Mrs. Alice Mullens, whose given name we know only from her husband's will, filed in London, we know little about. Her age was (if she was his first wife) presumably about that of her husband, whom she survived but a short time.
Joseph Mullens was perhaps older than his sister Priscilla, and the third child of his parents; but the impression prevails that he was slightly her junior,—on what evidence it is hard to say. That he was sixteen is rendered certain by the fact that he is reckoned by his father, in his will, as representing a share in the planter's half-interest in the colony, and to do so must have been of that age.
Priscilla Mullens, whom the glamour of unfounded romance and the pen of the poet Longfellow have made one of the best known and best beloved of the Pilgrim band, was either a little older, or younger, than her brother Joseph, it is not certain which. But that she was over sixteen is made certain by the same evidence as that named concerning her brother.
Robert Carter is named by Bradford as a "man-servant," and Mrs. Austin, in her imaginative "Standish of Standish," which is never to be taken too literally, has made him (see p. 181 of that book) "a dear old servant," whom Priscilla Mullens credits with carrying her in his arms when a small child, etc. Both Bradford's mention and Mr. Mullens's will indicate that he was yet a young man and "needed looking after." He did not sign the Compact, which of itself indicates nonage, unless illness was the cause, of which, in his case, there is no evidence, until later.
Richard Warren, as he had a wife and five pretty well grown daughters, must have been forty-five or more when he came over. He is suggested to have been from Essex.
Stephen Hopkins is believed to have been a "lay-reader" with Mr. Buck, chaplain to Governor Gates, of the Bermuda expedition of 1609 (see Purchas, vol. iv. p. 174). As he could hardly have had this appointment, or have taken the political stand he did, until of age, he must have been at least twenty-one at that time. If so, he would have been not less than thirty two years old in 1620, and was probably considerably older, as his son Giles is represented by Goodwin ("Pilgrim Republic," p. 184) as being "about 15." If the father was but twenty-one when the son was born, he must have been at least thirty-seven when he became a MAY-FLOWER Pilgrim. The probabilities are that he was considerably older. His English home is not known. Professor Arber makes an error (The Story of the Pilgrim Fathers," p. 261) in regard to Hopkins which, unless noted, might lead to other and more serious mistakes. Noting the differences between John Pierce and a Master Hopkins, heard before the Council for New England, May 5/15, 1623, Arber designates Master Hopkins as "Stephen" (on what authority does not appear), and leaves us to infer that it was the Pilgrim Hopkins. On further inquiry it transpires that the person who was at variance with Master John Pierce over the matter of passage and freight money, on account of the unfortunate PARAGON, was a Rev. Master Hopkins (not Stephen of the MAY-FLOWER), who, we learn from Neill's "History of the Virginia Company," was "recommended July 3, 1622, by the Court of the Company to the Governor of Virginia, . . . being desirous to go over at his own charge. He was evidently a passenger on both of the disastrous attempts of the PARAGON under Captain William Pierce, and being forced back the second time, apparently gave up the intention of going.
Mrs. Elizabeth Hopkins, nothing is known concerning, except that she was not her husband's first wife. Sometime apparently elapsed between her husband's marriages.
Giles Hopkins we only know was the son of his father's first wife, and "about 15." An error (of the types presumably) makes Griffis ("The Pilgrims in their Three Homes," p. 176) give the name of Oceanus Hopkins's father as Giles, instead of Stephen. Constance (or Constantia) Hopkins was apparently about eleven years old in 1620, as she married in 1627, and probably was then not far from eighteen years old. Damaris Hopkins, the younger daughter of Master Hopkins, was probably a very young child when she came in the MAY-FLOWER, but her exact age has not been as certained. Davis, as elsewhere noted, makes the singular mistake of saying she was born after her parents arrived in New England. She married Jacob Cooke, and the ante- nuptial agreement of his parents is believed to be the earliest of record in America, except that between Gregory Armstrong and the widow Billington.
Edward Dotey is called by Bradford "a servant," but nothing is known of his age or antecedents. It is very certain from the fact that he signed the Compact that he was twenty-one. He was a very energetic man. He seems to have been married before coming to New England, or soon after.
Edward Leister (the name is variously spelled) was a "servant," by
Bradford's record. He was doubtless of age, as he signed the
Compact.