Joseph Mullens was perhaps older than his sister Priscilla, and the third
     child of his parents; but the impression prevails that he was
     slightly her junior,—­on what evidence it is hard to say.  That he
     was sixteen is rendered certain by the fact that he is reckoned by
     his father, in his will, as representing a share in the planter’s
     half-interest in the colony, and to do so must have been of that
     age.

Priscilla Mullens, whom the glamour of unfounded romance and the pen of
     the poet Longfellow have made one of the best known and best beloved
     of the Pilgrim band, was either a little older, or younger, than her
     brother Joseph, it is not certain which.  But that she was over
     sixteen is made certain by the same evidence as that named
     concerning her brother.

Robert Carter is named by Bradford as a “man-servant,” and Mrs. Austin,
     in her imaginative “Standish of Standish,” which is never to be
     taken too literally, has made him (see p. 181 of that book) “a dear
     old servant,” whom Priscilla Mullens credits with carrying her in
     his arms when a small child, etc.  Both Bradford’s mention and Mr.
     Mullens’s will indicate that he was yet a young man and “needed
     looking after.”  He did not sign the Compact, which of itself
     indicates nonage, unless illness was the cause, of which, in his
     case, there is no evidence, until later.

Richard Warren, as he had a wife and five pretty well grown daughters,
     must have been forty-five or more when he came over.  He is
     suggested to have been from Essex.

Stephen Hopkins is believed to have been a “lay-reader” with Mr. Buck,
     chaplain to Governor Gates, of the Bermuda expedition of 1609 (see
     Purchas, vol. iv. p. 174).  As he could hardly have had this
     appointment, or have taken the political stand he did, until of
     age, he must have been at least twenty-one at that time.  If so, he
     would have been not less than thirty two years old in 1620, and was
     probably considerably older, as his son Giles is represented by
     Goodwin ("Pilgrim Republic,” p. 184) as being “about 15.”  If the
     father was but twenty-one when the son was born, he must have been
     at least thirty-seven when he became a may-Flower Pilgrim.  The
     probabilities are that he was considerably older.  His English home
     is not known.  Professor Arber makes an error (The Story of the
     Pilgrim Fathers,” p. 261) in regard to Hopkins which, unless noted,
     might lead to other and more serious mistakes.  Noting the
     differences between John Pierce and a Master Hopkins, heard before
     the Council for New England, May 5/15, 1623, Arber designates Master
     Hopkins as “Stephen” (on what authority does not appear), and leaves