John Winthrop was born 12 January 1587 in Suffolk, England into a wealthy landowning family. He was trained as a lawyer in London but when he became Lord of the Manor at Groton, Suffolk he spent his early adult years managing his estate, only later following his father’s profession as a practicing lawyer in London.

Winthrop was a deeply religious man and was very sympathetic to the Puritan movement to purify the Church of England from Catholic influence.

When he was 18, he married Mary Worth. During their 10 years of marriage, they had five children, three boys followed by two girls. Both girls died in infancy, Mary dying during childbirth. Winthrop married again but his second wife died in childbirth within a year. Her child did not survive. He married for the third time, Margaret Tyndal, in 1618. By 1618, Winthrop held an important position in the Courts in London and divided his time between Suffolk and London.

When Charles I came to the throne in 1624, he supported the increased persecution of Puritans and other apparent religious malcontents. Winthrop had, by this time, become involved with the Puritan movement, more specifically with groups in Lincolnshire. He was aware of the Puritan settlements and attempts to settle in New England, including the establishment in 1628 of the Massachusetts Bay Company, but played no part in its creation.

Charles dissolved Parliament in 1629. Matthew Craddock, the Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Company, became alarmed about the future of the Company and he and his directors decided to move the Company’s charter and the position of Governor to New England. He wasn’t interested in emigrating, so a new Governor was sought. Winthrop, now keen to move himself and his family to New England, put his name forward. He was appointed and led the first major emigration fleet from England to New England in 1630.