Joshua Staley
English 44A
8-30-04
John Winthrop
1544 --Henry VIII of England turned his back on the Pope and the Roman Catholic church and England joined the Reformation, and so many of the Catholic monasteries were sold. Adam Winthrop bought Groton manor for £408 11s 3d. (Morgan, 3)
1588 --John
Winthrop, grandson of Adam Winthrop, was born and a few years later his parents
moved to Groton. Spanish Armada was defeated. John was the only son, and Groton
was a great place to grow up. (Morgan, 3)
His many cousins, aunts, and uncles were always at Groton, one uncle had
traveled to Spain and become a Catholic, and was also excommunicated for
getting married while he was still married to another woman, but he was still
excepted at Groton. (Morgan, 4)
1595 --Now
7, John was being tutored by John Chaplyn, who was the vicar of a nearby
church. (Morgan, 5)
1603 --Now
15, John was off to college at Cambridge University. (Morgan, 5)
1605 --Now
17, John came home from school, which was probably where he was introduced to
Puritanism, and was married to one of his neighbors, Mary Forth. (Morgan, 7)
“He was a countryman of simple tastes who liked good food, good drink, and good
company. He liked his wife. He liked to stroll by the river with a fowling
piece and have a go at the birds. He liked to smoke a pipe. He liked to tinker
with gadgets. He liked all the things that God had given him, and he knew it
was right to like them, because they were God-given.” (Morgan, 9)
1613 --At
the age of 25 John enrolled at Gray’s Inn, a place were young men studied law.
(Morgan, 15)
1615 --When
John was 27, his wife Mary, who had born him 6 children in their ten years of
marriage, died. (Morgan, 13)
1616 --John
was remarried to a woman named Thomasine Clopton. (Morgan, 13)
1617 --John’s
new wife Thomasine also died on the first anniversary of their wedding.
(Morgan, 13) He was also the justice of the peace in Suffolk, this year mostly
because of the large amounts of property that he had amassed from his wives and
also for Groton manor when his father turned it over to him. (Morgan, 16)
1618 --Now
30, John was married yet again to Margaret Tyndal, who was as John himself put
it, “A very gracious woman,”. (Morgan, 13)
1627 --Now
39, John found a job in London as common attorney in His Majesty’s Court of
Wards and Liveries, because of a depression in the textile industry that was
affecting his profits from his lands. (Morgan, 22)
1629 --Now 41,
John decided, because of the deterioration of England and the government, to
quite his job and move to New England. (Morgan, 47)
He was also elected to be the governor of the new colony. (Morgan, 49) But the
Puritans who went on the expedition were adamant of the fact that they were not
separatists, but were there to perform a holy experiment. (Morgan, 52)
1630 --Now
42, John was off to New England, and after some turbulent seas they landed at
Salem. (Morgan, 56) But he shortly moved the whole company to Charlestown where
he felt they could better provide for themselves, and then later to Boston.
(Morgan, 60)
1631 --Now
43, Margaret and the rest of his family arrived in New England. (Morgan, 68)
1634 --Now
46, John lost the office of governorship because he was seem by some of his
peers as being to flexible. (Morgan, 115)
1637 --Now
49, Winthrop was reelected to the position of governor. (Morgan, 144) Anne
Hutchinson was also excommunicated. (Morgan, 153)
1640 --Now
51, Winthrop resigned his position of governor in order to attend to his
personal affairs. (Morgan, 174)
1647 --Now
58, Margaret died. (Morgan, 204)
1648 -- Now
59, Winthrop remarried, and was again elected to be governor. (Morgan, 204)
1649 -- At
the age of 60 John Winthrop died and “reached what in life he had never sought,
a separation from his sinful fellow men.” (Morgan, 205)
Works
Cited
Morgan, Edmund S. The Puritan Dilemma The Story of
John Winthrop.