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.
William Latham, a "servant-boy" of Deacon Carver, has always been of doubtful relation, some circumstances indicating that he was of Leyden and hence was a SPEEDWELL passenger, but othersand these the more significantrendering it probable that he was an English boy, who was obtained in London (like the More children) and apprenticed to Carver, in which case he probably came in the MAY- FLOWER from London, though he may have awaited her coming with his master at Southampton, in which case he probably originally embarked there, with him, on the SPEEDWELL, and was transferred with him, at Plymouth, to the MAY-FLOWER. There is, of course, also still the possibility that he came with Carver's family from Leyden. Governor Carver's early death necessarily changed his status somewhat, and Plymouth early records do not give much beyond suggestion as to what the change was; but all indications confirm the opinion that he was a poor boyvery likely of London or vicinitytaken by Carver as his "servant."