Bradford, William
BRADFORD, WILLIAM
Pilgrim father and governor of Plymouth Colony, Mass.; b. Austerfield, Yorkshire, England, 1590; d. Plymouth, 1657. Although he was only 16 years old when the Puritans organized their church at Scrooby, his piety and knowledge soon made him one of the leaders of the congregation. With the rest of the Scrooby congregation he went to Holland (1609–20), where he developed a deep knowledge of theology. He arrived in Plymouth (1620) on the Mayflower ; and, following the death of the first governor, was elected his successor (April 1621), remaining governor for 30 of the next 36 years. Although Calvinist in theology, he was in practice quite liberal for the period. He took part in legislation against the Quakers, but declared "it is too great arrogance for any man or church to think that he or they have so sounded the word of God to the bottom." His famous History of Plymouth Plantation, not intended for publication but probably only for the use of his family, was begun in 1630 and completed probably in 1650. It was printed in full for the first time in 1856, although the manuscript was available to historians before that time.
Bibliography: v. h. paltsits, Dictionary of American Biography (New York 1928–36) 2:564–566. p. g. e. miller and t. h. johnson, eds., The Puritans, 2 v. (New York 1938). b. smith, Bradford of Plymouth (Philadelphia 1951).
[e. delaney]