BORN: Circa 1585/England
DIED: Between 1638 and 1644/Plymouth

In her mid-thirties when she made the Mayflower voyage, Elizabeth Hopkins was in the prime of life. She was accompanied by her husband Stephen, who had earlier been to the New World; their two-year-old daughter Damaris; and two stepchildren, Giles and Constance. There were also two young men who were servants of the Hopkinses: Edward Doten and Edward Leicester. Elizabeth was pregnant when she boarded the Mayflower and gave birth to a son Oceanus at sea. She went on to have five more children in Plymouth.

The Hopkins family were not Separatists and were one of the few who survived the first winter intact.

Back in England, Elizabeth may have inherited a brewing business from her husband’s first wife. In Plymouth, she and Stephen began operating an alehouse. Court records tell us they occasionally over-served their patrons. Running the business would have allowed Elizabeth to tend to her household while earning extra income. As a community hub and stopping place for travelers, the tavern would have exposed her to a variety of people and ideas.

Elizabeth Hopkins died sometime before her husband, and by the time his will was written in June 1644, though the precise date of her death is not known.