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Table of Contents
Edward Winslow was an English Separatist who was one of the Pilgrims to arrive in Plymouth, Massachusetts back in 1620. He was one of the leaders of the Plymouth Colony.
See the fact file below for more information on the Edward Winslow or alternatively, you can download our 22-page Edward Winslow worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.
Key Facts & Information
Personal Life
- Edward Winslow was born in Droitwich, Worcestershire on October 18, 1595, to Edward Winslow Sr. and Magdalene Oliver.
- Winslow studied in King’s School in Worcester for five years from 1606 to 1611.
- He married Elizabeth Barker in 1618.
- He and his wife Elizabeth would later on flee England to escape religious persecution under the reign of King James I.
Becoming A Separatist
- He became the apprentice of London stationer John Beale starting in August 1613.
- He was bound by a contract to Beale for eight years but he was not able to complete that term.
- In 1617, he became an English exile when he joined the Separatist Church in Leiden, Netherlands.
- In the Separatist Church, he was a big help to William Brewster who managed a clandestine printing press.
- In 1618, Brewster and assistant Winslow published a tract that was critical of the English church and King James I.
- The news reached King James I and he ordered English officials to arrest William Brewster.
- Brewster went in hiding, causing problems for the Separatists because they needed his leadership the most at this time.
- The Separatists prepared for their voyage to Massachusetts.
Mayflower Leader
- Edward became one of the leaders, alongside William Bradford, Isaac Fullerton, and Samuel Fuller, of the Separatists in the Leiden church.
- They were responsible for corresponding with London agents Robert Cushman and John Carver so that the congregation could travel to America.
- The trip was later financed by a group of businessmen called Merchant Adventurers.
- The Separatist group including Winslow, his wife, and his brother Gilbert, traveled on the Mayflower.
- Also in their care was their family servant, George, and two young ones, Elias and Elinor.
The Mayflower
- The Mayflower set out to America with 102 passengers on September 6, 1620.
- For many months, the passengers suffered from harsh conditions in the ship such as unsanitary living and lack of food.
- There were a couple of deaths on the way to Massachusetts, but their numbers dropped when they reached Plymouth.
- About half of the Separatists died from the very cold winter.
- It took three months for the Mayflower landed on Cape Cod (Provincetown Harbor). It was November 11, 1620.
- The Mayflower Compact was made that time as the group’s governing document.
- Winslow was one of the 41 Separatists who signed the Mayflower Compact.
Plymouth Colony
- The Plymouth Colony was the group of Separatists, also called Pilgrims, who settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
- On March 24, 1621, Winslow’s wife Elizabeth died.
- In May that same year, Winslow remarried.
- He married a fellow Pilgrim named Susanna White.
- They were the first to marry in the Plymouth Colony.
- William Bradford officiated their civil wedding ceremony.
- Edward Winslow and Susanna had five children, named Edward, Josiah, John, Elizabeth, and one unidentified.
- Winslow became a stepdad to Susanna’s children from her previous marriage.
- His stepsons were Resolved White and Peregrine White.
Plymouth Leadership
- Winslow acted as a middleman between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians who had settled in the region before they had.
- Winslow won over the trust and alliance of Indian Chief Massasoit.
- Winslow was the governor of the Plymouth Colony in the years 1633, 1636, and 1644.
- He was a council member from 1624 to 1647.
- His son, Josiah, also became a governor of the colony from 1673 to 1679.
- In 1624, he was assigned as a commissioner of the United Colonies of New England.
- He was being sent to England to negotiate on behalf of the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies.
- At age 51, he left for a mission and never came back to Massachusetts.
Writings
- Edward Winslow was also a writer as he wrote the bulk of what is now Plymouth Colony’s known history.
- His writings are Good News from New England (1624); Hypocrisie Unmasked (1646); New England’s Salamander (1647); and The Danger of Tolerating Levelers in a Civil State (1649).
- He shares credit with John Eliot and Thomas Mayhew Jr. in The Glorious Progress of the Gospel amongst the Indians in New England (1649).
- He provided testimony, together with William Bradford, in Mourt’s Relation, which is one of the sources of The First Thanksgiving.
- “Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruits of our labors”
-Edward Winslow writing about the first Thanksgiving, December 1621
Death
- Winslow died at age 59 on May 8, 1655 at sea close to Jamaica.
- He was assigned to govern a new colony in the West Indies but he never made it: he got ill at sea and eventually died.
Edward Winslow Worksheets
This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about Edward Winslow across 22 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Edward Winslow worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about Edward Winslow who was an English Separatist who was one of the Pilgrims to arrive in Plymouth, Massachusetts back in 1620. He was one of the leaders of the Plymouth Colony.
Complete List Of Included Worksheets
- Edward Winslow Facts
- Winslow’s Life
- Titles and Achievements
- Order of Events
- Reformed Religion
- The Mayflower
- Winslow The Leader
- Plymouth Governors
- About Thanksgiving
- Winslow Writes
- Mourt’s Relation
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Link will appear as Edward Winslow Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, November 1, 2018
Use With Any Curriculum
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