{"id":103220,"date":"2025-06-24T10:36:56","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T14:36:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=103220"},"modified":"2025-07-10T09:29:18","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T13:29:18","slug":"mayflower-descendants-whos-who-part-48-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/mayflower-descendants-whos-who-part-48-part-1.html","title":{"rendered":"Mayflower Descendants: Who\u2019s Who, Part 48 (part 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/em><\/strong> 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<\/a>, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Today I continue my series on \u201cMayflower Descendants: Who\u2019s Who,\u201d featuring a group of California pioneer families.<\/p>\n

\"Photos:
Photos: two views of the Menlo Park, California, home of Timothy and Mary Kellogg (Crittenden) Hopkins, from \u201cA Gilded Age Gone By.\u201d Credit: Stanford University Library Special Collections and Archives.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I begin with the family of Mary \u201cMay\u201d Kellogg (Crittenden) Hopkins (1862-1941), daughter of Hiram Crittenden (1814-1883) and Lydia (Sherwood) Crittenden (1829-1877), a direct descendant of Mayflower<\/em> passengers William Bradford, Stephen Hopkins, Thomas Rogers, John Alden, and Priscilla Mullins.<\/p>\n

Her full lineage can found in the \u201cRegister of the Society of Mayflower Descendants in the state of California; a record of descent from passengers on the good ship \u2018Mayflower,\u2019 A.D. 1620<\/a>,\u201d pages 23-26.<\/p>\n

Mary was a member of the California Mayflower Society, Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), and Colonial Dames.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: Mary \u201cMay\u201d Kellogg (Crittenden) Hopkins. Credit: Isiah West Taber; Stanford Historical Photograph Collection, Stanford University.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here is an ambrotype of Mary\u2019s mother, Lydia (Sherwood) Crittenden, daughter of William Sherwood (1786-1871) and Lydia Ann (Kellogg) Sherwood (1793-1865), and descendant of Mayflower<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: Lydia (Sherwood) Crittenden, 1856. Credit: UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library Collections.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mary married Timothy Hopkins (1859-1936), the adopted son of her aunt Mary Frances (Sherwood) Hopkins (1818-1891) aka \u201cAmerica\u2019s richest widow\u201d \u2013 the widow of railroad magnate Mark Hopkins (1814-1878).<\/p>\n

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\u2019 niece Mary on 28 November 1882.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: Timothy Hopkins. Credit: UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library Collections.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco, California), 16 October 1941, page 13<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This article reads:<\/p>\n

Member of a Pioneer Family Dies<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

She was the widow of Timothy Hopkins, one of the original trustees of Stanford University and an adopted son of [Mary Hopkins].<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s money).<\/p>\n

The will provided that Stanford use the income for the following purposes:<\/p>\n

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.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The article also states that Mrs. Hopkins was a philanthropist in her own right, and a diary reveals just that \u2013 but that will come in part two. For now, we\u2019ll take a look at where all the loot came from to bankroll her various charities.<\/p>\n

The deep pockets came from Mark Hopkins, a California railroad tycoon dubbed the \u201cVanderbilt of the Pacific Slope.\u201d He was a distinguished pioneer, a member of the group known as the \u201c49ers\u201d and one of the \u201cBig Four\u201d who founded the Central Pacific Railroad, along with Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker, and Collis Huntington.<\/p>\n

Below is a daguerreotype of Mark Hopkins taken in 1848 by Brady\u2019s Gallery, New York.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: Mark Hopkins. Credit: UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library Collections.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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 \u201ca second California Gold Rush.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\"An<\/a>
Watertown Daily Times (Watertown, New York), 19 May 1961, page 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mark Hopkins, the millionaire railroader, was one of seven children of Mark [Hopkins (1779-1828)] and Anastasia Lukens Kellogg Hopkins<\/a> [(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].<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"Illustration:
Illustration: Rev. Dr. Samuel Hopkins. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The railroad mogul\u2019s 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<\/a>, Mary Whiting having been a sister of Moses Hopkins\u2019 wife, Anna Whiting.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mary (Whiting) Kellogg\u2019s Mayflower<\/em> Lineage:<\/strong><\/p>\n