Henry Winthrop

Henry Winthrop (1608–1630) was the second son of John Winthrop, founder and Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. who would later be a founding settler of what is now Greenwich, Connecticut, but also be at the center of scandal in colonial America, as captured in the popular novel, The Winthrop Woman.

Early life

Henry was born on 10 January 1608 at Great Stambridge, England, with the christening on 20 January 1608 at the Winthrop home, Groton Manor, in Suffolk. Though well-to-do in his own right through inheritances, Henry tried one major business venture, traveling to live in Barbados to start a tobacco plantation,

To the dismay of his family, upon return from Barbados in 1629 he entered a whirlwind courtship with his first cousin Elizabeth Fones, daughter of his aunt Anne Winthrop, sister of Henry's father John Winthrop. Elizabeth Fones had been born at Groton Manor on 21 January 1610 to Anne and Thomas Fones, a London apothecary and a staunch Puritan.

To the New World

Eleven months after the marriage, Henry's father's flotilla of ships—the Winthrop Fleet—sailed west to create a "City on a Hill" in what would become the Massachusetts Bay Colony. "From John Winthrop's adult family, only Henry would sail in April 1630." Henry was supposed to be in his father's lead ship, the Arbella, but he missed boarding due to helping to corral a herd of cattle. Henry left a few days later Henry's baby, a daughter named Martha Johanna Winthrop, was born on 9 May 1630 at Groton Manor, while Henry was at sea. Because of what would transpire in the new world, Henry would not live to see his daughter.

The Talbot arrived at the Massachusetts Bay Colony on 1 July 1630.

Family Line

With infant daughter Martha Johanna Winthrop in tow, Henry's widow Elizabeth sailed to the Massachusetts Bay Colony aboard the Lyon, arriving on 2 November 1631. The widow and child were taken under the care of her father-in-law (and uncle), Governor John Winthrop.

Elizabeth would marry again to Lt. Robert Feake, and in the early 1640s, would move to an extensive property they acquired in Connecticut, encompassing what is now called Old Greenwich. whose family home, the Thomas Lyon House, is on the National Register of Historic Places. Martha and Thomas Lyon had one child, a daughter, Mary Lyon, born August 1649. Mary married John Willson "of Bedford, afterward of Rye," so their children continued the line of direct descent from Henry Winthrop in the American colonies.

Henry's widow Elizabeth would marry for a third time, to William Hallet, who was Lt. Feake's business manager. As Lt. Feake was still alive, and there was no proof of a divorce, scandal and the threat of legal action encouraged the Hallets to move to the more tolerant colony of New Amsterdam, settling in Queens, N.Y., where Elizabeth (Fones) Winthrop Feake Hallett died ca 1670.