William Bradford

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Baptism: 19 March 1589/90, Austerfield, York, England, son of William and Alice (Hanson) Bradford.

Of Plymouth Plantation was written by William Bradford over the course of about twenty years, beginning in 1630. It is his History of the Plymouth Colony, from the origins of the Separatists churches in England to their life in Holland, and voyage on the Mayflower, plus the history of the Plymouth Colony through 1646. It is the only complete history of Plymouth that was actually written by a Mayflower passenger.
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Marriages:

Dorothy May, 10 December 1613, Amsterdam.
Alice (Carpenter) Southworth, 14 August 1623, Plymouth.

Death: 9 May 1657, Plymouth..

Children by Dorothy: John
Children by Alice: William, Mercy, Joseph

Biographical Summary

William Bradford was born in 1590 in the small farming community of Austerfield, Yorkshire. His father William died when young Bradford was just one year old. He lived with his grandfather William, until his grandfather died when he was six. His mother Alice then died when he was seven. Orphaned both from parents and grandparents, he and older sister Alice were raised by their uncle Robert Bradford. William was a sickly boy, and by the age of 12 had taken to reading the Bible, and as he began to come of age he became acquainted with the

William Bradford's 1592 Geneva Bible.
Photo courtesy of the Pilgrim Hall Museum.

ministry of Richard Clyfton and John Smith, around which the Separatist churches of the region would eventually form about 1606. His family was not supportive of his moves, and by 1607 the Church of England were applying pressure to extinguish these religious sects. Bradford, at the age of 18, joined with the group of Separatists that fled from England in fear of persecution, arriving in Amsterdam in 1608. A year later he migrated with the rest of the church to the town of Leiden, Holland, where they remained for eleven years. Bradford returned to Amsterdam temporarily in 1613, to marry his 16-year old bride, Dorothy May. In Leiden, Bradford took up the trade of a silk weaver to make ends meet, and also was able to recover some of the estate in England that he had been left by his father, to support himself and his new wife in Leiden. They had a son, John, born about 1615-1617.

By 1620, when a segment of the church had decided to set off for America on the Mayflower, Bradford (now 30 years old) sold off his house in Leiden, and he and his wife Dorothy joined; however, they left young son John behind, presumably so he would not have to endure the hardships of colony-building. While the Mayflower was anchored off Provincetown Harbor at the tip of Cape Cod, and while many of the Pilgrim men were out exploring and looking for a place to settle, Dorothy Bradford accidentally fell overboard, and drowned.

John Carver was elected governor of Plymouth, and remained governor until his death a year later in April 1621.

William Bradford's chair.
Photo courtesy of the Pilgrim Hall Museum

Bradford was then elected governor, and was re-elected nearly every year thereafter. In 1623, he married to the widowed Alice (Carpenter) Southworth, and had a marriage feast very reminiscent of the "First" Thanksgiving, with Massasoit and a large number of Indians joining, and bringing turkeys and deer. Bradford was the head of the government of Plymouth, oversaw the courts, the colony's finances, corresponded with investors and neighbors, formulated policy with regards to foreigners, Indians, and law, and so had a very active role in the running of the entire Colony. With his second wife, he had three more children, all of which survived to adulthood and married. Beginning in 1630, he started writing a history of the Plymouth Colony, which is now published under the title Of Plymouth Plantation. A number of his letters, poems, conferences, and other writings have survived.

William Bradford was generally sick all winter of 1656-1657; on May 8, Bradford predicted to his friends and family that he would die, and he did the next day, 9 May 1657, at the age of 68.

Additional Resources

Will of William Bradford

William Bradford: Plymouth's Faithful Pilgrim. A biography of William Bradford. Recommended for ages 11-15.
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Mourt's Relation: A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. Describes day-to-day events including arrival, exploration, building of the colony, and the first expeditions to meet the Indians. Portions are thought to have been written by Bradford.
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Governor William Bradford's Letter Book. A collection of surviving letters written and received by William Bradford between 1624 and 1630, mostly correspondence with the English investors in the Plymouth Plantation.
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Published Research

"Ancestry of the Bradfords of Austerfield," New England Historic and Genealogical Register 83(1929):439+, 84(1930):5+.