John Winthrop the Younger explained

John Winthrop the Younger
Office:Governor of the Connecticut Colony
Term Start:1659
Term End:1676
Predecessor:Thomas Welles
Successor:William Leete
Term Start1:1657
Term End1:1658
Predecessor1:John Webster
Successor1:Thomas Welles
Office2:Governor of the Saybrook Colony
Term Start2:1635
Term End2:1639
Predecessor2:Inaugural holder
Successor2:George Fenwick
Office3:Commissioner for Connecticut Colony[1]
Term Start3:1658
Term End3:1660
Term Start4:1663
Term End4:1663
Term Start5:1668
Term End5:1669
Term Start6:1675
Term End6:1675
Birth Date:12 February 1606
Birth Place:Groton, England
Death Place:Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony
Education:Bury St. Edmunds
King Edward VI School
Alma Mater:Trinity College, Dublin
Parents:John Winthrop
Mary Forth
Spouse:
    Children:10
    Signature:Appletons' Winthrop John - John signature.png

    John Winthrop the Younger (February 12, 1606 – April 6, 1676) was an early governor of the Connecticut Colony, and he played a large role in the merger of several separate settlements into the unified colony.

    Early life

    Winthrop was born in Groton, Suffolk, England on February 12, 1606, the son of John Winthrop, founding governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He was educated at the Bury St. Edmunds grammar school, King Edward VI School, and Trinity College, Dublin, and he studied law for a short time after 1624 at the Inner Temple, London.

    Career

    Winthrop accompanied the ill-fated expedition of the Duke of Buckingham for the relief of the Protestants of La Rochelle in France, and then travelled in Italy and the Levant, returning to England in 1629. In 1631, he followed his father to Massachusetts Bay Colony and was one of the assistants of the Colony in 1635, 1640, and 1641 and from 1644 to 1649. He was the chief founder of Agawam (now Ipswich, Massachusetts) in 1633, then went to England in 1634. He returned in 1635 as governor of lands that had been granted to Lord Saye and Sele and Lord Brooke, and he sent out a party to build a fort named Saybrook in their honor, located at the mouth of the Connecticut River. He then lived for a time in Massachusetts, where he devoted himself to the study of science and attempted to interest the settlers in the development of the colony's mineral resources.

    He was again in England in 1641–43, then returned to establish iron works at Lynn (Saugus Iron Works) and Braintree, Massachusetts. In 1645, he obtained title to lands in southeastern Connecticut and founded New London in 1646, where he settled in 1650. He built a grist mill in the town and was granted a monopoly on the trade for as long as he or his heirs maintained it. This was one of the first monopolies granted in New England.[2] One of Winthrop's Indian servants was Robin Cassacinamon, who became an influential Pequot leader through Winthrop's patronage.[3] [4]

    While in England, he was elected as a Fellow of the newly organized Royal Society, and he contributed two papers to their Philosophical Transactions: "Some Natural Curiosities from New England" and "Description, Culture and Use of Maize". His correspondence with the Royal Society was published in series I, vol. xvi of the Massachusetts Historical Society's Proceedings.

    Governor of the Connecticut Colony

    Winthrop became one of the magistrates of the Connecticut Colony in 1651, was governor of the colony in 1657–58, and again became governor in 1659, being annually re-elected until his death. During his tenure as Governor of Connecticut, he oversaw the acceptance of Quakers who were banned from Massachusetts.

    In 1662, he obtained the charter in England which united the colonies of Connecticut and New Haven.[5] He was also one of the commissioners of the United Colonies of New England in 1675.

    Personal life

    Winthrop married his cousin Mary Fones, the daughter of Thomas Fones II and Anne (née Winthrop) on February 8, 1630/1. She and their infant daughter died in Agawam (Ipswich) in 1634.[6]

    Winthrop's second wife was Elizabeth Reade (1615–1672), the daughter of Col. Edmund Reade and Elizabeth (née Cooke). They had nine children, including:[7]

    Winthrop died in Boston on April 6, 1676, where he had gone to attend a meeting of the commissioners of the United Colonies of New England.

    Descendants

    Paul Dudley Sargent was a descendant of Winthrop, a Patriot colonel in the American War of Independence. Another descendant was John Sargent, who was a Loyalist during that war. Another descendant was Dudley Saltonstall (1738–1796), a Revolutionary War naval commander most notable for his involvement in the ill-fated Penobscot Expedition.[9]

    References

    External links

    Notes and References

    1. Ward 1961, p. 410-11
    2. Book: Technical World Magazine. Armour Institute of Technology. 1910. 96–97.
    3. Shawn G. Wiemann, Lasting Marks: The Legacy of Robin Cassacinamon and the Survival of the Mashantucket Pequot Nation (University of New Mexico, Dissertation, 2011) http://digitalrepository.unm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1082&context=hist_etds
    4. Web site: Cassasinamon, Robin, - 1692 | Native Northeast Portal .
    5. "America and West Indies: April 1662." Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies: Volume 5, 1661-1668. Ed. W Noel Sainsbury. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1880. 84-89. British History Online Retrieved 23 January 2022.
    6. Book: Waters, Thomas Franklin . 1899 . A Sketch Of The Life of John Winthrop, the Younger. Ipswich Historical Society . Cambridge, MA. 75 . 13130747 . August 21, 2019.
    7. Web site: John Winthrop, Jr . 2006-08-16 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20060901122022/http://www.cslib.org/gov/winthropj.htm . 2006-09-01 .
    8. Book: Cutter . William Richard . American Biography: A New Cyclopedia . 1926 . . 21 August 2019 . en.
    9. Book: Cutter. William Richard. Genealogical and Personal Memoirs: Relating to the Families of Boston and Eastern Massachusetts. 2000. Genealogical Publishing Com. 9780806345499. 24 August 2017. en.