Professor Winthrop was the Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at Harvard College and was one of the most distinguished scientific men of his age.
He was the great-great-grandson of the third Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, who was also named John Winthrop. Hannah shared her husband’s interests and pursuits to a remarkable degree for a woman in those days. Professor Winthrop passed away in May 1779.
Both Hannah Fayerwether Winthrop and her husband Professor John Winthrop were ardent Patriots of the American Revolution. After her husband’s death, Hannah supported the Revolutionary War effort by making a Continental Loan on March 2, 1780. Hannah also engaged in patriotic correspondence with Mercy Warren and Abigail Adams, two other well-known Massachusetts women who, like Hannah, supported the American cause. In a letter to Mercy Warren, Hannah eloquently wrote, “And be it known unto Britain, even American daughters are Politicians & Patriots and will aid the good work with their Female Efforts.”
Hannah Fayerwether Winthrop passed away in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on May 6, 1790. Her legacy lives on through her patriotic support of the American Revolutionary War effort and the DAR Chapter located in Boston, Massachusetts, named in her honor: the Hannah Winthrop Chapter.