Winthrop, John, 1606 - 1676

John Winthrop, Jr., physician, governor of Connecticut, and fellow of the Royal Society, was the born in England, the eldest son of John Winthrop who would eventually become the founder and first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Winthrop, Jr., immigrated with his wife Martha Fones to New England in 1631, settling first in Boston, and then in Agawam (later Ipswich). At Agawam his wife and infant daughter died and he returned to England in 1634 on family and public business. There he married Elizabeth Reade, stepdaughter of Hugh Peter, and agreed to found a settlement at the mouth of the Connecticut River on behalf of the Puritan Lords Brook, Say, and Seale. Upon his return to Massachusetts, Winthrop spent the next decade establishing the town of Saybrook on the Connecticut River and the town of New London along the Sound. He returned to England in 1641-42 on public business and, in 1646, moved with his family to New London making Connecticut his new home. He was elected governor of Connecticut in 1657, an office he held until he died 1676. After the restoration of Charles II (1660), he was sent to England to obtain a royal charter recognizing Connecticut’s existence. In 1662, he obtained a royal charter that not only recognized Connecticut but also incorporated the settlements of New Haven into the colony and established favorable border lines with Rhode Island. While in England he was chosen an original and first colonial member of a scientific association (1661) that would receive a royal charter and be renamed the Royal Society (1663). As governor, Winthrop participated in the Duke of York’s 1664 expedition to capture the Dutch’s New Netherland colony (i.e. New York). He also was responsible for the Connecticut’s quick response to the Indian attacks at the outbreak of King Philip’s War. ANBO.  ODNB