[Ancestors] [Descendants]
John Winthrop
Last updated 26 Mar 2022 in Spear–Johnson Family.
Individual
Born: 12 Jan 1587/88 in , Edwardstone, County Suffolk, England
Died: 26 Mar 1649 in , , Massachusetts Bay Colony, British America
Father: Adam Winthrop [2nd] (abt 1548 – 1623)
Mother: Anne ____ (? – ?)
book-encyclopedia-brittanica-15-1979: Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th ed., Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 1979.
Reference Detail: Macropædia, volume 19, pages 890-891, "Winthrop, John" by Richard S. Dunn
Comment Detail: Source includes name (John Winthrop).
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book-encyclopedia-brittanica-15-1979: Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th ed., Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 1979.
Reference Detail: Macropædia, volume 19, pages 890-891, "Winthrop, John" by Richard S. Dunn
Comment Detail: Source includes date (January 12, 1588), location ("Suffolk village of Edwardstone") and implied country (England).
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book-encyclopedia-brittanica-15-1979: Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th ed., Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 1979.
Reference Detail: Macropædia, volume 19, pages 890-891, "Winthrop, John" by Richard S. Dunn
Comment Detail: Source includes date (March 26, 1649) and implied location by not indicating any further moves after settling in Massachusetts Colony.
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marker-adam-anne-winthrop-1623-unk: Tomb of Adam (1623) and Ann Winthrop; Find A Grave (https://www.findagrave.com: accessed 2019), memorial IDs 50222910 (Adam) and 50222937 (Anne), photographs uploaded 3 Jul 2014 to both memorials; citing “St. Bartholomew's Churchyard (Groton, Babergh District, Suffolk, England)” [an additional photograph was downloaded from Adam’s father’s memorial (#1344), to help clarify some obscured words on the other photographs, but the tomb does not contain his father]
Comment Detail: Source identifies Adam Winthrop (d.1623) as a parent of John Winthrop. The source does not provide sufficient evidence to denote the type of parent/child relationship.
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marker-adam-anne-winthrop-1623-unk: Tomb of Adam (1623) and Ann Winthrop; Find A Grave (https://www.findagrave.com: accessed 2019), memorial IDs 50222910 (Adam) and 50222937 (Anne), photographs uploaded 3 Jul 2014 to both memorials; citing “St. Bartholomew's Churchyard (Groton, Babergh District, Suffolk, England)” [an additional photograph was downloaded from Adam’s father’s memorial (#1344), to help clarify some obscured words on the other photographs, but the tomb does not contain his father]
Comment Detail: Source identifies Anne [Winthrop] as a parent of John Winthrop. The source does not provide sufficient evidence to denote the type of parent/child relationship.
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Family
Spouse/Partner: Mary Forth (? – ?)
Married: Abt 1605
book-encyclopedia-brittanica-15-1979: Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th ed., Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 1979.
Reference Detail: "Winthrop, John" by Richard S. Dunn; Macropædia Volume 19, pp.890-891
Comment Detail: Source notes marriage between John Winthrop and Mary Forth.
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Child: Henry Winthrop (? – 1630)
Miscellaneous Facts
Events
Emigration: on the ship Arbella, 1630
book-encyclopedia-brittanica-15-1979: Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th ed., Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 1979.
Reference Detail: Macropædia, volume 19, pages 890-891, "Winthrop, John" by Richard S. Dunn
Comment Detail: Source includes approximate date (spring of 1630) of emigration and the ship name (Arbella).
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Attributes
Education: Trinity College at , Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England
book-encyclopedia-brittanica-15-1979: Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th ed., Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 1979.
Reference Detail: Macropædia, volume 19, pages 890-891, "Winthrop, John" by Richard S. Dunn
Comment Detail: Source includes age (15, giving an approximate date of 1603) when he entered college (Trinity College, Cambridge).
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General Notes and Anecdotes
Born into the gentry of England, John Winthrop was a member of the dominant class of his time. He entered Trinity College in Cambridge at 15, studied law, served as a justice of the peace, and was an attorney in the Court of Wards and Liveries from 1627 to 1629. For 20 years he was a country squire at Groton (England) and seemingly had no interest in the American colonies. [book-encyclopedia-brittanica-15-1979]
John was the primary driving force of strict Puritan orthodoxy in the settlements around Massachusetts Bay, though he was not without opponents, including the decision of the freemen in 1634 to elect a representative assembly to share in decisions, the criticisms of Roger Williams regarding church/state relations, the migration of colonists from Massachusetts Bay Colony to Connecticut Colony, and of course, Anne Hutchinson, a "mere woman" who had the audacity to attempt converting the entire colony to a religious position he thought blasphemous, and whom he succeeded in prosecuting and banishing. [book-encyclopedia-brittanica-15-1979]
From his arrival in the Massachusetts Bay in 1630 until his death in 1649, he was elected governor 12 times (elections were held every year). For the years he was not governor, he sat on the court of assistants or on the colony council. [book-encyclopedia-brittanica-15-1979]
Perhaps his most famous statement of some of these ideals can be seen in his famous sermon, "A Model of Christian Charity," also known as the "City Upon a Hill" speech. (The sermon was believed to have been written on board the Arbella during his 1630 voyage.) [book-encyclopedia-brittanica-15-1979]
book-encyclopedia-brittanica-15-1979: Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th ed., Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 1979.
Reference Detail: Macropædia, volume 19, pages 890-891, "Winthrop, John" by Richard S. Dunn
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Sources
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