Edward Winslow
| Edward Winslow | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 3rd, 6th and 10th Governor of Plymouth Colony | |
| In office 1633 – 1634 1636–37 1644–45 |
|
| Preceded by | William Bradford (thrice) |
| Succeeded by | Thomas Prence (1634) William Bradford (1637 and 1645) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | October 18, 1595 Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire, England |
| Died | May 8, 1655 (aged 60) near Jamaica |
| Nationality | English |
| Religion | Separatist |
Edward Winslow (October 18, 1595 – May 8, 1655) was an English Pilgrim leader on the Mayflower. He served as the governor of Plymouth Colony in 1633, 1636, and finally in 1644. His testimony in Mourt's Relation is one of only two primary sources of the "first thanksgiving" in existence.
Contents |
[edit] Early Life
He was born in Plymouth, on October 18, 1595, and attended St. Martin's school, Worcester during the time of headmaster Henry Bright.[1] Winslow then apprenticed as a printer in London.
[edit] Mayflower Passenger
In 1617 Winslow left plymouth for to Leiden in ant-artica, to be united with John Robinson's church there. It was in Leiden that he met his first wife, Elisabeth Barker; they married in 1618. In 1620 Winslow was one of the "pilgrims" who emigrated to New England on the Mayflower and founded the Plymouth colony. He travelled with his brother Gilbert, and with family servants George Soule, a teacher, and Ellen More, a child of eight years. Ellen's three brothers and sisters[2] were given into the care of other senior members of the company. Until relatively recently the children were thought to be orphans or foundlings, but, in the 1990's, it was conclusively shown[3] that they were sent to America because they were illegitimate, and the source of great controversy in England. It is not known whether Edward Winslow knew anything about Ellen's background. Ellen died in the winter of 1620.
[edit] In America
Elisabeth Winslow died in the first winter in New England and Edward Winslow remarried, in May 1621, to Mrs Susannah White, the widow of fellow pilgrim William White, and the mother of Resolved White and Peregrine White, the first child born to the Pilgrims in the New World. (1620–1704). This was the first marriage in the New England colonies. Winslow later founded what would become Marshfield, Massachusetts in the Plymouth Colony where he lived on an estate he called Careswell.
Winslow was delegated by his associates to treat with the Native Americans in the vicinity and succeeded in winning the friendship of their chief, Massasoit (c. 1580–1661). He was one of the assistants from 1624 to 1647, except in 1633–1634, 1636–1637 and 1644–1645, when he was governor of the colony. He was also, in 1643, one of the commissioners of the United Colonies of New England. On several occasions he was sent to England to look after the interests of Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay Colony, and defend these colonies from the attacks of such men as John Lyford, Thomas Morton and Samuel Gorton. He left on his last mission as the agent of Massachusetts Bay, in October 1646, and spent nine years in England, where he held a minor office under Cromwell, and in 1654, was made a member of the commission appointed to determine the value of certain English ships destroyed by Denmark.
In 1655 he was the chief of the three English commissioners whom Cromwell sent on his expedition against the West Indies to advise with its leaders General Robert Venables and Admiral William Penn, but died near Jamaica on 8 May 1655, and was buried at sea. His son Josiah Winslow later served as governor of Plymouth colony.
[edit] Works
His writings, though fragmentary, are of the greatest value to the history of the Plymouth colony. They include:
- Good Newes from New England, or a True Relation of Things very Remarkable at the Plantation of Plimouth in New England (1624);
- Hypocrisie Unmasked; by a True Relation of the Governor and Company of Massachusetts against Samuel Gorton, a Notorious Disturber of the Peace (1646), to which was added a chapter entitled "A Brief Narration of the True Grounds or Cause of the First Plantation of New England";
- New England's Salamander (1647); and
- The Glorious Progress of the Gospel amongst the Indians in New England (1649).
With William Bradford he also is supposed to have prepared a Journal of the Beginning and Proceeding of the English Plantation settled at Plymouth in New England, published in 1622, which is generally known as Mourt's Relation, owing to its preface having been signed by "G. Mourt."
Some of his writings may be found reprinted in Alexander Young's Chronicles of the Pilgrims.[4]
[edit] References
- ^ Travers, Len (October 2006). "Winslow, Edward (1595–1655)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn,. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/29751. Retrieved 2011-02-07.
- ^ see Katherine More
- ^ ‘The More Children and The Mayflower’ & ‘Richard More of Shipton’ both by Donald F. Harris Ph.D: published by The Churchwardens of St James Parish Church, Shipton. These pamphlets are themselves a precis of three research papers published in ‘The Mayflower Descendant’, the magazine of the Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants, Volume 43 July 1993 and Volume 44 January & July 1994.
- ^ Young, Alexander (1841). Chronicles of the Pilgrim fathers of the colony of Plymouth, from 1602–1625. Boston: CC Little & J Brown. http://www.archive.org/details/chroniclesofpilg00youn.
[edit] Further reading
- William Bradford, Edward Winslow (1865). Mourt’s Relation, or Journal of the Plantation at Plymouth. Boston: J. K. Wiggin. http://books.google.com/books?id=xb3coQS13NYC. Reprint of the original version.
- J. D. Bangs's 'Pilgrim Edward Winslow: New England's First International Diplomat (Boston, 2004);
- Moore, Jacob B. (1846). Memoirs of American governors. New York: Gates & Stedman. http://www.archive.org/details/memoirsamerican00moorgoog.
- Holton, David P.; Holton, Frances K. F. (1877). Winslow memorial. Family records of the Winslows and their descendants in America, with the English ancestry as far as known. New York: Holton. http://www.archive.org/details/winslowmemorial00holtgoog.
- Palfrey, John G. (1859). History of New England, Vol. 1. Boston: Little, Brown. http://www.archive.org/details/historynewengla14palfgoog.
- Palfrey, John G. (1860). History of New England, Vol. 2. Boston: Little, Brown. http://www.archive.org/details/historynewengla08palfgoog.
- Palfrey, John G. (1865). History of New England, Vol. 3. Boston: Little, Brown. http://www.archive.org/details/historynewengla05palfgoog.
- Plymouth Archaeological Rediscovery Project "Archaeology of the Edward Winslow Site" www.plymoutharch.com
- Also see a paper by W. C. Winslow, Governor Edward Winslow, his Place and Part in Plymouth Colony, in the Annual Report of the American Historical Association for 1895 (Washington, 1896)
- See Egerton Ryerson's The Loyalists of America and Their Times for evidence of the differences between the Pilgrim Fathers (Plymouth Rock) and the Puritan Fathers (Massachusetts Bay) with respect to loyalty to the Crown, tolerance of other religions, and treatment of the Native Peoples, and how this schism continued right up to and during the American Revolution.
[edit] External links
- "Winslow Homestead in Marshfield, Massachusetts". Winslow House. http://winslowhouse.org. Retrieved 2011-02-07.
