From an article by Kylie Mar, Host & Producer of Yahoo Entertainment:
On a new episode of Who Do You Think You Are? airing Sunday, Oscar-winning actress Allison Janney found out her connection to the Mayflower in 1620.
Due to her strong bond with her grandmother, Janney was interested in learning more about the maternal side of her family. On her ancestral journey, the actress traced her family tree all the way back to her 11-times great-grandfather Stephen Hopkins, who was born in 1582. Janney learned that Hopkins first arrived in Bermuda, which ultimately became the first English plantation, in the year 1609 — more than a decade before the Mayflower‘s trip across the Atlantic. The actress then traveled to Bermuda to learn more about Hopkins’s journey and experience, and it was there that she learned her ancestors ended up and died in Massachusetts.
At the Pilgrim Hall Museum in Plymouth, Janney was told Hopkins was “a familiar name in these parts” due to the fact that he, his second wife and four children traveled to Massachusetts on the historic Mayflower in 1620.
It is historically known that, after a grueling 10 weeks at sea, the Mayflower reached America and dropped anchor in Cape Cod, Mass. However, before they set foot ashore, the “Mayflower Compact” was written and signed. As Janney kept reading, she was then shocked by the sight of her 11-times great-grandfather’s name signed as a witness on Nov. 11, 1620, on what was essentially one of the earliest expressions of representative government in America.
“Stephen Hopkins is absolutely unique for having a foothold in the establishment of three English plantations. Being at Jamestown, being there at the beginnings of what became the English plantation in Bermuda as well, and then being here, arriving on the Mayflower in 1620 for the founding of Plymouth Colony,” explained Donna Curtin, executive director of the Pilgrim Hall Museum.
Janney was amazed by the fact that her ancestor was the only person to have been a part of all three established colonies, and the fact that she has a connection to the Mayflower “in a huge way.” And after learning how admired he was, Janney wasn’t at all surprised to find out that he later became an elected official and the governor’s assistant. However, she was astonished to learn that the Pilgrim Hall Museum still owned an artifact that once belonged to him.
You can read more at: https://yhoo.it/3z6jKbY