The Review and the Decision

 

My application was approved! 

 

Plymouth took a long look at all the evidence and has certified that I am a descendant of Stephen Hopkins.  When John first sent the email letting me know of the outcome I was surprised at how thrilled I was.  

The lineage traces back to my 11^th great grandfather, Stephen Hopkins, who was born in 1581 in England.  The line is on my gran’s side of the family through her father Archie Wood.

Just over 2 years of research on this branch of the family and I am proud to know that the “gold standard in lineage societies” has thoroughly reviewed and verified my research.  The Society will incorporate the documentation I submitted into their vast repository of information available for future researchers.  I feel validated to know I didn’t just drop into a rabbit hole only to find out I was way off base all along. Especially after all the time and effort I spent researching.

Stephen Hopkins was an interesting character and I want to learn more about him and his life.  He was apparently an adventurous sort who survived a shipwreck aboard the Sea Venture in 1609, he talked himself out of a death penalty for “mutiny & rebellion” for speaking out against the governor and he owned a tavern for which he was fined by the courts on more than one occasion for a variety of ‘crimes of the time’.  He was also one of the forty-one signers of the Mayflower Compact in 1620 which set out the rules for self-governance for the good of their new colony. 

It has been a rewarding journey to say the least!

Depiction of the signing of the Mayflower Contract aboard the Mayflower, 1620.

Image from the Mayflower Society Website

www.themayflowersociety.org/history/the-mayflower-compact/

 

Where To Next?

I’ve worked so long on the line to Stephen Hopkins and the Mayflower, that I’m not sure where to go next in my family tree research. 

As far as the status of my Mayflower application is concerned, the Canadian Mayflower historian, John, that I am working with submitted it in late November.  I still wasn’t sure if there was enough supplementary documentation for my 3^rd great grandfather William Wood (Jr.) parents, but he felt we could support the argument.  I found more information supporting my 5^th great-grandmother, Rebecca Cain’s parents as well.  The package was submitted to the General Society of Mayflower Descendants (“the Society”) in Plymouth, MA and I was informed that it normally took a couple of months for a review to be complete.

The Society did come back asking for analyses to prove that Leah Adams was the mother of Rebecca Cain and for the parents of William Wood Jr.  Thankfully I had done extensive research and completed research reports for both individuals.  John took my reports and work that he had done and summarized them into two analyses for the Society.  In his words, “given the extensive research you did, I think we can provide analyses which are conclusive.”  The documents were submitted January 30^th.

On that same day, John got another message from Plymouth that another verifier looking at the application wanted some additional and, in some case, better copies of information we had submitted in November.  We gathered what they needed and sent it February 1^st.

I knew going in that this was going to be tough because there has yet to be a proven line down to my Wood ancestors.  Throughout my time researching I did connect with others also descended from the line that too had problems because of the lack of documentation for Rebecca Cain.  I suspected that because of that, the Society were going to take a hard look at my submission.

So, I now anxiously await their decision.  The thing is, there is very specific documentation required by the Society. Failing that documentation there needs to be enough supporting documents, research, and analysis proving that those other documents all relate to the individual for the Society to accept them. I will be extremely disappointed if they don’t accept my application for membership, but I have no doubt that the line I have traced is accurate.