Edward WINSLOW

                   At Sea Near Jamaica
First Govenor of the Plymouth Colony

«b»The Ancestry and Descendants of Kenelm Winslow From England to New England compiled by Joanna Thiboutot Merrell
«/b»Edward Winslow born 18 Oct 1595 in Droitwich Worcester, England - died 8 May 1655 in
Barbados, West Indies - captism 20 Oct 1595 in St. Peters, Droitwich, Worcester, England - burial: Oct 1655 in the Atlantic Ocean, while at sea - occupation: scholar/diplomat.  Edward's childhood was spent on the family sheep farm at Droitwich, Worcester, England.  The ancestral home in the village of Kempsey, south of the city of Worcester stands today and is known as Kerswell.  Edward used this name for his American Marshfield estate that over the years became known as Kareswell.

Edward was educated at Schola Vigorniensis, the King's School in Worcester Cathedral, in the city of Worcester.  In 1613, he was apprenticed to Printer John Beal of London and through another printer became acquainted with the dissident Separatist group connected with St. Bride's Church on Fleet Street, London.  In 1617 he joined the exiled Separatists in Leyden, Holland, as a printer and writer.  After printing some twenty books supporting the Separatist cause between 1617 and 1619 its press at Leyden was seized by English authorities.  In 1619 when the Separatists were trying to arrange an escape to America, Edward's friends in good standing with King James I drew up the patent for the Council for Affairs of New England in July1620.  Edward helped arrange passage for the group to America.

Edward served both Plymouth Colony and Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell, of England in diverse and important capacities.  He was an outstanding leader of the Separatist (Pilgrim) group at Plymouth and was the third of 41 to sign the Mayflower Compact.  He led exploratory parties to determine a permanent settlement site.  While a hostage of the Wampanoag native Americans suring the Plymouth Colony governor's peace-treaty's negotiation with Massasoit, Edward began a lifelong friendship with Massasoit that was vital in maintaining the peace treaty until Massasoit's death in 1661.

Edward was 3 times governor of Plymouth Colony.  He represented Plymouth at the Court of England in 1623, 1624, 1635, 1644, and 1645.  During his third visit Anglican Archbishop Laud accused him of solomnizing marriages, as a layman.  He was convicted and served 17 weeks in the Fleet Street Prison.  This adventure proved a stepping stone in his career because an enemy of Laud's was friend of the members of Parliament.

About 1638 the family moved to Green Harnor, now called Marshfield.  There he wrote that the available foods incuded, fish, foul, cod, lobsters, eels, mussels, oysters, red and green grapes, strawbnerries, and raspberries.  in 1624 Edward brought from England three ehifers and one bull to the colony.  He returned to England in 1646, presumably to defend the Massachusetts Bay Colony, but he was never to see New England or his wife again.  Holding several positions in Oliver Cromwell's Puritan government from 1646 to his death, Edward was a Loyaluiswt in contract to some members of his family that remained Patriots in America.

Cromwell appointed Edward at a salary equivalent to $50,000 a year to join an expedition led by Admiral Penn and General Venables to drive the Dutch from the West Indies.  The English force was repulsed shortly after which Edward died 8 May 1655.  Willison writes that it was good that he died for had he lived, on return to England, he would have been put in jail with Penn and Venables for failure to complete the mission.  His 1654 London will left his American property to his son, Josiah.