Author: William Bradford

William Bradford (1590–1657), a member of the English Puritan sect that had left England for more tolerant Holland, was one of the Pilgrims who sailed on the Mayflower to set up a colony in the New World. Bradford, who became the long-term governor of the Plymouth colony, kept a journal of the group’s experiences in Holland, their transatlantic voyage, and the early years of the settlement at Plymouth, from which he eventually published Of Plymouth Plantation in 1650, having brought the account of the colony up to date through 1646.  

Excerpts from Of Plymouth Plantation

William Bradford

William Bradford (1590–1657), a member of the English Puritan sect that had left England for more tolerant Holland, was one of the Pilgrims who sailed on the Mayflower to set up a colony in the New World. Bradford, who became the long-term governor of the Plymouth colony, kept a journal of the group’s experiences in Holland, their transatlantic voyage, and the early years of the settlement at Plymouth, from which he eventually published Of Plymouth Plantation in 1650, having brought the account of the colony up to date through 1646.