Fitz-John Winthrop

Fitz-John Winthrop (born March 14, 1638 in Ipswich , Massachusetts Bay Colony , † November 27, 1707 in Boston , Province of Massachusetts Bay ) was the governor of the Colony of Connecticut between 1698 and 1707.

Career

Fitz-John Winthrop, son of John Winthrop III. and his second wife, Elizabeth (Reade) Winthrop, was born on March 14, 1638 in Ipswich, Massachusetts. However, Boston is recorded as his birthplace, as Ipswich (then Agawam) was only founded in Massachusetts in 1633.

Fitz-John Winthrop had several sisters and a brother named Wait Still Winthrop. His grandfather, John Winthrop, Sr. , was the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony . Fitz-John's father, John Winthrop, Jr. , was a talented and well-known physicist who served in the Connecticut General Assembly and served as governor of the Colony of Connecticut for eighteen years, from 1657 to 1659 and 1676. John Winthrop, Jr. was a successful businessman, so his encouragement and advice were in high demand. However, due to his work, he was often away from home, sometimes even for longer periods of time. The frequent changes in professional career and projects meant that his family had to move several times in Fitz-John's youth, from Ipswich to Boston and from there to London . In the autumn of 1646, when Fitz-John was eight years old, his family settled near Winthrops Neck on the Thames River in the New London area.

Due to the relocation and the absence of the father, the upbringing of the boys was somewhat neglected. The house at Winthrops Neck was in the center of several farms, all of which belonged to her father. Fitz-John's focus wasn't on studying, but on the farms, spending a lot of time outdoors, a predilection that stayed with him the rest of his life. It was 1653 when he, only sixteen years old, was sent to Fitch's School for Boys in Hartford with his brother, Wait Still, for a year and a half . It is worth noting that he was an average student. The boys were then sent to Cambridge , Massachusetts, where Wait Still attended a private school for boys and Fitz-John took the exams for admission to Harvard University . Fitz-John failed because his lack of education prevented him. A cousin who was a scholar was hired as a tutor for a year, but he fell ill and died.

Fitz-John stayed with relatives in Boston for some time. He no longer showed any particular interest in going to Harvard, since he only applied there mainly to please his father. When in 1658 the loyalists in England needed soldiers to help the king regain his throne from Cromwell , Fitz-John saw this as an opportunity to enjoy activities and the outdoors . Because of family ties, he was made a lieutenant in Richard Cromwell's army, where he eventually rose to the rank of captain . The army moved down to London from southern Scotland and helped King Charles II to his throne in 1660. Fitz-John's unit was disbanded, but he remained in England to visit other relatives.

Fitz-John was still in England when his father came to London in 1661 to obtain the Connecticut charter that resulted in the merger of the New Haven Colony with the Colony of Connecticut. In April 1663 they both returned to New London, where Fitz-John decided to participate in colonial politics. He served first as a judge and in October 1664 as one of Connecticut's border inspectors who were supposed to resolve disputes over land claims along the New York- Connecticut border. As a result of their work, Long Island , formerly part of Connecticut, was assigned to New York.

Fitz-John continued his work as part of Connecticut's government and was elected to the General Court of the Colony of Connecticut as one of New London's ombudsmen in 1671. He was quite good at his work in the legislature, but preferred military campaigns to law making. In 1672 he became the head of the New London County Militia. The following year, 1673, he was promoted to sergeant major of Long Island and helped drive the Dutch out of the area.

Scholars said that of John Winthrops, Jr.'s sons, Wait Still came closest to him. Fitz-John had many of his father's qualities, but was a fresh air fanatic, a soldier, and most importantly, his own master. He lived at a time when church and state were not yet separated, and where public and private life were closely monitored. Nevertheless, as the son of a wealthy and influential family, he was able to disregard the moral conventions, which usually resulted in various punishments by the church or state authorities. Perhaps this is also why he was not penalized when he married Elizabeth Tongue in 1677. She was the daughter of wealthy New London innkeepers, George and Margery Tongue, and fifteen years younger than him. The couple had a daughter named Mary. Elizabeth, who later signed notarial deeds and letters from 1698 as Elizabeth Tonque, died on April 25, 1731.

Although people usually viewed Fitz-John as someone with a serene personality and a lot of common sense, he was slightly dissolute and could hold a grudge against those who were against him. The latter attitude gave him less trouble in his many business ventures. He also had health problems, with an unknown disease plaguing him all his life for which he was taking a general-purpose medicine created by his father who was a medical doctor.

King Charles II of England, who had returned to his throne, wanted to centralize New England under a single governor and eliminate the different governors of the individual colonies. By 1686 he had created the Dominion of New England with a single governor, then Sir Edmund Andros , based in Boston. Andros ruled with a council of 27 members from the various colonies. The only Connecticut councilor was Fitz-John Winthrop, a great proponent of the royal scheme and a friend of Andros.

The Dominion of New England government was not very popular. But when this was overthrown in 1689, Fitz-John was in New Londond and apparently his participation in this had no effect on his further popularity. In 1690 he was elected as assistant to the next General Court . His personal idiosyncrasy was shown once more in this office when he stopped attending meetings held in Hartford. He was not re-elected in the next election. Nevertheless, he continued his service in the Colony of Connecticut and commanded his troops in an invasion of Canada . The campaign included men from New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts and its purpose was to end the French support in the Indian raids on these colonies. Fitz-John marched north along the Hudson River , but since the troops had limited food and transportation, he was forced to retreat. Governor Leisler from New York, who was jealous of Winthrop, took the withdrawal as an excuse to him of treason ( Engl. Treason ) to indict. Leisler detained Fitz-John and set him before a military court (Engl. Court-martial ) in Albany , but a large group of friendly Mohawks freed him. Fitz-John then returned to Connecticut, where he was able to wash his name back and received thanks from the General Assembly . The following spring, a new royal governor came to New York, who tried, convicted and executed Leisler of high treason.

Another political crisis was brewing during the Canada campaign of 1690. The settlement of Connecticut had begun without a Crown Charter. New York and Massachusetts, both chartered from the start, made frequent attempts to invade the territory . The 1662 charter provided by Fitz-John's father, John Winthrop Junior, briefly gave hope that Connecticut would be protected from attack by Massachusetts or New York, but the two colonies gave up their claims over Connecticut's land not on. Arguing that the creation of a central Dominion of New England government had invalidated Connecticut's charter, Massachusetts and New York attempted to annex the Connecticut Territory.

Massachusetts and New York officials had friends at court, and in August 1692 the new governor of New York, Benjamin Fletcher , obtained power to command the military forces of New York and Connecticut. Robert Treat was then governor of the Colony of Connecticut and strictly refused to surrender his command of Connecticut's forces. Treat and Connecticut's General Assembly turned to Fitz-John Winthrop for his diplomatic skills and court connections. He was to go to England and validate the 1662 Connecticut Charter of King William and Queen Mary. Winthrop left Connecticut for England in late 1693 and did not present his case until early 1694. A report prepared by the Royal Procuratorate and Second Crown Attorney and ratified by the King and Queen confirmed the validity of the 1662 Charter of the Colony of Connecticut. Connecticut was allowed to continue to govern itself.

Fitz-John stayed in England for three more years. When he returned to Connecticut, he was awarded five hundred pounds by an appreciative General Assembly. He was elected governor of the Colony of Connecticut in 1698 and was re-elected annually until his death in 1707.

While his civil marriage and health problems affected his ability to govern a little, Fitz-John ultimately did a lot as governor. The 1662 charter was threatened three times during its ten-year tenure, but each time Winthrop and the Assembly were able to successfully defend it. Winthrop sparked a series of efforts to reorganize Connecticut's political and judicial structures. The Assembly extended the governor's tenure between two legislative periods in 1698 and was divided into two chambers in 1699. The twelve assistants of the General Court were one chamber, the Upper House , and the elected deputies of the cities another chamber, the Lower House . Opponents initially criticized this change, as no one was sure which House had authority over which key points. Corrections were then made so that these Connecticut Houses were the first step towards a modern legislature with a Senate and a House of Representatives.

Winthrop considered resigning as governor in 1702 when neighboring governors accused him of not providing enough soldiers to wage war against France. Connecticut voters rejected his resignation and he stayed. During a trip to Boston to see his remarried brother Wait Still and attend his son's wedding, Fitz-John fell ill. He died on November 27, 1707 and was buried near his father and grandfather at King's Chapel Burying Ground in Boston, Massachusetts.

literature

• Black, Robert C. The Younger John Winthrop. New York: Columbia University Press, 1966 [CSL call number F 97 .W8 B55].
• Dunn, Richard S. Puritans and Yankees: The Winthrop Dynasty of New England 1630-1717. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1962 [CSL call number F 67 .W7957].
• Frost, JC Ancestors of Henry Rogers Winthrop and His Wife Alice Woodward Babcock. [Brooklyn, NY: JC Frost], 1927 [CSL call number CS 71 .W79 1927].
• Highways & Byways of Connecticut. Hartford: G. Fox & Co., [1947] [CSL call number F 94 .H54 1947].
• Loomis, Dwight and J. Gilbert Calhoun, eds. The Judicial and Civil History of Connecticut. Boston: Boston History Company, 1895 [CSL call number HistRef F 93 .L86].
• Maltbie, William M. "Winthrop the Younger." Connecticut Bar Journal 6 (January 1932) 1: 1-11 [CSL call number K 3 .O62.]
• Mayo, Lawrence Shaw. The Winthrop Family in America. Boston: The Massachusetts Historical Society, 1948 [CSL call number CS 71 .W79 1948].
• Norton, Frederick Calvin. The Governors of Connecticut. Hartford: Connecticut Magazine Co., 1905 [CSL call number HistRef F 93 .N 88 1905].
• Raimo, John W. Biographical Directory of American Colonial and Revolutionary Governors, 1607–1789. Westport, CT: Meckler Books, 1980 [CSL call number E 187.5 .R34].
• Wilkinson, Ronald Stars. John Winthrop, Jr. and the Origins of American Chemistry. Thesis (PhD.), Michigan State University, 1969. Photocopy. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms, 1998 [CSL call number F 97. W56 W55 1969b].
• "The Winthrop Papers." Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1929- [CSL call number F 7 .W79].
• Winthrop, Robert C. A Short Account of the Winthrop Family. Cambridge, MA: J. Wilson and Son, 1887 [CSL call number CS 71 .W79 1887].

Web links

• Connecticut State Library (English)
• The Political Graveyard (English)
• Fitz-John Winthrop in the database of Find a Grave (English)