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Governor Edward Winslow Family

Will

Additional Reading:

Volume 5: Edward Winslow and John Billington
1991. 192pp. + Index
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Governor Winslow was among the signers of the Mayflower Compact; the one who selected Plymouth as the place of settlement; one of the principal leaders of the struggling colony, and it's third governor.  It's a shame that such a dedicated and  intelligent leader has so little documented  issue. Unfortunately this is true of the early Winslows in general. Furthermore, many Winslows seem to have died early -- in itself, perhaps, an interesting study.  Out of five known children, only Josiah and Elisabeth survived to have issue.

[MF5G] Edward Winslow was baptized at Droitwich, co. Worcester, England, Oct 20 1595 and died May 8, 1655 in about the sixty-first year of his life. He was the son of Edward and Magdalene (Oliver) Winslow. Brothers Gilbert (who came on the Mayflower, but returned to England and there died--no known issue), John, Josias and Kenelm all came to Plymouth. At the time of his marriage in Leiden, he was called a printer of London.  His first wife died the first winter shortly after the Pilgrims landed. He died on a voyage from Hispaniola to Jamaica and was buried at sea. 

A suggested abbrieviated ancestry follows as presented in The New England Historical & Genealogical Review 121:28 by John G. Hunt who wrote a series of studies in a quest to clarify Winslow's ancestry. 

Galfrid1 Winslow of Earls Crome, co. Worcester, 1425; Richard2 of the same 1430; William3 of the same 1471; Richard4 of the same, will dated 1546; Thomas5 of Kempsey; Kenelm6 of Kempsey and Worcester.

Charles E.Banks, however in The English Ancestry and Homes of The Pilgrim Fathers, , p. 98, published 1989, (after the Hunt articles)  still saw the ancestry of Edward Winslow as lacking clarity, noting only that is was "highly probable" that the grandfater of  Gov. Edward Winslow was "Kenelm Winslow of Kempsey or of a contemporary Richard Winslow of the same parish."  He further notes that a coat of arms often associated with portraits of Gov. Winslow has never been properly authenticated. 

Most Recently in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, [NEHGR 154:78+ "The Loving Cousins . . ."] author Kenneth Kirkpatick revives the issue of Winslow's ancestry and discusses at length various ancestral possibilities. 

The Identity of Susanna (?Fuller) White   

[NEHGR 154:109-118] Further, in this same issue, Jeremy Dupertuis Bangs, Director, Leiden American Pilgrim Museum, reintroduces the issue of the identity of Edward Winslow's second wife in an article entitled Notes From Leiden:  Another look at the identity of Edward Winslow's wife, Susanna (?Fuller) White.  In particular he examines the Leiden records, their translation and conclusions drawn by Robert M. Serman and Ruth Wilder Sherman* of research carried out in their behalf by Dr. B. N. Leverland in 1971  and repeated recently in The Great Migration Begins p.1980 (William White), p.2025 (Edward Winslow) -- namely that Anne Fuller was not the wife of William White, and thus was not the 2nd wife of Edward Winslow..  

In brief, Bangs provides additional translation interpretations, discusses the two William Whites residing in Leiden, as well as other perplexities, and suggests the conclusion that "there is no conclusive evidence against the Dexters' [H. M.and M. Dexter, The England and Holland of the Pilgrims] identification of Susanna White Winslow with Anna (Fuller) White."

*William White of the Mayflower, Mayflower Families Through Five Generations, Vol 1., Plymouth, Mass, General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1975, 95-98.

In the  V5, Mayflower Families Through Five Generation, Edward Winslow, John Billington, published by the General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1991, editors Ruth C. McGuyre & Robert Wakefield also make the statement that the repeated claim that Susanna is the same as Ann, daughter of Robert Fuller and sister of Samuel and Edward Fuller, is "highly unlikely, if not impossible."  Among arguments presented are that according to Ann's baptismal date she would have been at least 53 years old when daughter Elizabeth was born.  

Governor Edward Winslow
Edward1 Winslow, the Mayflower Passenger, married, 1st, Elizabeth Barker; married, 2d, (Sus)anna (?Fuller) White, who came in The Mayflower with her first husband, William1 White, and their two sons, Resolved2 White and Peregrine2 White. Gov. Edward1 Winslow apparently had no children by his first wife.

Child of Robert and Elizabeth WinslowBrooks
John Brooks3, died Charlestown, about age 31 apparently unm. and without issue.[MF5G V:9]

Children of George and Elizabeth Winslow Corwin
Penelope Corwin3, married Josiah Walcot. His first wife.
Susanna Corwin3, married Edward Lyde.

As of 1991, no proof had been found for a son George.[MF5G V:9]

*Josiah2 Winslow (Gov. Edward1), married Penelope Pelham.
Child3 Winslow, a daughter, died, lived only two days
Elizabeth3 Winslow, married Stephen Burton.
Edward3 Winslow, died as infant  in the same year of his birth
Isaac3 Winslow, married Sarah Wensley.

*This Josiah was Governor of Plymouth Colony from 1673 until his death in 1680.