Hopkins of the Mayflower: Portrait of a Dissenter

The Author notes, "I have described Hopkins of the Mayflower as a portrait rather than a biography because too few facts are known about Stephen Hopkins to make the writing of a full-length biography possible at the present time (1972). I have read both primary and secondary sources, corresponded and talked with many helpful and knowledgeable persons on both sides of the Atlantic, and walked through the streets where Stephen Hopkins lived and did business. In may records of his time (1581-1644) I have found his name, and the family name appears even more often. But Stephen is a common name, and so is Hopkins. The records cannot all refer to Stephen Hopkins of the Mayflower. Future research may fill in gaps and solve mysteries so that a real biography can be written. For the present, I have tried to give a portrait of a type of man who was important in an age of change and dissent, the time of Elizabeth I and James I. Stephen Hopkins was a dissenter, both by temperament and religious conviction."So although the author's early conjectures have been corrected by later research, I have found this a very well-written, engaging read.

This book was hard to put down. I am related to Stephen Hopkins and so I found this book very interesting.

Very interesting book about the Mayflower Pilgrim, Stephen Hopkins