Bethia Steele

Bethia Hopkins was born about 1631 in the Hartford Colony to John & Jane (____) Hopkins.

SAMUEL STOCKING, eldest child of George & Anne (____) Stocking, married at Hartford 27 May 1652 Bethia Hopkins, daughter of JOHN HOPKINS {1634, Cambridge}.

She married 2nd to James Steele.

Children

1. Hannah Stocking1 b. 30 Oct 1654, d. b 1683
2. Samuel Stocking1 b. 19 Oct 1656, d. 2 Dec 1697
3. Bethia Stocking1 b. 6 Oct 1658, d. 6 Nov 1732
4. John Stocking1 b. 24 Sep 1660
5. Lydia Stocking1 b. 20 Jan 1662/63
6. George Stocking+ 1 b. 20 Feb 1664/65, d. 17 Feb 1714
7. Ebenezer Stocking1 b. 23 Feb 1666, d. b 1697
8. ? Hopkins2 b. 1669
9. Steven Stocking1 b. 23 Mar 1673, d. b 1697
10. Daniel Stocking1 b. 14 Apr 1677, d. 1733

notes

From http://www.dxhansen.com/SSHubbard2-o/p25.htm#i1305

Supplement to Stocking Ancestry 1909:

It is thought by some genealogists that John Hopkins, son of Stephen [Dx: Samuel??], of Mayflower fame, died young, and, therefore unmarried. others assert that Stephen [Dx: Samuel??] has a 2nd John, of whom Bethia was the granddaughter. It is probably best to consider the lineage of Bethia uncertain.1,4

Birth* 1641 Hartford, Connecticut, USA;

In the absence of records there is conclusive proof that Bethiah was born after the family removed to Hartford. Governor Wintrhop attended her child in 1669, and the entry in his Journal reads: "Bethia Stockin about 28 years, wife of Stockin of Middletown, child of about one month old" (p 926). In March 1697-98, "Bethiah Steele, 57 years of age or thereabouts" made a deposition in the Hartford court concerning the will of her first husband. (Probate court Record, pp. 44-45, Mawaring, 1:587) Twenty-nine years intervened between these statements, but both are in agreement that she was born in 1641.

According to an article in The American Genealogist by Robert Charles Anderson, FASG, the long held belief that Bethia Hopkins married Samuel Stocking at age 11 was due to a misdated deposition in a probate proceeding. (TAG, Vol. 77, No. 1, January 2002).2

Middletown Upper Houses reports that her 2nd husband, James Steele, had to sue for his wife to get what her first husband had given her by his will.6

From http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:Bethia_Hopkins_(9)_

" .... Returning to the Winthrop medical record, we can now propose that he made a simple error in this entry, writing "28" when he intended "38." Although the evidence is not certain, Winthrop probably made loose notes at the time of his medical visits, and then later transcribed these into his permanent journal. Such an arrangement could well give rise to errors of transcription such as this. The date of the record in question is 8 June 1669, and so under this hypothesis Bethia would have been born about 1631.

"We conclude, then, that Bethia Hopkins was born about 1631 or 1632 in England, and that she was about 20 or 21 years old when she married Samuel Stocking."[4]

• 4. Anderson, Robert Charles, "Bethia2 Hopkins did not Marry at Age Eleven," vol. 77 [Jan 2002] : 25-27, in The American Genealogist. (Demorest, Habersham, Georgia, United States: D.L. Jacobus).

Inscription

Founders Rock - First Settlers 1650 - 1654 West Side

In Honor of the Courageous and Unselfish Women who Settled this Town Their Descendants and Successors Dedicate this Monument on the 350th Anniversary of the Settlement Bethia Hopkins Stocking

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/194688346/bethia-stocking

Citations

1. [S165] Charles Henry Wright Stocking., The Stocking Ancestry Comprising the Descendants of George Stocking Founder of the American Family (The Lakeside Press, 1903),.
2. [S161] Timothy Hopkins, John Hopkins of Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1634 and Some of his Descendants (1932),. link
3. [S164] Malatiah Everett Dwight, The Kirbys of New England (The Trow Print, NY, 1898),.
4. [S166] Charles Henry Wright Stocking., The Supplement to the Stocking Ancestry Comprising the Descendants of Geroge Stocking Founder of the American Family (St. Martin's Press, 1909),.
5. [S169] M.D. Edward E. Cornwall, "Family of George Stocking," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 50 (April 1896): 171-176. link
6. [S163] Charles Collard Adams, Middletown Upper Houses (The Grafton Press, NY, 1908),.

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• "OUR HOPKINS FAMILY"

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• Reference: WikiTree Genealogy - SmartCopy: Jan 1 2017, 4:07:31 UTC
• Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: Jan 6 2017, 2:40:42 UTC