WINTHROP
51S
WINTHROP
after was made an assistant in the
Massachusetts Colony. A year later he
led a company of twelve to Agawam
(now Ipswich), where a settlement was
made. In about a year, he returned to
England and received a commission to
be governor of the river Connecticut,
for one year. On coming back to
America he built a fort at Saybrook,
Connecticut, and lived there part of that
time. Then making no effort to have
the commission renewed, he returned
to Ipswich and became one of the
prudential men of the town. Subse-
quently, he moved to Salem, established
some salt works, made another trip to
England, and finally, receiving Fisher's
Island as a grant from the general court
of Massachusetts, went there in the fall
of 1646. This grant was, subsequently,
confirmed by both Connecticut and New
York. In the spring of the following
year he removed to Pequot (now New
London), but, after a residence of eight
years, moved to New Haven. From
here he was called to dwell in Hartford
on being elected governor of Connecti-
cut, in 1657. He had previously (Sep-
tember 9, 1647), been given a commission
to execute justice "according to our laws
and the rule of righteousness," and in
May, 1651, was elected an assistant of
Connecticut. He served as governor one
year, then became deputy governor on
account of a law which prevented his
reelection. This law being repealed the
next year, he served continuously as
governor from 1659 until his death in
1676, although in 1667, 1670 and 1676
he requested to be relieved of this office.
He was always an omnivorous reader
and much given to scientific studies.
The taste for medicine came naturally
to him as his father was well versed in
it as well as other members of his family.
"The scarcity of physicians in the
colonies and Winthrop's willingness to
give advice free of charge — so far as his
studies enabled him to do so" — caused
him to be much consulted. Many
letters are still extant, coming from all
parts of New England, seeking aid for
various ailments and Cotton Mather
declares: "Wherever he came, still the
diseased flocked about him, as if the Heal-
ing Angel of Bethesda had appeared in
the place." Winthrop's sovereign rem-
edy, Rubila, was much sought after. It
appears to have been composed of
diaphoretic antimony, nitre and " a little
salt of tin." In one of liis son's letters,
we find the directions "but remember
that Rubila be taken at the beginning of
any illness," and Roger Williams else-
where writes: "I have books that pre-
scribe powders, but yours is probatum in
this country." Besides Rubila, Winthrop
prescribed nitre, iron, sulphur, calomel,
rhubarb, guaiacum, jalap, horse-radish,
the anodyne mithrodate, coral in powder
form, elecampane, elder, wormwood,
anise, unicorn's-horn and an electuary of
millepedes. He was made a member of
the Royal Society of England shortly
after its incorporation, on January 1,
1662, and dm-ing his stay of a year and a
half in England, at that time, he took an
active part in the society's proceedings,
read a number of papers on a great
variety of subjects and exhibited many
curious things.
He married first, in 1631, his cousin, Martha Jones, who died at Ipswich, Massachusetts, three years later. In 1635 he married Elizabeth, daughter of Edmund Reade of Wickford, county Essex, and step daughter of the famous Hugh Peters. She died at Hartford, in 1672. By her Winthrop had two sons and five daughters. The sons, Fitz John (Governor of Connecticut, 1698-1707) and Wait Still (Chief Justice of Massa- chusetts) had both a very laudable knowledge of medicine.
Winthrop died on April 10, 1676, and is buried at Boston, in the King's Chapel Burying Ground. A portrait of him, copied from a painting in the possession of the family, is to be seen in the library of the State Capitol at Hartford. It has been often reproduced, being most accurately given in Water's sketch of Winthrop's Life.
W. R. S.
