Person:Kenelm Winslow (2)

Kenelm Winslow, nephew of Governor Edward Winslow, early removed to Cape Cod, and settled in that part of Yarmouth which was afterwards incorporated with Harwich, and which is now Brewster. His homestead was near the westerly border of the town, now known as West Brewster, Satucket, or Winslow's Mills. He is mentioned in the Yarmouth Records as early as 1668, Harwich then being in the constablerick of Yarmouth. In a "rate" dated 29 Apr., 1676, "towards the charge of the late war," we find "Kenel. Winslow œ4. 13.6. ^[3]

Whether he was engaged in any of the encounters with the Indians we do not know, but, in 1678, he is styled "Col. Winslow" in the list of freemen of Yarmouth. ^[4] He is also called "planter" or "yeoman" in sundry deeds, and is a purchaser of large tracts of wild land, especially in what is now the town of Rochester, on which several of his children afterwards dwelt. In 1679, he was engaged with the "thirty partners" in such a purchase. ^[5] We find also on the 15 Mar. 1680, an agreement was made "with our neighbors, the purchasers or proprietors of the land between Stoney Brook and Bound Brook," subsequently signed by Ananias Wing, Paul Sears, Kenelm Winslow, and John Dillingham, Jr., on the one part, and by John Thacher, Sam'l Haw??s, Thomas Sturgis and Josiah Thacher in behalf of Yarmouth ^[6] Among other purchases he secured a good "water privilege," which has been of advantage to his descendants even unto the present time. In 1699 he sold it to his son Kenelm, and now (1873) it is owned by his great-great-great grandson, Wm.7 Winslow, of West Brewster, Mass.

From the Mansfield, Conn., Records, we find that Kenelm Winslow, of Harwich, Barnstable Co., Mass., bought of George Denison, of Stonington, one thousand acres of land in Windham, (in that part of the town which afterwards became Mansfield,) Conn., 11 March, 1700, for which he paid œ30. On the 7th of October, 1700, he gives this land to his son Samuel, who afterwards sells it to his brother Kenelm [50]. It does not appear from the records that Kenelm Winslow, either father or son, ever resided in Windham or Mansfield.

Like his father Kenelm seems to have incurred the displeasure of the General Court. Under date of 3 Oct. 1662 (Rec., IV, 29), it is recorded that "Kenelme Winslow, junr., for riding a journey on the Lord's day, although he pleaded some disappointment enforcing him thereunto, is fined ten shillings." He must not, however, be regarded as a scoffer at religion, or as negligent in the observance of its forms, for on three occasions he went to Scituate, some sixty miles distant, that his children might not remain unbaptized. "He brought to the 2d church in Scituate for baptism, Kenelm, 1668; Josiah, 1670; Thomas, 1672. It is well known that many of the ministers in the colony were opposed to infant sprinkling at that time" ^[7]. Also, about a year before his death, 4 Oct. 1714, he was one among five chosen "to seat persons, or place them where they shall sit, in the meeting house". ^[8]

He m. 23 Sept. 1667, Mercy Worden, b. abt. 1641, dau. of Peter, Jr., and Mercy, of Yarmouth. She d. 22 Sept., 1688, "in the 48th year of her age," according to her gravestone, which is still standing in the Winslow burying-ground in Dennis. The monument is of a hard slate, is said to have been brought from England, and is the oldest in the yard. The headstones of Kenelm Winslow, his two sons, and many of his descendants are also to be seen. According to History of Cape Cod, this burying-ground is "near the road leading from Nobscusset to Satucket," or, according to Josiah Paine, Esq., "a little south of the county road in East Dennis, which is but a short distance from the Brewster line." Hem. 2d, Damaris(???), who survived him, and was living 27 March, 1729.

Text References

1. ↑ Kenelm Winslow, in Find A Grave.
2. ↑ Kenelm Winslow, in Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995).

   i KENELM, b. say 1635

3. ↑ Freeman's Hist. Cape Cod, II, p. 195.
4. ↑ Hist. Cape Cod, II, p. 196.
5. ↑ See Mass. Hist. Coll., XIV, 259, where he is erroneously described as of Marshfield, instead of Yarmouth.
6. ↑ Hist. Cape Cod, II, p. 198.
7. ↑ Deane's Hist. Scituate, p. 389
8. ↑ Hist. Cape Cod, II, p. 501.