1590 - 1657
William Bradford
served as one of the first leaders in Colonial New England and contributed to
the creation of Plymouth Plantation and the eventual settlement of Plymouth.
Bradford, orphaned as a young child in Yorkshire, grew up in an austere and
religiously devout home, raised primarily by his uncle Robert Bradford. William
began reading the bible at a young age and by his early teens, attended sermons
preached by reformists in England who believed the Church of England closely
resembled the pomp and excesses of the Catholic church and sought a more
simple, devout, and pious method of worship.
As leadership
changes rocked the English monarchy and James I came into power, the reformist
groups found themselves completely out of favor with the King who desired an
end to reform movements and made their actions illegal. Bradford, now a
teenager, along with other reformist decided to leave their homes and land to
seek out refuge in a place where they could practice their faith without the
worry of persecution. Because of their sentiment to leave England and its
national church, this group, which included Bradford, earned the name
Separatists.
Bradford and
other Separatists moved to the Netherlands, a place that allowed a high degree
of religious toleration, but the situation was less than ideal for many of
those who settled there. Although the Separatists were free to practice their
own brand of Christian faith, the rest of the population also retained that
right and thus the Separatists and their families constantly came in contact
with Catholics, Lutherans, and a variety of other religious groups.
Furthermore, as the Separatists settled in cities like Leiden, the males
increasingly faced difficulties in finding appropriate work and ended up
working difficult and low paying jobs. Moreover, as these Separatists began to
marry and produce children, the influence of Dutch society on the next
generation alarmed and worried Separatists who again decided to move on as
their children learned to speak Dutch, took Dutch jobs, and lost touch with
their own English culture.
William Bradford
moved back to London, England prior to the Separatists' second migration and as
more families sought a new home where they could worship freely, Bradford
joined them again in a quest to move and create a closed and religiously
harmonious community in the New World.
