Waitstill Winthrop (27 February 1642 – 7 November 1717) was a colonial magistrate, military officer, and politician of

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 ...

Early life

Winthrop was born on 27 February 1642 in

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 ...

, the capital 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 ...

. He was named Waitstill at birth, but preferred the shortened name "Wait" during his lifetime. He was the second son born to Elizabeth (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Reade) Winthrop (1615–1672) and

John Winthrop the Younger John Winthrop the Younger FRS (February 12, 1606 – April 6, 1676) was an English politician and alchemist. An early governor of the Connecticut Colony, he played a large role in the unification of the colony's settlements into a singular ...

, an early governor of the

Connecticut Colony The Connecticut Colony, originally known as the Connecticut River Colony, was an English colony in New England which later became the state of Connecticut. It was organized on March 3, 1636, as a settlement for a Puritans, Puritan congregation o ...

. His elder brother was Fitz-John Winthrop, who served as major-general in the army. He was appointed as governor of Connecticut, serving from 1696 until his death in 1707. Winthrop was the grandson 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 ...

, a founding governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.Dunn, Richard. ''Puritans and Yankees: The Winthrop Dynasty of New England''.

Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial ...

. 1962.

Career

Winthrop served as the chief judge of the

Massachusetts Superior Court The Massachusetts Superior Court (also known as the Superior Court Department of the Trial Court) is a trial court department in Massachusetts. The Superior Court has original jurisdiction in civil actions over $50,000, and in matters where equ ...

(the highest court in the

Province of Massachusetts Bay The Province of Massachusetts Bay was a colony in New England which became one of the thirteen original states of the United States. It was chartered on October 7, 1691, by William III and Mary II, the joint monarchs of the kingdoms of Eng ...

), and was a long-time councilor and contender for the governorship of Massachusetts. During

King Philip's War King Philip's War (sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, Pometacomet's Rebellion, or Metacom's Rebellion) was an armed conflict in 1675–1678 between a group of indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodland ...

in the 1670s and

King William's War King William's War (also known as the Second Indian War, Father Baudoin's War, Castin's War, or the First Intercolonial War in French) was the North American theater of the Nine Years' War (1688–1697), also known as the War of the Grand Allian ...

in the 1690s, he led the Massachusetts provincial militia. Politically populist, he worked against royal governors, especially

Joseph Dudley Joseph Dudley (September 23, 1647 – April 2, 1720) was a colonial administrator, a native of Roxbury in Massachusetts Bay Colony, and the son of one of its founders. He had a leading role in the administration of the Dominion of New England ...

, and sought the restoration of the first Massachusetts charter. In 1692, he was appointed by Governor Sir

William Phips Sir William Phips (or Phipps; February 2, 1651 – February 18, 1695) was the first royally appointed governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, and the first native-born person from New England to be knighted. Phips was famous in his lifeti ...

as one of the magistrates of the

Court of Oyer and Terminer In English law, oyer and terminer (; a partial translation of the Anglo-French , which literally means 'to hear and to determine') was one of the commissions by which a judge of assize sat. Apart from its Law French name, the commission was also ...

that heard the

Salem witch trials The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in Province of Massachusetts Bay, colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused. Not everyone wh ...

. That same year he was elected to membership in the Military Company of Massachusetts and was also elected as captain of the Company in June. When the provincial courts were organized under the new charter of the

, Winthrop was one of the initial appointees as an associate justice of the Superior Court of Judicature, as the province's highest court was known. He held this position until the death of chief justice and acting governor William Stoughton, at which time the

Governor's Council The governments of the Thirteen Colonies of British America developed in the 17th and 18th centuries under the influence of the British constitution. The British monarch issued colonial charters that established either royal colonies, propriet ...

appointed him to be chief justice. Political forces allied to him were preparing to travel to

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 ...

to lobby on his behalf for the position of governor when it was learned that Joseph Dudley had received the appointment. Winthrop then tendered his resignation as chief justice. In 1708, Dudley reappointed him to be chief justice, a position he held until his death in 1717. Winthrop was also active in other pursuits. When not working at his public duties, he devoted himself to agriculture and the study of medicine, often providing assistance in these arts to his neighbors.

Personal life

Winthrop was twice married. His first marriage was to Mary Browne (1656–1690), the daughter of William Browne. Before her death at the age of thirty-four in 1690, they were the parents of: * John Winthrop (1681–1747), who married Ann Dudley, daughter of

and granddaughter of

Thomas Dudley Thomas Dudley (12 October 157631 July 1653) was a New England colonial magistrate who served several terms as governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Dudley was the chief founder of Newtowne, later Cambridge, Massachusetts, and built the tow ...

, both governors of Massachusetts. John graduated from Harvard in 1700, served for some time as a magistrate of Connecticut, and was afterward a fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

of London, to whose ''Transactions'' he was a contributor, and one of whose volumes was dedicated to him. * Elizabeth Winthrop (1683–1683), who died in infancy. * William Winthrop (1684–1693), who died young. * Ann Winthrop (1686–1746), who married Thomas Lechmere. * Joseph Winthrop (1689–1693), who died in childhood. On 13 November 1707, Winthrop married for the second time to Katherine (née Brattle) Eyre (1664–1725), the widow of John Eyre and daughter of Captain Thomas Brattle. Her brother was Thomas Brattle, a merchant who served as treasurer of

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

and is known for his involvement in the Salem Witch Trials. Winthrop died on 7 November 1717. Through his only surviving son, he was the grandfather of John Still Winthrop, himself the father of Thomas Lindall Winthrop (1760–1841), the 13th Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Winthrop, Wait 1640s births 1717 deaths Justices of the Massachusetts Superior Court of Judicature English military personnel of the Nine Years' War People of King Philip's War People of King William's War Government officials in the Salem witch trials American people of English descent Winthrop family