Biography

"Theodore was a member of the prestigious Winthrop family of Connecticut, which included John Winthrop, the first governor of Connecticut Colony. Theodore attended Yale College where he excelled in scholarship, taking the Clark and Berkeleian scholarships. He had a great love of Greek and of philosophy, a quick mind, and a great ability to absorb and retain knowledge. In his memoir of Winthrop, George William Curtis, a close friend, describes Theodore as "thoughtful and self-criticising, he was peculiarly sensible to religious influences, and his sensitive nature grew sometimes morbid." The use of "morbid" in this description is peculiar and may indicate that Winthrop was attracted to men. After receiving his degree from Yale in 1848, he took the grand tour, returning to New York where he worked in W. H. Aspinwall's counting house.
Winthrop traveled extensively across the western hemisphere, spending time during the 1850s in Panama, California, Oregon, and the territories of the northwest. Returning to New York, he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1855. His first position as a lawyer took him to St. Louis, but because of ill health, he returned to New York to practice. Winthrop began to write essays, stories, and novels. During this period, Winthrop, along with many artists, writers, and intellectuals, lived in the NYU University Building that provides the backdrop for Cecil Dreeme, his gothic novel about sexual ambiguity that is set in and around Washington Square and NYU. A frequent visitor to his friend Frederic Church, the noted Hudson River School painter, Winthrop came to know the intricate details of art history, painting, and bohemian culture, which also play a central role in the novel.

Winthrop was a fervent advocate for democracy and human freedom. When the South fired on Fort Sumter, Winthrop enrolled in the artillery corps of the Seventh Regiment and marched from New York in April, 1861. His first published piece followed in June, 1861 in an issue of the Atlantic Monthly Magazine where he describes the march of the Seventh Regiment from New York to Washington. Awe swept by the war, Winthrop wrote letters home that echo Walt Whitman in their use of the word "comrade." For all his enthusiasm and sentiment, Winthrop died in battle on June 10th, 1861 at Great Bethel."