Winterthur, a town of Switzerland, on the Eulach, 17 miles by rail NE. of Zurich, with thriving manufactures of locomotives, and of cotton, silk, and woollen goods, &c. It contains a good town-hall, industrial schools, a museum of Roman antiquities, and a public library of 20,000 vols. Pop. (1888) 15,956. The Roman Vitodurum (now Ober-Winterthur), it was held by the Counts of Kyburg (castle 4 miles off), and then by the Hapsburgs, who sold it to Zurich in 1467. See History by Troll (Vienna, 1842-43).
Winthrop Family.—JOHN, governor of the colony of Massachusetts, was born at Groton, near Hadleigh, in Suffolk, England, January 22, 1588, was bred to the law, appointed justice of peace at the age of eighteen, and on account of his excellent and pious character was in 1629 elected by the governor and company of Massachusetts Bay to govern their colony. He landed at Salem, with the colony's charter and a fleet of eleven ships, on June 22, 1630. He was re-elected governor every year until 1634. In 1636 he became deputy-governor under Sir Harry Vane, with whom he had an animated controversy on the doctrines of Mrs Hutchinson. In 1637 he was elected over Sir Harry, and continued governor, with a brief interval, during his life, and had more influence probably than any other man in forming the political institutions of the northern states of America. He died at Boston, March 26, 1649. Winthrop kept a careful journal, the first part of which was published in 1790, and the whole in 1825-26 (new ed. with additions, 1853). See his Life and Letters, by R. C. Winthrop (Bost. 1864-67).—JOHN, governor of Connecticut, eldest son of the preceding, was born at Groton, England, February 12, 1606; educated at Trinity College, Dublin; made the tour of Europe; went to America in 1631, and was chosen a magistrate in Massachusetts; in 1635 went to Connecticut and built a fort at the mouth of the Connecticut River, being governor of the colony for a year; and founded the city of New London in 1646, settling there in 1650. In 1657 he was elected governor, and, with the exception of one year, held that post till his death. He obtained from Charles II. a charter which united the colonies of Connecticut and New Haven, and was named first governor under it; and he was the father of the paper currency in America. He was a student and a scholar, a fellow of the Royal Society, a Puritan without bigotry, and just and even lenient to those of other religious opinions. He died at Boston, April 5, 1676.—His son, also JOHN, but known as Fitz-John (1639-1707), served under Monk and in the Indian wars, was agent in London for Connecticut (1693-97), and governor of the colony from 1698 till his death. See the Winthrop Papers (Mass. Hist. Soc., 1889).—JOHN, LL.D., American physicist, a descendant of the first Governor Winthrop, was born at Boston in 1714, graduated at Harvard in 1732, and in 1738 was appointed professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy there. In 1740 he observed the transit of Mercury, and in 1761 he went to Newfoundland to observe the second transit in the century. He published papers on earthquakes, comets, and other subjects, was a fellow of the Royal Society, and died May 3, 1779.—ROBERT CHARLES, LL.D., American orator, descendant of the sixth generation from the first Governor Winthrop, was born at Boston, May 12, 1809, graduated at Harvard in 1828, studied law with Daniel Webster, and was admitted to the bar in 1831, but soon abandoned law for politics, and was elected to the state legislature in 1834, where he served till 1840. He then was elected to congress, of which he was a member for ten years, and in 1847-49 was its speaker. In 1850 he succeeded Webster, who became Secretary of State, as senator from Massachusetts, but lost his seat in 1851; and in the same year he was also defeated as a candidate for governor of Massachusetts. He spoke admirably on historical occasions (see his Addresses and Speeches, 4 vols. 1852-86), and published, besides the Life of the first John Winthrop, a volume on Washington, Bowdoin, and Franklin (1876). He died on 16th November 1894. See the Life of him by his son (1897).