John Winthrop1,2,3,4

M, b. 12 January 1588, d. 26 March 1649
FatherAdam Winthrop III b. 10 Aug 1548, d. 28 Mar 1623
MotherAnne Browne b. 1559, d. 19 Apr 1629
Gov. John Winthrop [courtesy of Wikipedea]
     John was born on Tuesday, 12 January 1588 in County Suffolk, England, at his parent's home at Edwardstone. There is little evidence of the early life of John. From the diary of his father, it is learned that his father was very proud of his only son. There is also very little known of his education. It is highly likely that his early education came through private tutors. Again in his father’s diary, it states that he was admitted to Trinity College at Cambridge 8 December 1602, that he began matriculating on the 2nd of the following March, and that he made trips home and back to Cambridge and the last noted trip being on 27 July 1604, he returning to Cambridge. His education soon ended for shortly after this date, the diary shows that John began making visits to Great Stambridge in Essex, where he made the acquaintance of Mary Forth. On one of these trips, John entered a marriage contract with Mary on the 28 March 1604 by the minister Mr. Culverwell, who was to become a heavy influence on John’s religious views.5 John married Mary Forthe on 16 April 1605 in Great Stanbridge, County Essex, England. Mr. Culverwell performed the ceremony. John studied law at Gray's Inn and at some point began practicing law, and eventually worked as an attorney at the Court of Wards in London. John's wife, Mary, died in June 1615 in Groton Manor, County Suffolk, England, leaving him a widower. John married 2nd Thomasine Clopton on 6 December 1615 in Groton, County Suffolk, England. John's wife, Thomasine, died on 8 December 1616 in Groton, County Suffolk, England, leaving him a widower.6 John married 3rd Margaret Tyndal before 24 April 1618 in Great Maplestead, County Essex, England. On the 24th, Margaret came with her husband as his wife to Groton Manor for the first time.7 John made his will on 10 May 1620 at Groton, County Suffolk, England.

In the name of God, amen. This tenth day of May, in the year of our Lord God 1620 I John Wynthrop of Groton, in the county of Suffolk, Esquire, being in sound mind and good health do make my last will and testament in matter following : First, I commend my soul into the hands of God, who hath called me into this grace wherein now I stand and rejoice. My body I yield to the earth. For such temporal goods as I shall leave behind me, I commit to the care and disposition of Margaret my wife, [Mr. Adam Winthrop my father, Anne Winthrop my mother] and John Winthrop my son, whom I doe ordain executors of this my will. Item, I doe give unto my said wife all those my lands and tenements which I lately purchased of William Forthe of Neyland, gentleman; the two tenements and six acres of land, lying by Leven Heath, and ten acres of woodland; which land and woods are called by the several names of Masterman's Cross, Masterman's Grove, Stubbins Cross, Stubbins Grove and Homylies Grove; also one close of pasture-ground, called Little-pond Field, containing about eight acres, lying at the end of Neyland Town, towards Buers; and also three acres of meadow lying in Lowe's Meadow, in the parish of Assington, just by the said end of Neyland Town: all of which are more particularly expressed in a deed of feoffment from the said William Forthe to me made, bearing date the twenty seventh day of July, 1617: to have and to hold the said tenements, lands, pastures, and woods unto my said wife for term of her life; and after her decease, to remain to Adam my son, and to his heirs. I give unto my said son John all that messuage wherein I now dwell, together with that indenture of lease which I have in the same, and in certain acres of land in Groton being parcel of the rectory of the same parish. Item, whereas I have one parcel of land called Upper Crabtreewent, now in the occupation of Philip Gostlin the elder, which I have left out of former conveyances that I might lay it unto the parsonage of Groton, in satisfaction of the like quantity of land which I have of the same, I do hereby admonish my said son that he so dispose hereof as may be best to God's glory and the due recompense of the faithful incumbent; as myself purpose to do, if God spare me life.
Item, for Mary my daughter, I will that my executors shall pay her grandfather Forthe his legacy of £240, to be paid her at her age of eighteen years, and withal, I commit her to the care of my executors to be well and Christianly educated with such goods as I shall leave unto them. Item, I will that my executors shall pay unto Luce Winthrop, my sister, one hundred and twenty pounds; one hundred whereof is due to her upon an agreement between my father and me upon the setting over his whole estate unto me. Item, I will that they shall pay unto Ezckicl Bonde threescore pounds, which is due to him of such legacies as my father was to pay unto him. Item, I will that my sons Henry and Forthe shall be brought up in learning, out of the rents they are to have by the will of their said grandfather Mr. Forthe. My other two sons Stephen and Adam I commend to the care of their mother, to be brought up in the fear of God. Item, I will that my executors shall pay my son Henry £13.6.8. yearly out. of lands which should fall to him by his grandfather Forthe's will at his age of twenty-four years. Item, I make my loving wife and John my son executors of this my will; charging them that my debts may be truly paid; for performance whereof I do give unto my son John the lease of the house I dwell in, with the lands thereunto belonging and therewith occupied.8


In the spring of 1630, he led a fleet of eleven vessels, consisting of seven hungred passengers, to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He sailed on the :Arbella" being accompanied by his two younger sons: Samuel & Stephen. In 1631, his wife, Margaret, came to New England on the ship, "Lyon". Their baby daughter, Anne, died on this voyage. John was elected Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony for three separate terms beginning in 1637. He died in office in 1649. Even though not officially Governor in the years he was not in elected office, he remained in some official capacity in office continuosly from 1637 until his death and for all practical purposes led the colony as its leader during that entire span of time. John made his will on 29 October 1639 at Boston in the Massachuetts Bay Colony.

"my dear wife ... half my farm at Tenhills during her life"; to "my good son John ... the other Moiety of my farm Tenhills with the stock thereupon, and after the decease of my wife the whole"; to "my son Adam my island called the Governor's Garden"; to "my son Stephen my moiety of the Isle Prudence in Naragansett Bay, which with his part of the reversion of his mother's estate in England will be a good portion"; to "my son Deane and his heirs my land at Pullen Point with the 40 acres of marsh on the other side the hill there ... and if my land beyond Powderhorne Hill shall not be sold etc. then I give it to him and his heirs"; to "my son Sam[ue]ll my lot at Concorde ... and the half of my farm of 1200 acres upon Concord River"; residue to son John, "whom together with my wife I make executor"; to "Jo[hn] Gager ... a cow ... in recompense of a heifer his father bought of me"

. On 25 June 1641 Winthrop added a note to this document, stating that his estate had become "much decayed through the unfaithfulness of my servant Luxford ... I am now forced to revoke" this will. He apparently never composed another, for he died intestate.9

John's wife, Margaret, died on 14 June 1647 in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, leaving him a widower. John married 4th Martha Rainsborough after 20 December 1647 in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts. She was the widow of Thomas Coytmore & sister of Thomas & William Rainsborough.10 John departed this life on Friday, 26 March 1649 in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts. He died intestate with an estate valued at 103 pounds, 10 shillings, 11 pence.9 He was buried at Boston in the Massachuetts Bay Colony in King's Chapel.

Family 1

Mary Forthe b. 1 Jan 1583, d. Jun 1615
Children

Family 2

Thomasine Clopton b. 1583, d. 8 Dec 1616

Family 3

Margaret Tyndal b. 1591, d. 14 Jun 1647

Family 4

Martha Rainsborough d. c 24 Oct 1660

Citations

  1. [S1056] John Winthrop, John Winthrop (12 January 1587/8[1] – 26 March 1649) was one of several wealthy Puritan merchants and business men who in 1628 obtained a royal charter for the Massachusetts Bay Company from King Charles I. In 1630 he led a group of colonists to the New World, founding a number of communities on the shores of Massachusetts Bay and the Charles River.[2] Between 1629 and his death in 1649, he served 12 annual terms as governor, and was a force of comparative moderation in the religiously conservative colony. Although Winthrop was a respected political figure, he was criticised for his obstinacy regarding the formation of a legislature in 1634, and he clashed repeatedly with other Puritan leaders like Thomas Dudley, Rev. Peter Hobart and others. John Winthrop was born on 12 January 1587/8[1][3] to Adam and Anne (née Browne) Winthrop in Edwardstone, Suffolk, England. His birth was recorded in the parish register at Groton.[4] His father's family had been successful in the textile business, and his father was a lawyer and prosperous landowner with several properties in Suffolk.[5] His mother's family was also well-to-do, with properties in Suffolk and Essex.[6] When John was young his father became a director at Trinity College, Cambridge.[7] When Adam's brother John emigrated to Ireland, Adam's family took residency at Groton Manor.[8]
    Winthrop married his first wife, Mary Forth, on 16 April 1605 at Great Stambridge, Essex. Mary bore him six children; the oldest son of that marriage was John Winthrop, the Younger, a future governor and magistrate of Connecticut. Another son, Henry Winthrop, married his cousin Elizabeth Fones, who came to be of some notoriety in the colonies.[9][10] Mary died in June 1615. Winthrop married his second wife, Thomasine Clopton, on 6 December 1615 at Groton, Suffolk. Thomasine died on 8 December 1616. On 29 April 1618 at Great Maplestead, Essex, Winthrop married his third wife, Margaret Tyndal. In the spring of 1630, Winthrop led a fleet of eleven vessels and 700 passengers to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the New World, sailing aboard the Arbella and accompanied by his two young sons, Samuel Winthrop, a future Lieutenant Governor of Antigua, and Stephen.[11] Son Henry arrived 2 July 1630 on the ship Talbot.[9][10]
    Winthrop's wife, Margaret, sailed on the second voyage of the Lyon in 1631,[11] leaving their small manor behind. Their baby daughter, Anne, died on the Lyon voyage.[11] Two more children were born to them in New England. Margaret died on 14 June 1647 in Boston, Massachusetts. Sometime after 20 December 1647 and before the birth of their only child in 1648, Winthrop married his fourth wife, Martha Rainsborough. Martha was the widow of Thomas Coytmore, and sister of Thomas and William Rainborowe, famous Levellers. Winthrop died of natural causes on 26 March 1649.
  2. [S1061] William Richard Cutter, Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of Boston and Eastern Massachusetts, Volume I: page 50 -.
  3. [S1064] Jmes G. Moseley, John Winthrop's World: History as a Story, The Story as History.
  4. [S457] Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, CHURCH MEMBERSHIP: Admitted to Boston church as member #1 on 30 July 1630, the date the church was organized
    FREEMAN: 25 May 1636. (This action was merely a formality, as it had been assumed that Winthrop and several of the other colony leaders were freemen based on their early participation in Massachusetts Bay Company affairs in London.)
    EDUCATION: Attended Trinity College, Cambridge, briefly, then studied law at Gray's Inn, and in the 1620s was an attorney at the Court of Wards in London.
    OFFICES: Governor of Massachusetts Bay, 1630-1633, 1637-1639, 1642-1643, 1646-1648. Deputy Governor, 1636, 1644-1645. Assistant, 1634-1635, 1640-1641.
    ESTATE: There is no surviving entry for John Winthrop in the 1645 Boston Book of Possessions, but he owned two houses in Boston. He also owned a large farm along the Mystic River, called Tenhills Farm. In a will dated 29 October 1639 John Winthrop bequeathed to "my dear wife ... half my farm at Tenhills during her life"; to "my good son John ... the other Moiety of my farm Tenhills with the stock thereupon, and after the decease of my wife the whole"; to "my son Adam my island called the Governor's Garden"; to "my son Stephen my moiety of the Isle Prudence in Naragansett Bay, which with his part of the reversion of his mother's estate in England will be a good portion"; to "my son Deane and his heirs my land at Pullen Point with the 40 acres of marsh on the other side the hill there ... and if my land beyond Powderhorne Hill shall not be sold etc. then I give it to him and his heirs"; to "my son Sam[ue]ll my lot at Concorde ... and the half of my farm of 1200 acres upon Concord River"; residue to son John, "whom together with my wife I make executor"; to "Jo[hn] Gager ... a cow ... in recompense of a heifer his father bought of me" . On 25 June 1641 Winthrop added a note to this document, stating that his estate had become "much decayed through the unfaithfulness of my servant Luxford ... I am now forced to revoke" this will. He apparently never composed another, for he died intestate.
    On 9 May 1649 "Mrs. Martha Winthropp and Mr. Adam Winthropp [were] granted administration so far as the estate will go." The inventory of the estate of "John Winthrop Esquire, late Governor of the Massachusetts, deceased," taken 17 April 1649, totalled £103 10s. 11d., with no real estate included, citing 
    BIRTH: Edwardstone, Suffolk, 12 January 1587/8, son of Adam and Anne (Browne) Winthrop
    DEATH: Boston 26 March 1649 ("March 26, '48-9 [sic]. Our honored Governor, Mr. John Winthrop, departed this life, - a man of great humility and piety, an excellent statesman, well skilled in the law, and of a public spirit" .
    MARRIAGE: (1) Great Stambridge, Essex, 16 April 1605 Mary Forth; she was buried 26 June 1615.
    (2) Groton 6 December 1615 Thomasine Clopton; she d. 8 December 1616, and was bur. at Groton 11 December 1616.
    (3) Great Maplestead, Essex, 29 April 1618 Margaret Tyndal; she arrived in New England on 2 November 1631, having sailed on the Lyon on its second voyage of that and was soon admitted to Boston church as member #111, she died at Boston on 14 June 1647.
    (4) Soon after 20 December 1647, as her second husband, Martha Coytmore, widow of Thomas Coytmore and daughter of William Rainsborough, she m. Boston 10 March 1651/2, and died there about 24 October 1660. (Wyman and Pope give the date of John Winthrop's fourth marriage as 4 December 1647, and later writers have followed them, but the marriage contract shows that the marriage did not take place until after 20 December 1647; these two authors were apparently misled by an early account of the Winthrop family which put the number "4," indicating fourth wife, immediately ahead of "December 1647," the month of the marriage as indicated by the marriage contract.).
  5. [S1058] Rober C. Winthrop, Life and Letters of John Winthrop: From his Embarkation for New England in 1630 with the Charter and Company of the Massachuestts Bay until his Death in 1649, pages 58-59 - Pages 58-59.

    …The following entries in his father's diary seem to prove that he was in attendance on the college terms for about eighteen months after his admission:
    “1602. The 2 of Marche my sonne went to cambrige.
    1603. the 23rd of July my sonne came from Cambrige.
    The xth [February] my sonne went to Cambrige
    The xxiiii of April my sonne retourned from Cambrige.
    The xxviith (July) my sonne did ride to Cambrige.”

    These are the only references, in Adam's diary, to his son's connections with the University; and they are soon succeeded by the following: --

    “1604. This xth of November my sonne did ride into Essex with William Forth to Great Stambridge.
    The xxvith of Marche I & my sonne did ride to Mr. John Foorthes of Great Stambridge in Essex.
    The xxviiith day my sonne was sollenly contracted to Marty Fourth by Mr Culverwell minister of Great Stambridge in Essex…
    The ixth (April) my sonne did ride into Essex.
    The xvith of April he was married at Great Stambridge by Mr Culverwell…
    The xiiith of May my sonne & his wife came to Groton from Loondon, and the ixth I made a marriage feaste when Sir Thomas Mildmay & his lady, my sister were present. The same day my sister Veysye came tro me & departed on the 24th of Maye. My daster Fones came the viii of May & departed home the xxiiird of Maye”.
  6. [S1064] Jmes G. Moseley, John Winthrop's World: History as a Story, The Story as History, page 24.
  7. [S1058] Rober C. Winthrop, Life and Letters of John Winthrop: From his Embarkation for New England in 1630 with the Charter and Company of the Massachuestts Bay until his Death in 1649, page 128 - I am, I assure you, (Gentle Mistress Margaret) already inflamed with a fatherly Love and affection towards you: the which at the first, the only report of your modest beharvior, and mielde nature, did breede in my heart; but nowe throughe the manifest tokens of your true love, and constant minde, which I perceive to be setteled in you towards my soonne, the same is exceedingly increased in mee. So that I cannot abstaine from expressinge it unto you by my pen in absence, which my tounge and mouthe I hope shal shortely declare unto you in presence. And then I doute not, but I shal have just causeto prayse God for you, and to thincke my selfe happy, that in my olde age I shal injoye the familiar company of so virtuous and loving a daughter; and passé the residue of my daies in peace and quietnes. For I have hertherto had greate cause to magnifie his holy name for his loving kindness & mercy shewed unto mee in my children, and in those to whom they have been maried; that bothe I have always deerly loved and affected them, and they also most loveingly and dutifully have used mee. And therefore I assure you (good Mistress Margaret) that whatsoever love and kindness you shal vouchsafe to shewe hereafter unto mee, I wil not only requite it with the like, but also to the utter most of my power redouble the same. And for that I woulde fayne make it a little parte of your faith to believe, that you shal be happye in matchinge with my soonne, I doe here faithfully promise for him (in the presence of Almighty God) that he will always be amost kinde and lovinge husbande unto you, and a provident stuarde for you and yours during his lyfe, and also after his deathe. Thus with my harty comemdacions to your selfe, and to the good Lady your deere mother, confirminge my true Love and promise unto you, by a token of a smale value, but of a pure substance, which I sende by this trusty bearer, I doe leave you to ye protection of the most mighty Trinitye. This last of Marche 1618. Your assured frende

    Adam Winthrop

    page 140 - We have before us, however, Adam's distinct record, that Margaret Tyndale, his son's wife, came first to Groton on Friday, the 24th of April, 1618.
  8. [S1053] Evidences of the Winthrops of Groton co. Suffolk, England, pages 19-20 - Will of John Winthrop dated 10 May 1620.
  9. [S457] Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, John Winthrop.
  10. [S115] Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, Showing Three Generations Of Those Who Came Before May, 1692, On The Basis Of Farmer's Registar, Volume IV: page 610 - says sister of Increase Nowell - not sure which is correct - klm.