Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry continues her series on Mayflower descendants, featuring the Hopkins family line. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.

Today I continue my series on “Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who,” featuring a group of California pioneer families.

I begin with the family of Mary “May” Kellogg (Crittenden) Hopkins (1862-1941), daughter of Hiram Crittenden (1814-1883) and Lydia (Sherwood) Crittenden (1829-1877), a direct descendant of Mayflower passengers William Bradford, Stephen Hopkins, Thomas Rogers, John Alden, and Priscilla Mullins.

Her full lineage can found in the “Register of the Society of Mayflower Descendants in the state of California; a record of descent from passengers on the good ship ‘Mayflower,’ A.D. 1620,” pages 23-26.

Mary was a member of the California Mayflower Society, Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), and Colonial Dames.

Here is an ambrotype of Mary’s mother, Lydia (Sherwood) Crittenden, daughter of William Sherwood (1786-1871) and Lydia Ann (Kellogg) Sherwood (1793-1865), and descendant of Mayflower passengers William Bradford, Thomas Rogers, John Alden, and Priscilla Mullins. On 30 September 1849, Lydia married Hiram Crittenden, a direct descendant of Stephen Hopkins through his son Giles Hopkins and his wife, Catherine Weldon.

Mary married Timothy Hopkins (1859-1936), the adopted son of her aunt Mary Frances (Sherwood) Hopkins (1818-1891) aka “America’s richest widow” – the widow of railroad magnate Mark Hopkins (1814-1878).

Timothy Hopkins was born to Irish immigrants Patrick Nolan (1829-1862) and Catherine (Fallon) Nolan (1834-1903). His mother was the maid to the Hopkins family, and he was adopted in 1878 by Mrs. Mary Frances (Sherwood) Hopkins after the death of her husband. Timothy married Hopkins’ niece Mary on 28 November 1882.

Below is a death notice for Mary, who died on 14 October 1941 in San Mateo, California. According to her obituary, Mary and her husband Timothy were renowned for their philanthropic efforts, with Stanford College being the primary recipient of their generosity.

This article reads:

Member of a Pioneer Family Dies

Mrs. Mary Kellogg Hopkins, member of the pioneer family that strongly influenced transportation and education in early California days, died shortly before Tuesday midnight at her Menlo Park home

She was the widow of Timothy Hopkins, one of the original trustees of Stanford University and an adopted son of [Mary Hopkins].

Death came after a long illness. She was 79. Her only survivor is a daughter, Lydia K. Hopkins of Woodside [California]. Timothy Hopkins died January 1, 1936.

Under terms of his will, upon the death of Mrs. Hopkins, his entire income would be turned over to Stanford University. The estate is now estimated at $936,000 ($20,950,800 in today’s money).

The will provided that Stanford use the income for the following purposes:

Sixty percent to maintain the Hopkins Marine station at Pacific Grove; $4000 per year [about $87,473 today] to aid the Hopkins railroad library at the main campus; and the remainder to be used to support the Hopkins medical library at Stanford Medical School, San Francisco.

The article also states that Mrs. Hopkins was a philanthropist in her own right, and a diary reveals just that – but that will come in part two. For now, we’ll take a look at where all the loot came from to bankroll her various charities.

The deep pockets came from Mark Hopkins, a California railroad tycoon dubbed the “Vanderbilt of the Pacific Slope.” He was a distinguished pioneer, a member of the group known as the “49ers” and one of the “Big Four” who founded the Central Pacific Railroad, along with Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker, and Collis Huntington.

Below is a daguerreotype of Mark Hopkins taken in 1848 by Brady’s Gallery, New York.

When Mark Hopkins died suddenly in 1878 his estate was the largest inheritable fortune ever in the world. He died intestate and without an heir. His wife Mary was duly appointed administratrix and adopted Timothy, which provided an heir.

However, the courts were swamped with letters from chaps who claimed Hopkins promised to adopt them too, and one Midwest woman lay claim for $1,000,000 that she said the railroad man had promised he would leave for her.

This was just a taste of the drama to follow, as a significant portion of the country sought to establish familial connections to Hopkins, leading the media to describe the phenomenon as “a second California Gold Rush.”

This newspaper clip from 1961 provides some background on Mark Hopkins and his family. It was published in the Watertown Daily Times as part of a series written by David F. Lane. I added an image and more genealogy.

Mark Hopkins, the millionaire railroader, was one of seven children of Mark [Hopkins (1779-1828)] and Anastasia Lukens Kellogg Hopkins [(1780-1837)]. He was one of the five of their children who were born at Henderson Harbor [New York]. He was born Sept. 1, 1813, the year his father was supervisor. This child was a grandson of Moses Hopkins [(1751-1838)] of Great Barrington [Massachusetts] and a great grandson of Dr. Samuel Hopkins [(1721-1803), and his first wife Joanna (Ingersoll) Hopkins].

Here is a portrait of Rev. Dr. Samuel Hopkins, son of Capt. Timothy and Mary (Judd) Hopkins, and Congregational Church pastor of Great Barrington, Massachusetts, and a pastor in Newport, Rhode Island. He was an active opponent of slavery.

The railroad mogul’s father, Mark Hopkins Sr., son of Moses and Anna (Whiting) Hopkins, was born at Great Barrington, Mass., and was married there to his cousin Anastasia Lukens Kellogg. She was a daughter of Lieut. Ezra and Mary (Whiting) Kellogg, Mary Whiting having been a sister of Moses Hopkins’ wife, Anna Whiting.

Mary (Whiting) Kellogg’s Mayflower Lineage:

• William Bradford and Alice Anne (Carpenter) Southworth
• William Bradford and Alice Richards
• Samuel Bradford and Hannah Rogers, daughter of John Rogers (grandson of Mayflower passenger Thomas Rogers) and his wife Elizabeth (Pabodie/Peabody) Rogers, daughter of William Peabody and Elizabeth (Alden) Peabody, daughter of Mayflower passengers John Alden and Priscilla Mullins
• Elizabeth Bradford and Charles Whiting
• Gamaliel Whiting and Ann Gillett
• Mary “Polly” (Whiting) Kellogg

To be continued…

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Note on the header image: “Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor,” by William Halsall, 1882. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Related Articles:

• Fake Wills & Forged Bibles Lay Claim to Mark Hopkins’ Huge Estate
• The Gilded Age Palace: What Mark Hopkins Bankrolled
• Mad Scramble to Claim Mark Hopkins’ Riches: A ‘New Gold Rush’
• Pedigree, Pearls, and Pooches: The Hopkins Saga Continues
• The Mysterious Death of Heiress Lydia Kellogg Hopkins, Part I
• The Mysterious Death of Heiress Lydia Kellogg Hopkins, Part II
• America’s Richest Widow Restores Church and Cemetery of Great Barrington, MA
• R. Moss’ Hoax: A Scam for the Hopkins Fortune
• More Legal Battles over the Mark Hopkins Railroad Fortune
• Scams to Get the Hopkins Fortune: Seances, Table Tipping, and Slate Writing
• More Hopkins Saga: Minister’s Wife Battles Edward Searles
• Kin of America’s Richest Widow Battle Edward Searles in Probate Court