Winthrop, John 1606-1649
Colonial governor; born near Groton, Suffolk, England, Jan. 22, 1588; arrived at Salem in the summer of 1630, with 900 emigrants, in several ships, and on the voyage employed a portion of his time in writing a work entitled A model of Christian charity. On his arrival, the government, administered by Endicott, was transferred to him. He was a just magistrate, and managed the affairs of the colony with vigor and discretion until succeeded by Thomas Dudley, in 1634. Winthrop and the whole company who came with him intended to join the settlers at Charlestown, but, it being sickly there, they went over to the peninsula of Shawmut, where there was a spring of pure and wholesome water, and seated themselves, and called the place Trimountain, on account of three hills. It was afterwards called Boston, and became the capital of New England.
John Winthrop. |
Colonist; born in Groton, Suffolk, England, Feb. 12, 1606; son of the preceding; educated at Trinity College, Dublin; entered the public service early; was in the expedition for the relief of the Huguenots of La Rochelle, in 1627; and the next year was attached to the English embassy at Constantinople. In 1631 he came to America, but soon [414] returned to England. He was sent back in 1635, as governor of the Connecticut colony, by Lords Say and Seal and Brook, built a fort at the mouth of the Connecticut River, and there began a village named Say-Brook. In 1645 he founded New London, on the Thames. Under the constitution of the colony he was succeeded by John Hayne, and was elected governor in 1657, and again in 1659. He held the office until his death. After the accession of Charles II. (1660) Winthrop went to England to obtain a charter from the King. The colonists had been sturdy republicans during the interregnum, and the King did not feel well disposed towards them, and at first he refused to grant them a charter. Finally, when Winthrop presented his Majesty with a ring which Charles I. had given to his father, the heart of the monarch was touched, and he granted a charter, May 1 (N. S.), 1662. While attending the Congress of the New England Confederacy in Boston as delegate from Connecticut, Winthrop was seized with an illness that caused his death, April 5, 1676. Winthrop, Robert Charles