A POSTSCRIPT.
If any man desire a more ample relation of the state of this country, before such time as this present Relation taketh place, I refer them to the two former printed books; the one published by the President and Council for New England, and the other gathered by the inhabitants of this present Plantation at Plymouth in New England.[127]
FOOTNOTES
[Dedication] (pp. 3-5)
[1] The merchant adventurers.
[2] This sentiment shows how little obnoxious the first settlers of New England were to the charge of fanaticism, which has often been alleged against them by persons alike ignorant of their spirit and their history.
[3] Edward Winslow was, according to Hutchinson, “of a very reputable family and of a very active genius”—“a gentleman of the best family of any of the Plymouth planters, his father, Edward Winslow, Esq., being a person of some figure at Droitwich, in Worcestershire,” a town seven miles from Worcester, celebrated for its salt springs. Edward was the eldest of eight children, and was born at Droitwich Oct. 19, 1595, as appears from the following extract from the records of St. Peter’s church in that place: “1595, Oct. 20, baptized Edward, son of Edward Winslow, born the previous Friday,” which was the 19th. His mother’s name was Magdalen; her surname is unknown; she was married Nov. 3, 1594. He was not one of the original band of Pilgrims who escaped to Holland in 1608, but being on his travels, fell in with them at Leyden, in 1617, as we learn from his Brief Narration, where he speaks of “living three years under Mr. Robinson’s ministry before we began the work of plantation in New England.” His name stands the third among the signers of the Compact on board the Mayflower; and his family consisted at that time of his wife, Elizabeth, George Soule, and two others, perhaps his children, Edward and John, who died young. As has already been seen, and will hereafter appear, he was one of the most energetic and trusted men in the Colony. He went to England in 1623, 1624, 1635 and 1646, as agent of the Plymouth or Massachusetts colonies; and in 1633 he was chosen governor, to which office he was reëlected in 1636 and 1644. He did not return to New England after 1646. In 1655 he was sent by Cromwell as one of three commissioners to superintend the expedition against the Spanish possessions in the West Indies, and died at sea, near Hispaniola, on the 8th of May of that year, in his 60th year. An interesting letter, written by him at Barbadoes, March 16, and addressed to Secretary Thurloe, is preserved in Thurloe’s State Papers, iii. 250. Three letters of his to Gov. Winthrop, one to the Commissioners of the United Colonies, and another to Thurloe from Barbadoes, March 30, are contained in Hutchinson’s Collection of Papers, pp. 60, 110, 153, 228, 268.
In 1637 he obtained a grant of a valuable tract of land at Green’s harbour, now Marshfield, to which he gave the name of Careswell. This estate continued in the family till a few years since, when it came into possession of Daniel Webster, the late Secretary of State.