The Family of Mary Forth Winthrop
by William Addams Reitwiesner
wargs@wargs.com
The first wife of John Winthrop, Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1649),
and mother of some of his children, was Mary Forth, only child of John
Forth of Great Stambridge, co. Essex, by Thomasine Hilles, which John
Forth was a younger son of William Forth of Hadleigh, co. Suffolk, by
"Elizabeth, da. and hss. of Powell in Wales." Based on heraldic
evidence, Joseph James Muskett, in his Suffolk Manorial Families
[Exeter: W. Pollard, 1900-1914], p. 132, makes this Elizabeth Powell a
conjectural granddaughter of a Robert Powell, correctly Robert Powell
ap Hopkin ap Hywel of Whitchurch [WG2 Godwin 6 (E)].
This Robert Powell's mother, Margaret Huntley, was a granddaughter of
Tomlyn Huntley [WG2: Huntley] by his wife Elizabeth f. John,
the heiress of the Ap Adam barony [WG Adam ap Iorwerth;
NCP I:181 (f)].
Whether this is relevant to the ancestry of Mary Forth depends on the
connection between "Elizabeth, da. and hss. of Powell in Wales" and
Robert Powell of Whitchurch. Elizabeth is not mentioned on
WG2 Godwin 6 (E).
William Addams Reitwiesner
wargs@wargs.com