Doubtful he was from Coventry, Warwickshire. The Coventry myth started in a book in the late 1890s. It's a long story--let me know if you want it. Mayflower Stephen's father was invented long ago as Nicholas Hopkins. Someone saw that a Nicholas Hopkins was Sheriff of Coventry in 1561 (this John would have been 13 yrs old at the time but that didn't stop people from grabbing him) so Warwickshire because the base of queries. After the Nicholas and his mythical wife thing fell apart (some people still don't know it did) and John was found in 2004, people just replaced the name Nicholas with John but left all the attached errors which are still being submitted to various sites.
Since Geni has a prominent spot at the top of most Google searches much of what is seen in the indexes for these old folks comes off to beginners as fact and they don't bother to read or research because they're being taught that all they need to do is click and merge information they find on the internet.
I can't find an event that happened on 10 April 1593 in Wortley, Gloucestershire, England that would indicate that this John Hopkins lived there and had died by that date. I'm assuming it's a probate record or will of a child. Always looking for documentation if you have it. Our John's inventory was reported 4 Sep 1593 in Winchester, Hampshire so he probably died end of August.
The only date I can find in Gloucestershire so far that's even CLOSE to 10 April 1593, is the next day. A burial for an unnamed daughter of Henry Hopkins. But that was in Cirencester, not Wortley. Maybe the Wortley guess is a carry over from the old Constance Dudley fiasco era.
No known connection between any Hopkins families in
Warwick,
Norfolk,
Worcester,
Gloucester,
Somerset, or anywhere else in England during these generations
to the Mayflower Hampshire family.
The title "Captain" was invented this century. There are no known records in Upper Clatford or Winchester, Hampshire that show John as a Captain. Simon Neal, Ernest Christensen, Caleb Johnson, and others, have looked through everything remotely resembling a Hopkins surname in co. Hampshire.
"Captain" is probably an error as Mary Sanford explained in 2011 in the discussion section. "This portrait, identified as Captain John Hopkins . . . ," Someone confused Esek Hopkins (1718-1802), http://tinyurl.com/b2hg2tu from Rhode Island who was the head of the fledgling US Navy, gave him the title of "Captain", placed his portrait (of the guy born in 1718) on John Hopkins' page and it got stuck.
This John Hopkins is believed to have had 2 children with each of his 2 wives. All baptism records found in Upper Clatford, Hampshire, England.
w/ first wife Agnis/Agnes Borrow/Barrowe/any variation, etc:
William bapt 16 Jun 1574. Nothing further.
Alice bapt 20 Mar 1577. Nothing further. (she didn't marry Gilbert).
w/ 2nd wife Elizabeth Williams (her parents not Morgan Williams and Eliz. Breyton):
Stephen bapt 30 April 1581. Mayflower
Susanna bapt 24 Jun 1584. Nothing further. Not Anna.
Susanna is not Stephen's half sister.
This is not John Nicholas or Nicholas John Hopkins. Commoners in England didn't have middle names back then. None of the Pilgrims did. Only 3 of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence did.
Documents known for this man are explained in the first 29 pages of this book:
http://tinyurl.com/Johnson-Book
(published 2007 with parts now at FREE GoogleBooks)
Updates after that for the Stephen Hopkins part are available at
http://tinyurl.com/WIKIPEDIA-Stephen-Hopkins
Stephen Hopkins is the only reason anyone is looking at this page anyway. Too bad we don't even know where or when John was born.
Shirley
