Our Immigrant Ancestors -- Stephen Hopkins

With thanks to Lorine McGuinnes Schulze of Olive Tree Genealogy for the idea, this post kicks off a weekly feature focusing on one of my many immigrant ancestors to North America. And who better to start with, than my first immigrant ancestor? I'm speaking of course of Mayflower passenger Stephen Hopkins (1581-1644), my 10th great grandfather.

It's true that the Mayflower reached what is now Plymouth on Cape Cod in 1620, but Stephen actually came earlier -- to Jamestown, the first and ill-fated settlement of the Virginia colony in 1610.

To say that Stephen led an interesting life is an understatement. Sailing to Jamestown aboard the Sea Venture in 1609 from England to Virginia, he was shipwrecked in a bad storm in Bermuda. You can more read about the Sea Venture here. Some say that Shakespeare's The Tempest is based on this event, but that may be a tall tale. He and his companions managed to make their way from Bermuda to Virginia almost a year later, finding the colony decimated by starvation. Some time after the 1613 death in England of his first wife, Stephen returned there, only to return in 1620 with his new wife and his blended family, including his son Giles, from whom I descend.

Noted Mayflower historian Caleb Johnson wrote a biography about my ancestor that's a fascinating read. Here's a bit of a synopsis of Here I Shall Die Ashore.

Stephen wasn't fleeing religious persecution when he signed on to the Mayflower. He was not a Puritan or a Separatist. He was on the Mayflower as a "stranger", someone interested in the potential economic opportunities that the New World might present. In other words, he was the first entrepreneur in my far-flung family. He was one of 41 men who signed the Mayflower Compact very soon after they reached shore. This was the first governing document in the New World. Read more.

Immigrant Ancestors, 1942 entry

Once settled in Plymouth, Stephen operated a tavern, but ran into problems with the authorities. Plymouth records indicate that he let "men drink in his house upon the Lords day".. "for suffering servants and others to sit drinking in his house" (contrary to Court orders) Also to play games "& such like misdemeanors, is therefore fined fourty shillings." And unscrupulous, with the Court having several charges against him "for selling wine, beere, strong waters, and nutmeggs at excessiue rates, is fyned." (source: Mayflower Quarterly, November 2011)

Last September, at the annual two-day meeting of the Nova Scotia Colony of Mayflower Descendants, I met "Stephen Hopkins", very convincingly interpreted in character, language and costume by professional colonial interpreter Chris Messier of Plimoth Plantation. It was a really wonderful experience.

The Nova Scotia Colony is a branch of the Canadian Society of Mayflower Descendants, which is a partner society of the General Society of Mayflower Descendants. It is thanks to yet another internet cousin that I learned of my descent from Stephen Hopkins, a discovery that opened the doors to many other finds over the years. And yes, I'm a member of the Society.

I was so excited last year when the National Geographic Channel produced Saints and Strangers, that aired the week of American Thanksgiving. It chronicled the Mayflower passengers' earliest days. But the National Geographic Channel we get in Canada is licensed to another broadcaster who isn't bound to broadcast all of the American channel's programming. The things you learn when you ask why. Instead, they air mindless looped pseudo reality programming with titles like Airport Security: Colombia, Science of Stupid, and Border Security. I'm still waiting to see Saints and Strangers. I'm sure that one day I will.

This is a very abbreviated history of my 10th great grandfather, Stephen Hopkins. Much has been written about my ancestor. 

The never ending story continues....

Tall Tale Tuesday: Bringing Electricity to Montreal

Welcome to Tall Tale Tuesdays. Not every Tuesday, but when I have a tall tale to tell, I'll write about it on a Tuesday.

My father was one of six siblings, who between them, produced 29 children. Only two siblings remained in Montreal. The rest put down roots in Ontario and New Jersey, So we cousins didn't all know each other, let alone know of each other, and collectively, we never met growing up. Geography, expensive long distance charges and not a lot of extra cash for visiting all factored into why this didn't happen. That has changed in the last 20 years when most of us became connected, thanks to the internet making research easier.

One of the stories my siblings and I heard growing up was that our grandfather, John James Dougherty, was responsible for introducing electricity in Montreal. My father made it sound like Grandpa single-handedly was responsible for this herculean feat. Or maybe that's how my younger self imagined it.

A few years ago, two cousins and I went to a gathering of most of the children and some grandchildren of my father's older brother a couple of hours outside Toronto. We met first and second cousins we'd never met before. It was great. Over the afternoon, many stories were told and notes were compared. Good times. Then, one of my cousins said that our grandfather was responsible for the introduction of electricity in Montreal. I burst out laughing. It's incredible that although we were completely disconnected, we heard the same stories growing up.

So, about that. Let's do some fact checking. My grandfather attended McGill University from 1905 to 1908, studying electrical engineering in the Faculty of Science. But for whatever reason, did not graduate. Maybe it was that appendicitis that sent him up the street to the Royal Victoria Hospital, where he met my grandmother.

My grandfather in 1906 at McGill University

City directories tell us that he did work as a manager at Hill Electric the first few years out of McGill. In fact for many years, he worked in the electrical field in Montreal. But surely electricity had already arrived in a major city like Montreal earlier than the 1910s.

In a history of electricity in Canada, I found this. Check the third bullet from the bottom. Montreal received electricity in 1903. Aha!

So, what is far more likely is that he worked--with many others--to make electricity more widely available across Montreal. But what a great story for easily impressed children.

The never ending story continues ....

The Nelson side -- Nova Scotia

Elizabeth Alice Nelson (1879-1953) -- always called Alice -- was my paternal grandmother.

Alice Nelson

She was born in Salmon River, Colchester, Nova Scotia, now part of Truro and near Great Village. It is through Alice that I descend from ordinary people, heroes and villains, nobility, royals, Magna Carta sureties and barons, a Mayflower passenger and some of the oldest families of North America.

Alice trained as a teacher at the Truro Normal College, but teaching was not for her it seemed. So in 1908, aged 28, she went off to Montreal to become part of what became the first graduating class of registered nurses at the Royal Victoria Hospital. In her final months as a student, she was assigned to care for a young man who was recovering from an appendectomy. That man was my grandfather, John James Dougherty (1879-1953). Alice graduated, but never worked as a nurse, instead marrying John on 20 Sep 1909 in Montreal, after converting to Roman Catholicism, having been raised a Baptist.

Marriage record, St Michael the Archangel Parish register

The first Nelson to come to the Truro area was my fourth great grandfather, Alexander Nelson (abt 1737-1803), who may or may not have fought with General Wolfe at the Plains of Abraham -- that's one of the stories or perhaps a tall tale. He was probably born in Glasgow, Scotland. Alexander was a New England Planter who arrived in Nova Scotia from Boston, newly married, in 1761 and received a Crown land grant.

Alexander Nelson land grant

These land grants were of seized lands during the Acadian Expulsion, a fact not to be proud about. I believe a part of the land Alexander received remains in Nelson hands to this day. My father and his brothers spent many boyhood summers working on the farm in Great Village.

Alexander was followed to Nova Scotia over the next 25 years by many other of my New England ancestors. And yet, I still can't prove any link to United Empire Loyalists -- yet -- which some friends will find very funny indeed.

Alexander and his wife Margaret had at least 13 children, some of whom died young, but many more of whom married and had their own large families. Some of those stayed in Nova Scotia, others went to the United States. Besides me, some of Alexander's better known descendants are Wild Bill Hickok and Ozzie Nelson (the 1950s Ozzie and Harriet show).

The never ending story continues.