Stephen Hopkins - Man in portrait born 1707 -- Not Mayflower

Hi Leslie:

The portrait of the seated man in the gold vest is supposed to be the Stephen Hopkins (1707-1785) who signed the Declaration of Independence. He was born in Rhode Island and was first chancellor of (now) Brown University which is represented by the very large building in the background. The painting hangs at Brown. At the present time there is controversy surrounding the portrait since it's believed that this likeness was identified erroneously in Turnbull's portrait of the signers which is the only image used as source for the portrait.

The Stephen Hopkins of the MAYFLOWER died before 17 July 1644 as that was the date of his inventory. 20 Aug was the proof of will date. He died in Plymouth. He didn't live in Barnstable.

Google images is messing up a lot of trees because they don't identify WHICH person it is we're looking for. As you can imagine there aren't any Mayflower passengers who aren't already represented on any genealogy website or board.

Good luck on your research.
Shirley