Bethia Steele

Bethia Hopkins was born 1631, probably in England, 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
   1. Note: As of 5 June 2024, the FamilySearch repository doesn't have a birth record for this child. Her birthday is, therefore, reliant on secondary sources or family histories. If she was indeed born a dau., she probably died well before 1683, or when her father's Will/Probate was drafted.
2. Samuel Stocking1 b. 19 Oct 1656, d. 2 Dec 1697
   1. "Connecticut Births and Christenings, 1649-1906", FamilySearch (pub. 7 Jan 2020), Samuell Stockine, 19 October 1656, Mattabeset, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America
3. Bethia Stocking1 b. 6 Oct 1658, d. 6 Nov 1732
   1. "Connecticut Births and Christenings, 1649-1906", FamilySearch (pub. 7 Jan 2020), Bethia Stockine, 10 October 1658, Mattabeset, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America
4. John Stocking1 b. 24 Sep 1660
   1. "Connecticut Births and Christenings, 1649-1906", FamilySearch (pub. 7 Jan 2020), John Stockine, 24 Sep 1660; Mattabeset, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America.
5. Lydia Stocking1 b. 20 Jan 1662/63
   1. "Connecticut Births and Christenings, 1649-1906", FamilySearch (pub. 7 Jan 2020), Lidia Stockine, 20 Jan 1662, Mattabeset, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America
6. George Stocking+ 1 b. 20 Feb 1664/65, d. 17 Feb 1714
   1. "Connecticut Births and Christenings, 1649-1906", database, FamilySearch (pub. 7 Jan 2020), George Stockine, 20 Feb 1664; Mattabeset, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America
      1. Death: George Stocking; 15 February 1713 —
         1. "Connecticut, Charles R. Hale Collection, Vital Records, 1640-1955", FamilySearch; (pub. Sat Mar 09 11:04:22 UTC 2024)
         2. "Connecticut, Charles R. Hale Collection, Vital Records, 1640-1955", FamilySearch (pub. Sun Mar 10 09:40:12 UTC 2024), Entry for George Stocking, 5 February 1713.
7. Ebenezer Stocking1 b. 23 Feb 1666, d. b 1697
   1. "Connecticut Births and Christenings, 1649-1906", FamilySearch (pub. 7 Jan 2020), Ebenezer Stockine, 23 February 1666, Middletown, Hartford, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America
8. ? Hopkins2 b. 1669
   1. Note: FamilySearch has no record of this unknown child. His/Her existence and birth is, therefore, reliant wholly on secondary or family history books.
   2. Note: As of 5 June 2024, the FamilySearch repository doesn't have a birth record for this child.
9. Steven Stocking1 b. 23 Mar 1673, d. b 1697
   1. "Connecticut Births and Christenings, 1649-1906", FamilySearch (pub. 7 Jan 2020), Stephen Stockine, 28 March 1673, Middletown, Hartford, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America
10. Daniel Stocking1 b. 14 Apr 1677, d. 1733
    1. "Connecticut Births and Christenings, 1649-1906", FamilySearch (7 Jan 2020), Daniell Stockine, 114 April 1677, Middletown, Hartford, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America

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

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hopkins-379

Robert Charles Anderson argues[5] that the supposed date Bethia Steele made her deposition, age '57', was actually the date of acknowledgement, and that it was written no later than 5 February 1691/2.

In the same paper, he shows that when Bethia Steele was 57, Capt. Nathaniel White was said to be '60 years or therabouts', and died 1711 "aged about 82", which agrees with the birth of his eldest children in 1652. With this in mind, Nathaniel White would have been 60 years old in about 1689, putting Bethia's birth year about 1632, and that she married Samuel Stocking when she was around 21. Winthrop may have written '28' instead of '38' in his medical record, which would put her birth year about 1631.

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

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GEDCOM Note

Bethiah /Hopkins/