Margaret Tyndal Winthrop (c. 1591 – 14 June 1647) was a 17th-century Puritan, the wife of

John Winthrop John Winthrop (January 12, 1588 – March 26, 1649) was an English Puritan lawyer and a leading figure in the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the second major settlement in New England following Plymouth Colony. Winthrop led the fir ...

, the first governor of the

Massachusetts Bay Colony The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1628–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around Massachusetts Bay, one of the several colonies later reorganized as the Province of M ...

. The pair are notable for the survival and character of the love letters which they wrote to each other.

Life

Margaret Tyndal was born into an Essex gentry family: her father Sir John Tyndal was a Master of the

Court of Chancery The Court of Chancery was a court of equity in England and Wales that followed a set of loose rules to avoid a slow pace of change and possible harshness (or "inequity") of the Common law#History, common law. The Chancery had jurisdiction over ...

, and her mother Anne Egerton was related to several of the leading Puritan clergy of the time; Anne was the sister of Stephen Egerton, who in turn married Sarah, daughter of Thomas Crooke. Both Egerton and Crooke belonged to "the Godly elite", the predominant Puritan faction in the 1570s and 1580s. Margaret was taught to read and write, and encouraged to habits of study and piety.Francis J. Bremer, 'Winthrop, Margaret Tyndal', in Francis J. Bremer & Tom Webster, eds., ''Puritans and Puritanism in Europe and America: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia'', Volume 1, ABC-CLIO, 2006, pp.284-5 Her aunt Sarah, widow of Stephen Egerton, left her £100, a very considerable sum at the time, when she died in 1624. Margaret married John Winthrop at

Great Maplestead Great Maplestead is a village and a civil parish in the Braintree (district), Braintree District, in the English county of Essex. In the sixteenth century the Deane family were Lords of the Manor of Great Maplestead. Later in the century the ma ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

on 29 April 1618, becoming his third wife. She moved to the estate of John Winthrop's father, Groton Manor in

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

, helping him manage the household while her husband was away working in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Many of their love letters to each other - in which the couple put their love of God before their love of each other - have survived. John Winthrop sailed for

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

in 1630, while Margaret remained in England for a year to wrap up family business. "Prior to parting, the two agreed to set aside five to six o'clock every Monday and Friday to think of one another and enter into spiritual communion with each other till the time they were reunited." Margaret arrived in New England on 2 November 1631, having sailed on the ''Lyon'', and was admitted to

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

church as member #111. She and John Winthrop had eight children: Stephen, Adam, Deane, Nathaniel, Samuel, Anne, William, and Sarah. Margaret died in Boston on 14 June 1647, aged about fifty-six, during an

influenza epidemic Flu season is an annually recurring time period characterized by the prevalence of an outbreak of influenza (flu). The season occurs during the cold half of the year in each hemisphere. It takes approximately two days to show symptoms. Influen ...

. Despite their deep mutual affection, John chose to make a fourth marriage to Martha Rainsborough, sister of

Thomas Rainsborough Thomas Rainsborough, or Rainborowe, 6 July 1610 to 29 October 1648, was an English religious and political radical who served in the Parliamentarian navy and New Model Army during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. One of the few contemporaries who ...

, but he outlived Margaret by less than 2 years.Margaret Tyndal Winthrop
at findagrave.com

Life

References

Further reading