Papers of the Winthrop Family, Volume 2

Anne Gibson to John Winthrop1

Gibson, Anne Winthrop, John

1629-04-09

To the Worshipfull my louinge Cosin John Winthrope Esquire att the three Fawnes in the ould Bayly dd this I pray with speed London

Good Sir,

my hope was to haue spoken with you at Chensy house,2 which failing of I now intreat your helpe to Mr. Colethirst for the putting of the aduenture.3 i had written to him to put of my part though you were not resolued to putt of yours, but comming to my Cosin Tindales he tould me you were purposed to take the same course I did therein, and my necessities are such that the sooner the better for i am to pay mony i stand bound for within these 3 weekes to Mris. Vere, being x li and at Midsommer I am to pay 28 l for 2 tenements that joyne to my orchard which mony i haue giuen bond to pay part of and thother part by promise in court when I had the surrender, and although I had rather haue imployed my mony som other way, yet the exceeding trouble I haue and charge of fenceing against such ill neighboures compells me to it. I perceiue the longer the mony is in the Companies hands the shorter it will grow euery yeare for wee must be sencibble of all losses, but of no benefitte. they haue such intricate accounts that they will be sure nothing shall come out of their owne fingers, and if they would but lett the owners haue out theire stock it were somwhat, but that they cut of by the middle. i am perswaded that ~~vnchris~~ paganes would not deale so badly, this messenger gaue me such short warning that I cannot write so fully as otherwise i would, i am threatned againe by Chute, now he hath heard my witnesses and atorney be dead which makes me keep out of sight because I would escape the Bayly. I hope the lord in his good tyme will free me from all these troubles, my desire is to make the right vse of them to which end I humbly intreat the help of your holy prayers: and so rest your very louing vnworthy kinswoman

Anne Gibson. Heningham4 this ix of April 1629. 82

I wrote to Mr. Colethirst a fortnight since that you would be in towne this tearme but I could not direct him where you lay I beseech giue him notice of your being in towne that so he may know your mind

W. 4. 29; 5 Collections , I. 79–80. For the writer, a niece of Lady Anne Tyndal, see Vol. I. 252, 314, 349; Muskett, 150.

Chelmeshoo House, Great Maplestead, co. Essex, the seat of the Tyndals.

The natural inference from this letter is that the writer had invested in the stock of some company, perhaps that of the Massachusetts Bay, money which she now wished to withdraw. If the Massachusetts company is referred to, the letter is valuable as evidence of early participation by Winthrop in its affairs.

Heveningham, co. Suffolk. Heveningham Hall, the eighteenth century successor to Mrs. Gibson's residence, is the seat of the Barons Huntingfield; the present Lady Huntingfield is a descendant of Governor Winthrop.

Receipt of Reynold Branch1

Branch, Reynold Winthrop, John

1629-04-13

13° Aprilis. 1629.

Receaved by mee Reignold Branch the daie and yeare above written of John Wyntropp esquier by the hands of mr. Emanuell Downing the Somme of Tenn pownds of lawfull money of England and is for one quarters paiement of an Annuytie due to me att our Lady Daie last past in the beehalfe of my wife Elizabeth Branch,2 I saie received x li.

Reynould Branch. 1.

W. Au. 37. See Vol. I. 339, note 38 340, note 5 .

Aunt by marriage of John Winthrop, Vol. I. 172, note 62 173, note 2 .

Will of Thomas Fones, 16291

Fones, Thomas

Thomas Fones citizen and apothecary of London 14 April 1629. Having already by acts executed in my life time disposed of the greater part of my personal estate to and among my children and to the use and benefit of my wife I do hereby commit the tuition, education, care and tutelage of my son Samuel Fones2 during his minority unto his uncle John Wynthrop of Groton in the County of Suffolk Esquire, John White3 of the Middle Temple London, Esquire, and James Thurlby4 citizen and grocer of London, and do earnestly desire these my loving friends to have a special care that he be brought up in learning and in the fear of God and knowledge of his ways; and do charge and require my son, upon my blessing, to subject himself unto 83them and to be ruled by them in all things. And the tuition and education of my daughters Elizabeth and Martha I do commit unto my said loving brother John Wynthropp until they shall be married or attain their full age of one and twenty years. The tuition of my youngest daughter Mary I commit to my loving wife her mother. My loving wife Priscilla Fones and my loving brother John Wynthropp to be executors, etc. Witnesses: John Smith, Ri. Fitch, Tho: Smith. Probate 29 April 1629.
1.
P. C. C., 28 Ridley; see Muskett, 83, for Thomas Fones, who died April 15, 1629. For an account of his debts and funeral expenses, see Vol. I. 143–44; see also infra, page 42, note 5 supra page 43, note 10 . There is a writ of diem clausit extremum concerning his estate in the Public Record Office, C 142/449/15.
2.
Died in 1693; will in Muskett, 85.
3.
John White (1590–1645), often called “Century White” from his work, The First Century of Scandalous Malignant Priests (1643). He was educated at Oxford and the Middle Temple and became a leader among the Puritans. It is probable that the charter of the Massachusetts Bay Company was procured under his advice; he may actually have drafted it. He attended early meetings of the company in London, but did not emigrate. The name of his first wife, “Katherin daughter of Barfoote of Essex,” suggests kinship with the Winthrops (see Vol. I. 289, 291–292). D. N. B. Visitation of London (H.S., Pub. , XVII), II. 346.
4.
James Thurlby's connection with the Fones family arose from the marriage of his brother Robert to Ursula, sister of Priscilla Fones and daughter of Dr. John Burgess the Puritan clergyman and physician. See Vol. I. 259, note 35 260, note 16 , and Visitation of London, II. 288.