A member of the gentry, John Winthrop was born on January 22, 1588. At the age of 17 he married his first of four wives, and the first of his 16 children was born the following year. At Cambridge University he was first exposed to the reformist ideas of Puritanism and seriously considered becoming a clergyman; however, choosing to study law instead, Winthrop served as an attorney on the Court of Wards and Liveries from 1627-1629.

Winthrop believed God had elected him to ‘sainthood,’ salvation, and like many Puritans he was socially active in his quest to purge the Church of England of any resemblance to Catholicism. The rise of King Charles I, a Roman Catholic Church sympathizer, to the throne and England’s economic crisis made seeking permission to emigrate the only course of action for Winthrop that would allow him to practice his beliefs and maintain his social position. A group of merchants, all Puritans, gained a charter in March 1629 for land in the colonies. The Company of Massachusetts Bay in New England elected Winthrop as their governor. On April 8, 1630, 700 emigrates set  sail for the New World. On Arbella, Winthrop delivered his sermon A Model of Christian Charity. Respected and beloved by his fellow Puritans, Winthrop believed his community and way of life were favored above all others by God and was suspicious of all new ideas. Winthrop was elected several times as governor, and after winning the election in 1637, he called for the excommunication of Anne Hutchinson, who supported a form of Christianity Winthrop found blasphemous. Defeated after a six week battle with a fever, Winthrop died at the age of 61 in the spring of  1649. The journal he maintained through out his time in the colonies has been a primary sourse of the history of early Massachusetts.

Information from:

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/645737/John-Winthrop

“John Winthrop.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym and Robert S. Levine. 6th ed. Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2013. 90-91.