John Winthrop - Life in England

Life in England

John Winthrop was born on 12 January 1587/8 to Adam and Anne (née Browne) Winthrop in Edwardstone, Suffolk, England. His birth was recorded in the parish register at Groton. 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. His mother's family was also well-to-do, with properties in Suffolk and Essex. When Winthrop was young his father became a director at Trinity College, Cambridge. When Winthrop's uncle John (Adam's brother) emigrated to Ireland, the Winthrop family took up residence at Groton Manor.

Winthrop was first tutored at home, and then probably went to a grammar school, although there are no records indicating this. He was also regularly exposed to religious discussions between his father and clergymen, and thus came at an early age to a deep understanding of divinity. He was admitted to Trinity College in December 1602, matriculating at the university a few months later. Among the students that he would have interacted with were John Cotton, and John Wheelwright, two men who would also have important roles in New England. The teenage Winthrop also admitted in his diary of the time to "lusts ... so masterly as no good could fasten upon me." Biographer Francis Bremer suggests that Winthrop's need to control his baser impulses may have prompted him to leave school early and marry at an unusually early age.

In 1604 Winthrop journeyed to Great Stambridge in Essex with a friend. They stayed at the home of a family friend, and Winthrop was favorably impressed with their daughter, Mary Forth. Winthrop and Mary were married on 16 April 1605 at Great Stambridge. Mary bore him five children, of whom only three survived to adulthood. The oldest of their children was John Winthrop, the Younger, became a governor and magistrate of Connecticut. Their last two children, two girls, died not long after birth, and Mary died in 1615 from complications of the last birth. The couple spent most of their time at Great Stambridge, living on the Forth estate. In 1613 Adam Winthrop transferred the family holdings in Groton to Winthrop, who then became Lord of the Manor at Groton.