"The Winthrop Woman"

 I just finished listening to the audio version of this book. When I tried to read it many years ago, I lost myself and lost interest. But this time I was captivated by it.

It was a very long digital audio book, but I was supposed to be sitting with my legs elevated a lot, so it fit right into my life at this time. (A foot injury is still not treated, but I have appointments coming.)

 I really enjoyed getting to know Elizabeth Winthrop, an early colonist to America, whose uncle John Winthrop was a governor of Massachusetts for some years of his life. 

I had many relatives in early Massachusetts and Connecticut, but have no knowledge of all the trials and tribulations they went through until I read The Winthrop Woman.

Elizabeth had many problems in her life, and somehow surmounted them all. She befriended a First Nation Indian woman who appeared several times through the book.  Elizabeth has romances, religious doubts, and a large family.  

Though this is a historical fiction, the actual woman, Elizabeth Winthrop, existed and was cited in many records through her life...records which still exist. I don't know how many things have been inserted to provide links to these records. But she dealt with early Puritans, and politics during King Charles I reign and the revolution of Cromwell. She dealt with the Dutch who had different laws to be followed when she lived in Greenwich CT, which was on the border and eventually became part of the English Connecticut Colony.

I remembered an ancestor of mine had a sister (Ann Brinley Coddington, 1628-1708) who married a Connecticut governor, and just looked up her mention on my blog HERE. The Brinley sister married Gov. William Coddington (1601-1678), while my ancestress was Grissell Brinley Sylvester (1635-1687) who lived on Long Island. I had many ancestors who settled in Boston MA, Andover MA, Newbury MA, Sudbury RI, Hartford CT, and Stratford CT, from both my father's and my mother's ancestry.

I wish on a certain level that I still lived in New England, and had access to all the many documents which still talk of the early colonists.  Of course there are lots of resources on line these days and I find many hints on my Ancestry trees every time I look at them!

Thanks to fellow blogger, Vicki Lane who recommended this book.