William Bradford

William Bradford 1590-1657, governor of Plymouth Colony, b. Austerfield, Yorkshire, England. As a young man he joined the separatist congregation at Scrooby and in 1609 emigrated with others to Holland, where, at Leiden, he acquired a wide acquaintance with theological literature. Bradford came to New England on the Mayflower in 1620 and in 1621, on the death of John Carver , was chosen leader of the Pilgrims. He remained governor for most of his life, being reelected 30 times; during the five years in which he chose not to serve, he was elected assistant. Bradford, though firm, used his large powers with discretion, and there were few complaints about his leadership. He maintained friendly relations with the Native Americans and struggled hard to establish fishing, trade, and agriculture. He stressed the obligations of the colonists to their London backers and was one of the eight colonial "undertakers" who in 1627 assumed Plymouth Colony's debt to the merchants adventurers. Given a monopoly of fishing and trading privileges, they finally discharged the debt in 1648. Bradford was more tolerant of other religious beliefs than were the Puritan leaders of Boston (although he was by no means consistent in this respect), and he was largely responsible for keeping Plymouth independent of the Massachusetts Bay colony. His famous History of Plimoth Plantation, not published in full until 1856, forms the basis for all accounts of the Plymouth Colony. The editions of W. T. Davis (1908), W. C. Ford (1912), and Samuel Eliot Morison (1952) are the best.

Bibliography: See also G. F. Willison, Saints and Strangers (1945); biography by B. Smith (1951).

Bradford, William (1590–1657), as a boy joined the Separatist group of William Brewster, with whom he emigrated to Amsterdam (1609) and then to Leyden. He came to America on the Mayflower (1620), and the following April was elected governor of Plymouth Colony, an office to which he was reelected every year from 1622 to 1656, with the exception of 1633, 1634, 1636, 1638, and 1644, when he was an assistant, having “by importunity gat off” from the position of leadership. Bradford's life was inseparably bound with the settlement, of which he was long the outstanding authority in all executive, judicial, and legislative matters. In 1627 Bradford and seven leading Pilgrims, with four London merchants, assumed the £1800 debt to the original merchant adventurers. Although these “Undertakers” held a monopoly of fishing and trading, the land and cattle were distributed equally among the “Old Comers.” Bradford willingly aided all common enterprises, including the New England Confederation, but considered his colony as a compact community. About 1630 he began to write his History of Plimmoth Plantation, which he completed in 1651. A fragment of his letter‐book (1624–30) as well as his letters to Winthrop have been published in the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Other works printed by this organization and the Colonial Society of Massachusetts include his Dialogue between some young men born in New England and sundry ancient men that came out of Holland; a long descriptive poem of 1654; A Word to New Plymouth; A Word to New England; and Of Boston in New‐England. He is also considered to be the author of the first half of Mourt's Relation, which chronicles the events from September 6, 1620, to March 23, 1621.

Bradford, William (1590–1657) American colonial governor and signatory of the Mayflower Compact. He emigrated to America as one of the Pilgrims on the Mayflower (1620), being one of the organizers of the voyage. He was elected governor of Plymouth Colony in 1621, and re-elected for 30 years thereafter. He helped draw up a body of laws for the colony in 1636, and wrote a History of Plymouth Plantation, 1620–46.