Edward Winslow (1595-1655)

Early Plymouth_Colony Settler and passenger on the 1620 Mayflower. 3rd, 6th and 10th Governor of Plymouth Colony.

Vital Statistics

 * Son of Edward Winslow and Madgalene Ollyver
 * 1595-Oct-18 : Born in Droitwich, Worcestershire, England
 * 1617 : Migration to Holland.
 * 1618-May : Married first wife - Elizabeth Barker in Leiden Holland
 * 1620 Trip to America on the Plymouth
 * 1621-May : Married to 2nd Wife, Susannah Fuller, widow of William White.
 * 1655-May-8 : Died near Jamaica on 8 May 1655, and was buried at sea.

Biography
He was born, on October 18, 1595. In 1617 he removed to Leiden, united with John Robinson's church there, and in 1620 was one of the "pilgrims" who emigrated to New England on the Mayflower and founded the Plymouth colony.

His first wife was Elizabeth (Barker) Winslow, whom he married in May 1618 at Leiden. She accompanied him on the Mayflower, and died soon after their arrival in Plymouth. Also accompanying Winslow were his children, George Soule, a teacher for the children, and Elias Story, a servant. Winslow remarried in May 1621 to Mrs Susannah (---) White, the mother of Peregrine White (1620-1704). This was the first marriage in the New England colonies. Winslow later founded what would become Marshfield in the Plymouth Colony where he lived on an estate he called Careswell.

Winslow was delegated by his associates to treat with the Native Americans in the vicinity and succeeded in winning the friendship of their chief, Massasoit (c. 1580-1661). He was one of the assistants from 1624 to 1647, except in 1633-1634, 1636-1637 and 1644-1645, when he was governor of the colony. He was also, in 1643, one of the commissioners of the United Colonies of New England. On several occasions he was sent to England to look after the interests of Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay Colony, and defend these colonies from the attacks of such men as John Lyford, Thomas Morton and Samuel Gorton. He left on his last mission as the agent of Massachusetts Bay, in October 1646, and spent nine years in England, where he held a minor office under Cromwell, and in 1654, was made a member of the commission appointed to determine the value of certain English ships destroyed by Denmark.

In 1655 he was the chief of the three English commissioners whom Cromwell sent on his expedition against the West Indies to advise with its leaders Admiral Venables and Admiral William Penn, but died near Jamaica on 8 May 1655, and was buried at sea. Winslow's portrait, the only likeness of any of the "Mayflower pilgrims" done from life, is in the gallery of the Pilgrim Society at Plymouth, Massachusetts.

His son Josiah Winslow later served as governor of Plymouth colony.Most of his descendants and indeed most of the descendants of the Pilgrim Fathers remained loyal at the time of the American Revolution. Indeed, the split between the Loyalists and the Patriots can be traced back to the differences between the Pilgrim Fathers colony at Plymouth Rock and the Puritan Fathers Massachusetts Bay colony. The former were loyal to the Crown, tolerant of other religions and cultivated good relations with the native people. The latter were disloyal from the beginning, intolerant of other religions, and made war with the native people.