Did Giles Hopkins marry Massasoit's relative?

Question

Is there any research suggesting that Giles Hopkins married into Massasoit's family?

Answer 1

Giles Hopkins' wife was Catherine Wheldon, an English woman.

Comments

I am told that there was a Catherine (Caton) Wheldon who was Massasoit's (Ousamequin) Granddaughter.

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Frederick,

You'll find the sources for Catherine's origins and relationships on her profile:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Whelden-1

The Indian theories related to the family of Gabriel Whelden (which did not include his daughter Catherine) were debunked in the 1930s by the father of professional genealogy, Donald Lines Jacobus. See:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Franklyn_Bearce_Analysis

I don't know how Catherine / wife of Giles Hopkins got pulled into this Native theory, but it seems like it may have evolved out of the Franklin Bearce's fraudulent claims somehow.

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I read your response and my confusion comes from information I received from the author Jaci Snow who writes about the Hopkins family. In her work she identifies a wife of Giles to have been a native American she names as Catherine Caton Whelden but it appears that she was born in England and is not related to any Native American. To muddy the waters even further my Ancestry account shows me related to one Deborah Pokanoket who Ancestry says was a relative of Massasoit (read Ousamequin). I was told, however, that there was no Native American (Wampanoag) named Deborah. I just want to know what facts I can trust. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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The Internet is full of invented Native American ancestors, just like it’s full of trees connecting people to royalty.  Sometimes the people never existed at all, sometimes they are real people who have been supplied with fictional Native American descent.  Stick to people and trees that are backed up by actual documents from the time those people lived.   

Marriages had to be performed by a clergy person who could not marry someone who had not been baptized.  Documents show that Catherine Weldon was baptized in England, where she was born, and married in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

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I understand that there is plenty of , as you say "invented" people. Where my confusion lies comes from info gathered from Jaci Snow who has written prolifically about the Hopkins family and I think researches her work before publishing. She has identified a wife of Giles Hopkins to be a native American. This confuses me...As far as clergy only marrying those who had been baptized you would be correct in most cases but speaking as a clergyman who descended from separatist ancestors one needs to remember that the folks in the Plymouth Colony had no ordained clergy early on (Elder Brewster who was not ordained clergy  took on that role when Pastor Robinson stayed in Leiden) and all early weddings were civil celebrations not performed by Clergy until later when clergy arrived and even then the early Pilgrim weddings wee not church affairs.

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You say "I think researches her work before publishing" about Jaci Snow.  If she actually researches she should have listed the sources for where she obtained her information, i.e., court records, church records, tax records, etc. marriage records, etc.  If she has no sources or very few sources listed for her information then her work should be viewed very skeptically and used only as the basis to do further research.  Even if she list sources, ALWAYS get copies of those documents to verify all the information has been included.  I have a sourced genealogy book that supposedly includes my family only when getting copies of the documents listed I discovered the author had not included all of the information in the documents he was citing and what he left out contradicted the statements he wrote about several of the individuals.  So always be wary of written genealogies and verify the sources and facts yourself.

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Frederick, can you point us to this work by Jaci Snow? I'd like to take a look. Thanks.

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the easiest way to look at her work would be to google J.A. Snow. She writes historical novels about her ancestors. She is descended from the Stephen Hopkins family.. Her work is on Amazon in kindle format. I hope this helps . You can reach out to me at frogers63@gmail.com.

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I love historical fiction-- have since I was a child, and it's probably what contributed to my love of genealogy.

But historical fiction novelists do not need to cite their sources, so we really cannot rely on their novels as sources for our genealogy research.

If J.A. Snow believes that Giles Hopkins' wife Catherine Whelden was a Native American, then she has not kept up to date on the research of the Hopkins and Whelden families. Much of this research has been published in such peer-reviewed publications such as the Mayflower Families series and New England Historic Genealogical Society Register which have very high standards for source citations.

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were you able to read any of her work?