Governor John Winthrop Jr.

John Winthrop, Jr. (1606-1676) was born 12 February 1606 at his family's manor house in Groton, Suffolk, England. He was the oldest son of John Winthrop (1588-1649), the first Governor of Massachusetts Bay, and his first wife, Mary Forth Winthrop. John Winthrop, Jr. married his cousin, Martha Fones (d. 1634), on 8 February 1631. His second wife was Elizabeth Reade, daughter of Edmund Reade of Wickford, Essex, England. He came to America in 1631.

John Winthrop, Jr., was elected Governor of Connecticut in 1657; he was elected again in 1659, and held the post continually until his death in 1676. Winthrop was instrumental in securing the Royal Connecticut Charter from Charles II in 1662, and he was the first Governor of Connecticut to serve under that charter. Governor John Winthrop, Jr., died 5 April 1676.