Unto Us A Child Is Born

When the Mayflower set sail from Plymouth in 1620, amongst the passengers were eight adult women, three who were at least six months into their pregnancies. These women were Susanna White, Mary Allerton and Elizabeth Hopkins.  Maybe it was expected that they would arrive in their new homeland before the time to give birth came, though history for these women is limited as at this time they had little rights and there are limited records of their courage and experiences. 

The journey was hampered by storms and the Mayflower was blown off course, making the voyage longer than expected. During the voyage Elizabeth Hopkins gave birth to a son who was named Oceanus, his exact date of birth is unknown. Having been born on the Atlantic Ocean he was named 'Oceanus’, Latin for ocean.

Oceanus arrive with his family, Stephen and Elizabeth Hopkins in America, surviving the first winter, but died aged 2.  His parents had married on February 19th 1617 or 18 at St Mary Matfelon Church in Whitechapel, London.  They had their first child, a daughter Damaris, shortly after in 1618.  They boarded the ship as part of a group of passengers known as the ‘Strangers’, which meant they were not part of the Separatist travellers but were aboard for different reasons. In the case of the Hopkins’ it was likely that they were aboard for their mercantile abilities as well as Stephen’s previous experience of travelling to the New World.

This scene was built by James Pegrum as part of a series of models on the voyage of the Mayflower. Follow us on  Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to see them first.