The New York genealogical and biographical record (Volume 74) online

Garceau, Arthur J. — Harvard College Class of l8gi. Report No. 2.

Goodwin, J. J. — Genealogy of the Thomas Spencer Family, Hartford, Conn.;
Suffolk Manorial Families, Vol. i.

Grant, Dr. G. — Report of Hoard of Engineers, Department of Docks, N. Y.

Hassam, Jno. T. — Dunster Papers.

Holcombe, \V. F. — The American Historical Register, No. 3 ; Magazine of
American History.

Hopkins, Mrs. Ellen D. — Reminiscences of Men and Things in Northfield, 1S12-
25. Annual Reports Dedham Hist. Soc, 1S90-94 ; Dedhani Standard Anniver-
sary Number, Sept., 18S6.; Exercises 250th Anniversary Dedham ; Plan of Dedham
Village.

Hurry, Edmund A. — Randolph 11. Martine Memorial, St. Nicholas Soc. Year
Book.

Iowa Historical Department. — Annals of Iowa.

James, E. J. — Education of Business Men ; The Farmer and Taxation ; Annals
of American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. vii ; Philadelphia's Need
of a Commercial High School ; Review of American Society for the Extension of
University Teaching. 1891—94.

Johnson, Alfred S. — Current History, Vol. v., No. 4, 1S95.

King, Rufus. — The Haines Arms: Somerset and Dorset N. & Q.

Miner, E. N. — Illustrated Phonographic World.

Morse, Waldo G. — The Morse Record.

Munson, C. I. a Rue. — Centennial of Lycoming County Historical. Address.

New England Society. — Ninetieth Report of New England Society, N. Y.,
1895.

Ohio Association. — Annual Report Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio.

Philadelphia Bench and Bar, Congress Hall. — Annual Address in Congress Hall,
1895.

Political Science Publishing Company. — Gunlon s Magazine.

Portland (Oregon) Association. — Annual Report (31st) Library Association.

Sanborn, S. C, La Grange. III. — American and English Sanbornes.

Stiles, Henry R., M. I >. — (1) The Name of Perkins in Essex County Records. (2)
The Family of John Perkins of Ipswich. (3) Record of Birth, Baptism, Publication
of Marriage, and Deaihs of Perkins Family of Ipswich. (4) Records 5th Parish,
Gloucester. (5) Inscriptions in Old Burying Ground, Dodge Row (N. Beverly). (6)
Inscriptions in Old Burying Ground, Wenham. (7) Extracts from Town Records,
Wenham. (S) Inscriptions in Old Burying Ground, Lynn. (9) Inscriptions in Old
Burying Ground, Saugus Center. ( 10) Inscriptions in Old Burying Ground, Lynn Field
Centre. (Ill Interments in Old or Western Burying Ground, Lynn. (12) Intentions of
Marriage, Lynn. (13) Notes on Richardson and Russell Families. (14) Notes on
Townsend Family. (15) Material for Genealogy of Prince Family of Danvers. (16)
Allen Family of Manchester, Mass. (17) Supplement to Allen Family. (18) Children
of William and Dorothy King of Salem. (19) Genealogical Notes of the Webb Family.
(20) Report of Essex Institute on First Church of the Pilgrims. (21) Materials for Gene-
alogy of Families of Clarks Early in Essex County. (22) Parentage of Matthias Corwin
of Southold, L. I. (23) The Chipman Lineage. (24) Some Descendants of Jonathan
Fabens. (25) Preceedings of Dedication of Plummer Hall, and Memoir of Plummer
Family. (26) Gleanings of Family of Adam Hawkes. (27) Genealogical Account of
Henry Silsbee and some Descendants. (2S) Gedney and Clarke Families of Salem.

Suffolk County Historical Society. — List of Articles Received in 1S95.

United States Department of State. — Bureau of Rolls and Library.

University Club, New York City. — Year Books ; 20 vols.

Walker, E. S. — Minutes Fifty-eighth Anniversary of Springfield Baptist Associ-
ation.

Ward, Harry P. — (.lances of the Ancestors of John Parker, 1S07-1S91.

Wendell, Jacob. — Francis Parkman.

Wilson, Gen. J. G. — Annual Report of American Church Building Finance
Committee ; American Author-,' Guild Bulletin, 4 numbers; Chicago Literary Club ;
Memorial Dr. Arthur Brooks; oration by Cassius M. Clay, at Berea College, Ky. ;
Parish Year Book, St. James Church, N. Y., 1S95.




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Gov: of Plymouth Colony from 1673 lo 1681.



THE NEW YORK

(Sntcahgical antr p0grap|ical $ccortr.



Vol. XXVII. NEW YORK, JULY, 1896. No. 3.



GOVERNOR EDWARD WINSLOW: HIS PART AND PLACE
IN PLYMOUTH COLONY.



Wm. Copley Winslow, LL.D., Corresponding Member New York
Genealogical and Biographical Society.



A remarkable group of leaders figure in the evolution of Plymouth
Colony.* Each of the four great leaders filled an indispensable place
and performed a heroic part in the birth and development of the little
Pilgrim Republic. Of the opening era at Plymouth, when the issue
was between life and death itself to the infant state, Francis Baylies
said :

" It was only by the consummate prudence of Bradford, the match-
less valor of Standish, and the incessant enterprise of Winslow that the
colony was saved from destruction. The submissive piety of Brewster, .
indeed, produced a moral effect as important in its consequences as the
active virtues of the others."

This united leadership, without a parallel in the history of combined
leadership, is far more admirable to contemplate, I think, than if the
Mayfloiuer, that ocean-tossed casket, contained a single jewel of inesti-
mable value, instead of several of great price, and others of lesser ray
destined to shine in history and in poetry.

The piety of Brewster, the wisdom of Bradford, the diplomacy of
Winslow, the bravery of Standish, each so essential, reflect a unique
glory when aptly combined and justly portrayed in a history of Plym-
outh. Because of those who have dipped their pens in the ink tinted
with the notion that one of the Pilgrims — perhaps their own ancestor f —
far outshone another or all others, in gifts or achievements, I emphasize
the beauty and the grandeur of this united leadership, which lay at the
foundation of an English-speaking nation in North America. Ancestor
worship among the Egyptians, the Arabs, or Indians of to-day may point
some moral ; but in the delineation of the great actors on the historic

* This article is from a paper read by Dr. Winslow before the New York Genea-
logical and Biographical Society on February 14, lSg6.

f Even John A. Goodwin, in his very readable history, the result of much study,
asserts that Bradford " had gone before the foremost, and stood without a peer."
(The Pilgrim Republic, 459.)

NOTE. — fosiah Winslow, whose portrait appears above, was the only son of ( iov.
Edward Winslow and Susanna White. He was Governor 1673-S0, also Major-
General and Commander-in-Chief of the New England forces in King Philip's War.



122 Governor Edivard Winslow, [July,

stage — perhaps of Boston, or of Plymouth — it may sometimes, and
unconsciously, color the statement of facts with the wish of the heart.*

But biography selects an actor on the historic stage — and I now intro-
duce one of that group of four leaders, to describe whose part and place
in the Pilgrim evolution but discloses better the character of the other
three personalities. Each solo in turn but clearer proclaims the merit of
a quartet : a study ol Winslow deepens our respect and reverence for
Bradford ; of Bradford, our admiration for Winslow ; the piety of Brew-
ster shines brighter because of the flashing sword of Standish !

The distinct role of Edward Winslow in the Pilgrim economy, as
fully established by 1625 ; a few distinctive transactions, chiefly diplo-
matic and gubernatorial, in his varied career, are all that it is possible for
me to now present.

In writing of Winslow, whom he calls "one of the chief staff and
supports of the Plymouth Colony," Hon. W. T. Davis, the most distin-
guished living historian of Plymouth, remarks of the Pilgrims : " With-
out Winslow they were a body of religionists, circumscribed in their
boundaries, keeping themselves unspotted from the world with which
they must all finally mingle and negotiate. With him, the statesman, the
scholar, the man of affairs, they had an ambassador in whose diplomacy
they might trust, and the fruits of whose wisdom they would be sure to
reap." (History of Plymouth County, 65.)

Last October the iSth saw the three hundredth anniversary of the
birthday of Edward Winslow, whose family can perhaps be traced back
to the time of "Walter de Wynslowe, Esquire (Gentleman at Arms),
. summoned from the County of Buckingham to perform military
service in person against the Scotts " — as the Parliamentary record of
1322 reads. f Dr. Alexander Young says that, "with the exception of
Winslow and Standish, the first settlers of Plymouth Colony were, in
point of family and property, much inferior to those of Massachusetts."
(Chron. of Pilgrims, 4.) Hutchinson, whose first mention of the May-
flower company is that of "Mr. Edward Winslow, one of the principal
undertakers," refers to him as ''a gentleman of the best family of any of
the Pilgrim planters." (E 13.)

Winslow passed his twenty-fifth birthday in mid-ocean ; but a mo-
mentous birthday arrived — that of the birth of popular government in
the New World, when the Mayfloiver Compact was drawn up and signed.
Who shall follow after the Governor in signing ? Surely, those who
for years have stood next to Robinson and Brewster in the councils of 1
the Church ; Winslow will be half-way down the list ; perhaps precede
his brother Gilbert, who, as it turned out, was thirty-one in a list of
forty-one.

* On one of the four inscribed sides of the statue to Winthrop, in Scollay Square,
Boston, is this lettering, furnished by Robert C. Winthrop : " First President of the
New England Confederation." There was no such office created or held ; the gov-
ernor of the chief colony was chosen by the eight commissioners to be chairman, or
president, of the commission. Fiske is here correct : " The commissioners could
choose for themselves a president or chairman out of their own number, but such a
president was to have no more power than the other members of the board."
(Beginnings of New England History, 158.)

f For the spelling of the name, such as W'yncelowe, etc., see Winslow Memorial,
vol. i., pp. 5-8. Even as late as 1640 the name is sometimes spelt Winsloe. See
Young's Chron. of the Pilgrims, p. 149.



i S96. ] Governor Edward Winslow. I 2 ->

Bradford, whose talents and worth have impressed themselves on the
congregation, properly follows the Governor. Why is Winslow asked to
register next ? Of the reasons why, I give one that I have never seen
given. It is that he materially aided in drawing up the Compact, which,
with his gifts of speech — for which in after years he was peerless among
his associates — led those about him to place him second on the list next
to Carver. We can never know the author or writers of that immortal
paper ; but in all probability Carver called on Brewster and Bradford to
unite in its composition ; Winslow, from his intelligence and rank, was
asked to participate ; also, being the youngest, he acted as scribe for the
committee. As Young intimates, Bradford and Winslow "were among
the most active and efficient leaders among the Pilgrims ; . . . they
were also the only practised writers among them" (115). That the
document was framed without the essential aid of these two men, is a
moral impossibility. At any rate, there stands the signature of the
youthful Winslow, who had been but three years with the company,
ibefore that of Allerton, Fuller, Brewster, Standish, and others.

The 22d of March added another "day of days " to the evolution of
New England. The great Massasoit was at hand with his chiefs and
chosen warriors — did he mean peace or war?

'• We were not willing to send our governor to them, and they were
unwilling to come to us. So Squanto went again unto him (Massasoit),
who brought word that we should send one to parley with him, which
we did, which was Edward Winsloe. " (Bradford and Winslow's Journal,
192.)

" Winslow and Massasoit on Watson's Hill ! That interview saved
the colony in its infancy, and therefore it has grown into manhood,"
exclaimed the president of the Pilgrim Society, at the celebration in
Plymouth in 1853.

The results of that interview, culminating in the treaty with Massa-
soit by Carver, lay at the very foundation of Plymouth's life — and vastly
more. If Plymouth had failed, France would have probably occupied
New England.*

The initial embassy to the Indians, including the first exploration of
the interior, and the expedition down the coast of Cape Cod, illustrate
the affinities of the scholarly and the savage heart: Winslow decorating
Massasoit with a copper chain from the Colony ; Iyanough placing a
necklace of beads and shells upon Winslow.

Too little has been made of the enterprise of Plymouth in the ex-
ploration of Boston Harbor by Winslow and Standish within nine
months after the landing at Plymouth, and in a shallop at that.

The most notable episode of 1623 was Winslow's visit to the sick
monarch, his tenderness eliciting from Massasoit that memorable sen-



* "The settlement of this colony occasioned the settlement of Massachusetts
P>ay, which was the source of all the other colonies in New England." (Hutchinson,
Pref.)

" Had Plymouth been deserted by the Pilgrim Fathers in 1621-22, Massachusetts
Bay would have remained desolate, and even Virginia would have doubtless been
abandoned. Then, before new colonization could be organized, Fiance would have
made good her claim by pushing down our Atlantic coast until she met Spain ascend-
ing from the south, unless, indeed, Holland had retained her hold at the centre."
(Goodwin, Pref., xxii.)



I2A Governor Edward Winslow. f July,

tence : " Now I see that the English are my friends and love me, and
whilst I live, I will never forget this kindness they have showed me."
His revelation of the Indian conspiracy probably saved Plymouth.

With Cushman, while in England in 1623-24, Winslow took out the
patent for Cape Anne ; and what is more important, he prepared his
"Good News from New England," which created a great stir on the
subject of emigration. About ten days after his return, he was elected
an assistant to the Governor. Summer found him again in England,
to investigate the antecedents of Lyford and disprove his charges against
Plymouth. He was now but twenty-nine years of age ; but the little
state already saw in him its diplomatic representative over the seas, its
man to keep peace with the Indians, its negotiator in business, and its
member of the Council second only in rank or influence to the Governor.
Plymouth already knew, in the words of Baylies, " that in devotion and
zeal to her interests he was not excelled by any one."

The same varied talents and sterling traits of character which so dis-
tinguished his subsequent career, causing James Savage in his edition of
Winthrop (I. 78) to remark that Winslow was "a great man in all cir-
cumstances," had appeared conspicuously before he reached his thirtieth
birthday. Within five years from the landing at Plymouth his part and
place in the Colony was defined for life. It involved long absences from
home, and a hearty consecration to his work, with an integrity that
Cromwell admired and caused his appointment as chief commissioner,
at a salary of .£1,000, in the great expedition to the West Indies — long
1 absences, I say, from those he loved,* but his consummate address and
keen insight into the affairs of men and the world, his acquaintance with
men of power and position, no other leader possessed ; and perforce his
part and place no other leader could take. " For foreign employment,
his better birth and breeding gave him advantages over his fellow immi-
grants. Among the gentlemen of the British Parliament Winslow moved
as one of themselves, " says Palfrey (ii. 407), who remarks on his death,
in 1665, "Bradford grievously missed from his side the partner of his
early struggles. . . . Now that Bradford was old, Plymouth could not
have sustained a greater loss."

It is as a diplomatist and statesman that Dr. Charles Deane, in his
edition of Bradford (p. m), refers to Winslow as "the most accom-
plished man of the old comers, distinguished for the important services
he rendered the Colony at home and abroad, and for the eminent abili-
ties he displayed as the representative of the sister colony to the English
government."

The essential point I am presenting — that Winslow as much as Brew-
ster, Bradford, or Standish filled a definite and distinct sphere of leader-
ship in the little state, and that Winslow's part and place were clearly
defined and commonly accepted before he was thirty years old — is
clearly established by evidence. Of the four leaders, the two most dis-
tinctively such were Winslow and Standish; doubtless that eminent author-
it}-, liartlett, in his now rare book, " The Pilgrim Fathers," had some such

-i * In 1650 President Steele of the Society for Propagating the Gospel in New
England wrote to the Commissioners of the United Colonies that Winslow was un-
willing to be longer kept from his family but his great acquaintance and influence
with members of Parliament required it. (Goodwin, 444.)



)6.] Governor Edward Winslow. I o c

idea in mind when he said : " Edward Winslow may not inaptly be
denominated the head of the emigration, as Myles Standish was its right
hand." He must, of course, by "head," mean intellectual and not civic
leadership (for Carver was the civic head) ; just as by "right hand" he
conveys the designation of military leader.*

Too little attention has been directed to the remarkable circumstance
that both a Winslow and a Standish, so utterly unlike, yet always friends,
should have joined the Pilgrims in Holland after their long exile from
England. Poetry and the romance of prose have naturally and justly
popularized the sword of so brave a captain, while leaving the weapons
of diplomacy and statesmanship for the historian to draw from the scab-
bard of peace. And not until late years has the historian (not including .
Palfrey f) investigated, even partially, the records of what Winslow
accomplished in England for Plymouth and her sister colonies. J

'' " Edward Winslow may not inaptly be denominated the head of the emigra-
tion, as Myles Standish was its right hand. Upon these two men appears to have
devolved most of the active external service of the colony, — Winslow's province being
that of negotiating its business ; while to the valiant Myles was entrusted it; military
defence.'" ("The Pilgrim Fathers." etc., W. II. Bartlett, p. 197.)

f The Hon. John Winslow, of Brooklyn, writes to me on this point : " When I
was helping the late Dr. Holton by writing the introductory chapter in vol. i. of the
' Winslow Memorial,' I saw more clearly than ever that there were gaps in the his-
tory of the Governor that ought to be filled by some competent pen. I wrote to Tohn
G. Palfrey, asking him if, in the course of his studies of New England history, he
had investigated the work of the Governor before the English Parliamentary Coun-
cils' Committees, etc., as a representative of our colonies. Mr. Palfrey replied to
say he was sorry he had not, but referred me to [the late] Mr. Deane, who was then
secretary of the Massachusetts Historical Society. I wrote to Mr. Deane, who
answered that it was an unexplored field to him. but he thought I might find some-
thing in the recent publication in London, entitled Calendar of State Papers, Colo-
nial Series, 1574-1660, State Paper Department, Her Majesty's Public Record Office.
I have never seen any reference to Winslow's record, as thus shown, by
any writer in this country, and yet it is the key to the Governor's history as a colonial
representative before the British authorities, and shows him to have been the most
important man connected with the Pilgrim Colony. I say ' most important ' advis-
edly, and shall expect you to demonstrate it in your proposed life of the Governor."

% " Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, 1574-1660." Edited by W. Noel
Sainsbury. (Five vols., London. 1S60-S0.) Extracts :

1650, January 22. Orders of Committee of the Admiralty. Concerning a remon-
strance touching Lord Baltimore's government of Maryland, presented by Capt.
Rich Ingle ; at the desire of the latter, Capt. Leverett, Edward Winslow, Rich-
ard Allen, and others were summoned as witnesses (p. 333'.

1650, March 9. Order of the Council of State. Edward Winslow to be permitted
to carry to New England tlie powder, shot, and ammunition mentioned in his
petition, upon giving security that it shall not be sold to any plantation in dis-
affection to the Commonwealth (p. 335).

1651, September 30. Order of the Council of State. One hundred narratives of the
battle at Worcester, and Acts for a day of thanksgiving, lo be delivered to
Edward Winslow, that he may send them to New England (p. 362).

1651, December 9. Petition of Edward Winslow to be referred to the consideration
of the Committee of Plantations (p. 367).

1652, January 26. Order of the Council of State. Mr. Holland, Lieutenant-General
Fleetwood. Mr. Guidon, Mr. Carew, and Sir Arthur Hesilrig, or any three of
them, appointed a committee to report upon the paper given in by Edward
Winslow concerning New England.

1652, March S. Order of the Council of State. In their report to be presented to
Parliament upon petition of Edward Winslow, in behalf of William Bradford,
Governor of New Plymouth, in New England, and his associates, wherein he
sets forth that for many years the plantation has had a grant for a trading place



126 Governor Edward Winslow. [I u b'>

In so weighty and honorable an affair as the settlement of Connecti-
cut, Winslow, as Governor in 1633, wished Boston to participate, but



in the river Kennebec, but not having the whole of the river under their grant
and government, many excesses and wickednesses have been committed, and the
benefit for trade and furs, one of the greatest supports of their plantation, has
been taken from the inhabitants of New Plymouth, and prays for a grant of the
whole river Kennebec ; recommending the desire of the petitioner be granted,
with a saving in the grant of the rights of any of the people of the Common-
wealth, the grant to pass under the Great Seal, if Parliament think fit (p. 376).

1652, April 29. Order of the Council of State. Referring the desire of Edward
Winslow to have a patent for Kennebec River, in New England, sealed with the
seal of the Council, to the Committee for Foreign Affairs, for their report upon
what has been done in cases of the like nature (p. 378).

1652, May 12. Minutes of Committee for Foreign Affairs. Mr. Joscelyn's proposi-
tions relating to New England to be considered on Friday fortnight (28th inst.),
when Mr. Winslow is directed to be present (p. 379).

1652, July 28. Minutes of a Committee for Foreign Affairs, upon petition and pro-
posal of Edward Winslow, Edward Hopkins, and Fras. Willoughby to the
Council of State. Recommend that liberty be given to them to send a ship with
ammunition to New England to give notice to the colonies of the differences
between the Commonwealth and the United Provinces; also barrels of powder,
shot, and one thousand swords for increase of their present store. That it be
also declared by the Council of State that, as the colonies may expect all fitting
encouragement and assistance from hence, so, they should demean themselves
against the Dutch, as declared enemies of the Commonwealth (p. 3S6).

1652, September 13. Minutes of a Committee for Foreign Affairs. Upon petition
of Capt. William Digby, Maurice Gardener's petition to be considered on
Friday next, when the answer of Jennings to Digby's petition is to be brought
in, and Mr, Thurloe is to draw up the state of that business and present it to the
committee ; he is also to speak with Edward Winslow concerning the petition
of Wrn. Dyre, and report thereon. Any of the committee with Mr. Thurloe to
look over and report upon letters and papers from Barbadoes referred from the
Council of State (p. 389).

1652, October 22. Order of the Council of State. Edward Winslow, Edward
Hopkins and Mr. Joscelyn to attend the Committee for Plantations on the 29th
inst., concerning the furnishing of some commodities from New England, usu-
ally furnished from the East lands (p. 391).

1652, November 1. Order of the Council of State. Desiring the Committee for
Foreign Affairs to confer with Mr. Winslow, Mr. Joscelyn, and others of New
England concerning the furnishing from thence, commodities usually had from
the East lands, for accommodating the shipping of this station (p. 392).

1652, December 15. Minutes of a Committee for Foreign Affairs. Col. Sydney,