Historic leaves, volume 3, April, 1904 - January, 1905

Cotton Mather, in speaking of Winthrop, said:

Many were the afflictions of this righteous man! He lost much of his estate in a ship, and in a house, quickly after his coming to New England, besides the prodigious expense of it in the difficulties of his first coming hither. Afterwards his assiduous application unto the publick affairs (wherein he no longer belonged to himself, after the Republic had once made him her Chief Magistrate) made him so much to neglect his own private interests that an unjust steward ran him £ 2,500 in debt before he was aware; for the payment whereof he was forced, many years before his decease, to sell the most of what he had left unto him in the country.

Albeit, by the observable blessings of God upon the posterity of this liberal man, his children, all of them, came to fair estates, and lived in good fashion and credit.

Of the ancestors of John Winthrop I have already made passing mention; they were men prominent in England and in high esteem, holding eminent positions, and being lords of the manor of Groton, as was also John.

Of his descendants we can speak with equal terms of praise. His son John, Jr., and grandson Fitz John were both governors of Connecticut. His son Stephen was a major-general and member of parliament for Scotland; his grandson Waitstill was chief justice of Massachusetts. In more recent years the descendants of the governor, the chief of whom are the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop and the lamented Major Theodore Winthrop, who was killed in the battle of Big Bethel, have nobly maintained the character of this remarkable family.

Many mementoes of the Winthrops are, or were until recently, extant, but that which recalls to us the early history and home of the family, the ancient church at Groton in England is, I think, the most interesting. In its graveyard is the tomb of the early Winthrops, with its inscription:—

‘Heaven the Country, Christ the way. Here lies the body of Adam Winthrop, Esq., son of Adam Winthrop, Esq., who were patrons of this church and Lords of the Manor of Groton.’

John Winthrop bore an unblemished character. His virtues were written in every line of his life; he was cultured, yet unassuming;