 126-128). (Plymouth Colony Wills and Invent., vol. III, Part II, pages 71-77). She died there in October, 1677 (MD II 118), (AM 19/536). They have many descendants (MI). Bradford calls her "Constanta."
53-Damaris 2 Hopkins was born probably before 1619 (MD V 50-51). She came with her parents, a sister, a half- sister and a half-brother (B 408). She died young, unmar- ried. A second daughter of the same name, not a "May- flower" passenger, married Jacob Cooke after June 20, 1646, possibly early in 1647 (MD V 51-52).
54-Oceanus 2 Hopkins, son of Stephen and Elizabeth Hopkins, was born on the "Mayflower" between September 16, and November 21, 1620. He died before June 1, 1627 (MD II 118).
55-John Howland, son of Henry Howland of Fen Stan- ton, Huntingdonshire, England, came as a servant of John Carver (B 407). He was the thirteenth signer of the May- flower Compact. He is credited to London. John Howland was identified because the will of Humphrey Howland, citizen and draper of St. Swithin's, London, proved July 10, 1646, mentions his four brothers, George, Arthur, John and Henry, the last three in New England (BK 65).
Leon C. Hills of Washington, D.C., well-known genealo- gist, has gathered much material concerning the Howland family, especially from the Parish Registers of Holy Trinity, in Cambridgeshire, Ely, and of Fen Stanton also the Visita- tions of London and Cambridgeshire. Henry Howland married first Alice Aires on April 26, 1600, at St. Mary's, Ely. It is probably her initials that are on the pewter men- tioned in Humphrey's will. She was probably the mother of John. Henry married, second, Margaret, last name un- known, who was buried in Fen Stanton on July 31, 1629. Henry Howland was buried in Fen Stanton on May 17, 1635 (AG 14-215). A tentative list of Henry's children is as follows:
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1-Humphrey, a London citizen and draper, born about 1600, died in England in 1646, married Annie, last name unknown. He was apprenticed to James Smith, November 19, 1613, and was made free December 1, 1620.
2-John, baptized January 16, 1602/3 in Holy Trinity, Ely. He became the Pilgrim.
3-Henry, baptized November 25, 1604, married Mary Newland and died in Duxbury on January 17, 1671. She died in Duxbury on June 16, 1674.
4-Simon, baptized August 19, 1604/5 in Fen Stanton. He married Ann Ulster in 1632 and died in England in 1634, leaving children. Both he and Henry were ap- prenticed for a time to Humphrey.
5-Margaret, married on April 26, 1623, to Richard Phil- lips; had ten children born between 1623 and 1654 in Fen Stanton and died in England.
6-George, died in 1643 in England. He was a London Merchant.
7-Arthur, married Margaret Reed, widow, and died in 1675 in Marshfield. His widow died in 1683.
8-William, baptized February , 1610/11 in Holy Trin- ity, Ely. He died before 1646 in England.
The foregoing would make John Howland just over seventy at the time of his death if he was baptized shortly after birth. This conflicts with the statement of Morton that John Howland "lived until he attained above eighty years in the world." It also conflicts with the Plymouth Church Records which state that he died in his eightieth year. The records seem to identify John's family, and the statements concerning his age at death would seem to be a mistake. Bradford describes this incident on the "Mayflower;" "In sundrie of these stormes the winds were so feirce; and the seas so high, as they could not beare a knote of saile, but were forced to hull, (drift), for diverce days togither. And in one of them, as they thus lay at hull, in a mighty storme,
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a lustie yonge man (called John Howland) coming upon some occasion above the gratings, was with a seele of the shipe (meaning toss in a rough sea) throwne into (the) sea; but it pleased God that he caught hould of the top-saile halliards, which hunge over board ,and rane out at length; yet he held his hould (though he was sundrie fadomes: under water) till he was hald up by the same rope to the brime of the water, and then with a boat hooke and other means got into the shipe againe, and his life saved; and though he was some thing ill with it, yet he lived many years after, and became a profitable member both in church and com- mone wealth" (B 94). The names of all of those who parti- cipated in the first two expeditions on shore from the:"May- flower" have not been preserved. He was a member. of the third expedition on the shallop which left the "Mayflower" on December 16, 1620, and which participated in the first encounter with the Indians on December 18, 1620, at what was later Eastham and which landed on the Rock at Ply- mouth and selected that spot as the permanent settlement (MR 43). He married at Plymouth before 1624, Elizabeth, daughter of John and Elizabeth Tilley, who was born about 1607. In the early spring of 1624, four acres of land were assigned to John Howland who had succeeded to be the head of John Carver's family group. In 1626, he was one of the men who assumed the debt of the Colony. John How- land was an Assistant from 1633 to 1635 and was elected a Deputy to the General Court in 1641. In April, 1634, when he was in command of the Kennebec trading post, a Mr. John Hocking killed one of his men and was in turn killed by another of Howland's men. One of Hocking's kinsmen in Boston pursued the matter so this made much trouble between Plymouth and Massachusetts Colonies, (N. E. IX, 80) (Maine Coll. 3, 1, 322) but the matter quickly died out when the true facts were known. (MD II 10-11). In the prep- arations for the Pequot War, he was one of those appointed to arrange for Plymouth's share. Meadow land was granted
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to him in 1636 at Island Creek, Duxbury. Numerous other grants were given to him. Because of his liberality to the Quakers, he was dropped as Deputy to the General Court in 1659 and 1660 but was reelected in 1661 and served until 1670. He lived during his latter years in his home at Rocky Nook where he died March 5, 1673 (MD II 70) (Plymouth Colonies Wills and Invent., Vol. III, part I, pgs. 49-54). He was buried on Burial Hill. Many years later a stone was placed where he was thought to have been buried. Morton said of him, "Hee was a godly man and an ancient pro- fessor in the wayes of Christ:"
"He was one of the first comers to this land, and proved a useful instrument of good in his place and was the last man that was left of those that came over in the shipp called the Mayflower that lived in Plymouth:" His widow died at Swansea, 31 December 1687 (MD II 118) (MD III 54). John Howland's will and inventory are published (MD II 70). They have had many descendants, of whom I shall men- tion only a few. Among them are Franklin Delano Roose- velt, President of the United States; Lt .- Colonel John Gor- ham, who had been in command of the expedition against the French in 1703-1704; Nathaniel Gorham, member of the Convention which framed the U. S. Constitution; Jo- seph Smith, founder of the Mormon Church; Phillips Brooks, Episcopal Bishop of Massachusetts; Parker H. Fill- more, author; Major General Adolphus Washington Greely, the Arctic explorer; William T. Davis, the historian; Henry Cabot: Lodge, U. S. Senator; Henry Billings Brown, Associ- ate Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court; Foster Stearns, Congressman from New Hampshire; Abbot Augustus Low, the legislator; Seth Low; Allen Wardwell, the lawyer; McClure Meredith Howland, President of the Pilgrim John Howland Society; and the Honorable Henry E. Howland, jurist and First Governor General of the Society of May- flower Descendants. Among the distinguished women de- scended from him are Lillian Russell and Maude Adams,
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