Winthrop, William, 1753-1825

William Winthrop (1753-1825) (Harvard AB 1770) son of Harvard Professor John Winthrop, was a prominent member of the Cambridge community and strong supporter of Harvard College. He served as a town Clerk and Selectman and in 1784 was appointed Justice of the Peace and Register of Deeds for Middlesex County. His work on the biographical history of Harvard graduates, while never published, served as an important reference for Sibley's Biographical Sketches of Harvard Graduates.

From the description of Triennial catalogs annotated by William Winthrop, 1794-1812. (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 579370411

William Winthrop was born on April 19, 1753 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the youngest son of Harvard Professor John Winthrop. Winthrop received an AB from Harvard in 1770, and an AM in 1773. He was a prominent member of the Cambridge community, a benefactor of Harvard College, and a biographer of Harvard alumni.

After graduating from the College, Winthrop was minimally involved in troop movement to Philadelphia during the Revolutionary War before playing a small role in John Hancock's problematic tenure as Harvard's Treasurer. Hancock authorized Winthrop to escort the College's financial records from Boston to him in Philadelphia in 1776. After the war, Winthrop held several civic appointments including Town Clerk and Selectman in Cambridge. In 1784 was appointed Justice of the Peace and Register of Deeds for Middlesex County.

Winthrop spent many years researching the biographical histories of Harvard's graduates. Winthrop described his hobby in a September 28, 1797 letter to Benjamin Pickman of Salem, noting that in his "leisure hours" he first began researching the professional placement and places of residence of alumni clergymen. Successful, he explained that, "I then enlarged my plan, & endeavored to find out the residue and after some trouble have ascertained most of them." His work served as an important reference for the 18-volume Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Harvard University created by Harvard Librarian John Langdon Sibley in 1873. Winthrop's own entry in Biographical Sketches notes that, "Winthrop never married, and the devotion which would otherwise have gone into a family he lavished on an effort to determine the profession, resident, and date of death of every man listed in the Harvard Alumni Catalogue" (Vol. 17, page 462). He served as a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, American Antiquarian Society, and the New York Historical Society. Winthrop died in Cambridge on February 5, 1825.

From the guide to the William Winthrop Collection, 1782-1825, (Harvard University Archives)