Constance Hopkins

Who was Constance Hopkins?

Constance Hopkins, also sometimes listed as Constance. She was probably born in Hursley, England. Constance was the second daughter of Stephen Hopkins, by his first wife, Mary. Some believe she was named in honor of Constance Hopkins. Constance, at the age of fourteen, along with her father and his second wife Elizabeth, accompanied by brother Giles, half-sister Damaris as well as two servants by the name of Edward Doty and Edward Lester were passengers on the Mayflower on its journey to the New World in 1620. Along the way her half-brother Oceanus was born, the only child born on the Mayflower journey. Her headstone marker, placed in 1966 by descendants, states in part “Wife of Nicholas Snow, Eastham’s first town clerk 1646 – 1662”.

Constance married Nicholas, sometime before the Division of Cattle which occurred May 22, 1627. Nicholas came to Plymouth on board the ship Anne in 1623 and was made a freeman at Plymouth in 1633. The inventory of Nicholas Snow's estate made at his death lists a wide variety of cooper's and carpenter's tools; this may indicate his trade. He was town clerk at Eastham and held several other local government offices.