John Winthrop (1588-1649) was born in Edwardston, England, in 1588 to Adam Winthrop (1548-1623) and Anne Browne Winthrop (1558-1629). In December 1602 he matriculated at Trinity College, Cambridge, but did not graduate. Winthrop founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630 and served as governor of the colony from 1630-1634, 1637-1640, 1642-1644, and 1646-1649. He married four times: in 1605 to Mary Forth (1584-1615); in 1615 to Thomasine Clopton (1583?-1616); in 1618 to Margaret Tyndal (1591-1647); and in 1647 to Martha Rainsborough Coytmore (1617?-1660).

John Winthrop, Jr. (1606-1676) was the oldest son of Gov. John Winthrop (1588-1649) and Mary Forth Winthrop (1584-1615). He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, and studied law at the Inner Temple, London. In 1631 he followed his father to Massachusetts and, with twelve other men, in March 1632-33, began a plantation at what is now Ipswich, Massachusetts. The death of his wife, Martha, and daughter in the autumn of 1634 caused him to change his plans and he soon afterward returned to England. In 1635 he married Elizabeth, daughter of Edmund Reade and step-daughter of Hugh Peters. She died in 1672, leaving two sons and five daughters. In January 1645, he sold his farm at Ipswich and moved to New London, Connecticut. He had been an assistant in the government of the Massachusetts Bay Colony for eighteen years, but in 1651 he was elected Governor of Connecticut and served until his death in 1676.