The Winthrop Woman

Here's another historical novel about an ancestor: The Winthrop Woman, by Anya Seton. Rita read this book many years ago, and I just finished it a couple months ago. Seton was a prolific and entertaining author.

The subject of this historical novel is Elizabeth Fones Winthrop Feake Hallett, b. 1610 in England, immigrated to Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1631 and died 1665 in Connecticut Colony.

Elizabeth's first husband was Henry Winthrop, the son of John Winthrop, who was the Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Henry came to the colony in 1630 without Elizabeth; she was pregnant and the sea voyage would be too arduous in her condition.

Henry promptly managed to drown after getting to the colony. Elizabeth came shortly thereafter with her baby daughter. John Winthrop, who was a fire-eating Puritan, arranged for her to marry a fellow by the name of Robert Feake after she arrived.

Robert Feake was my 10th g-grandfather. He went insane, but not until after he fathered Hannah Feake, who will get her own post because she has a similarly fascinating history. (For point of reference: Hannah's daughter Martha married Joseph Thorne, who was the source of "Thorn" as a first or middle name in Uncle Thorn, Great-grandfather Thorn, and Uncle Rossie's son William Thorn.)

In those days, essentially everything in the British colonies was about religion. (Anything that wasn't about religion was mostly about trying to not be killed or kidnapped by Indians, getting enough food to eat, trying to not die from having a baby: that sort of thing.) 

The Dutch colony, New Netherland, was mostly about religion, but also about trade. It's hard to conceive of the Dutch Reformed Church as ever being the "liberal" church, but it was quite liberal in comparison to the Puritan church. For many of the years Elizabeth lived in Connecticut, most of the land was owned by the Dutch, so she was nominally a Dutch subject during that part of her life.

Elizabeth owned land in her own name in what is now Greenwich, Connecticut. Land ownership by women was frowned upon in those days. One of our cousins made this video of Elizabeth's Neck, Connecticut, called by the Indians Monakewaygo. This was part of the land Elizabeth owned.

Robert Feake returned to England after going mad, but because he was still alive, Elizabeth could not remarry in the Puritan church. She managed to procure a (gasp!) divorce from the Dutch Reformed Church, which allowed her to marry her sweetheart, William Hallett. Even today there is controversy about whether the marriage to Hallett was valid, and some still refer to Hallett as her "consort."

Whatever. She was a woman of unimaginable strength in unimaginably trying circumstances.

Great job, 10th GGma Elizabeth.

Here's how she is related:

And I just found a nonfiction history of the American colonies, with Elizabeth at the center. Insubordinate Spirit: A True Story Of Life And Loss In Earliest America 1610-1665. So, another book to read. It has good reviews.