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William Bradford: Governor of Plymouth Colony
A biography of William Bradford, from his childhood and religious persecution in England to his years as the first governor of the Plymouth Colony.
77 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
11 people want to read
About the author
Marianne Hering
98 books40 followersMarianne Hering is a prolific writer, having written hundreds of articles and a number of books for children and parents. For nine years she worked for several magazines in Focus on the Family’s periodicals department and became the editor of Clubhouse, a Focus on the Family children’s magazine with a circulation of more than 100,000.
As a book developer for Focus on the Family, she and coauthor / creative director Paul McCusker launched the Adventures in Odyssey book series The Imagination Station in 2010. Currently the series includes 19 books, with two more contracted for 2017 release. Paul bowed out of his role in 2015 to pursue other creative avenues. The combined sales are more than 450,000.
Currently Marianne is a freelance writer taking assignments. She and her husband live in Colorado with their twin sons.
As a book developer for Focus on the Family, she and coauthor / creative director Paul McCusker launched the Adventures in Odyssey book series The Imagination Station in 2010. Currently the series includes 19 books, with two more contracted for 2017 release. Paul bowed out of his role in 2015 to pursue other creative avenues. The combined sales are more than 450,000.
Currently Marianne is a freelance writer taking assignments. She and her husband live in Colorado with their twin sons.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 24, 2026
This is a fairly well-done biography of highlights of William Bradford’s life written for children. It includes pictures and drawings throughout the book with a glossary, chronology, and colonial time line in the back. The author weaves Bradford’s faith in God throughout the story, but makes little mention of church life in Bradford’s adult years. I enjoyed reading it and learning various tidbits about Bradford and Pilgrim life.
My Notes:
“In Colonial and Revolutionary War America, there were no standard rules for spelling, punctuation, capitalization, or grammar.” (6, copyright page)
As a boy William would sneak off early Sunday mornings to attend Puritan church meetings. His uncles (with whom he lived) were angered by this, but he still kept doing it for years.
Foxe’s Book of Martyrs was one of William’s favorite books, shaping many of his ideas. (12)
More than once the author this biography describes William’s decision-making process as “He kept listening to his heart and doing what he believed the Bible said.” (16) I read this talk about “listening to the heart” negatively, but I wonder if that’s language William used or if the author chose it but doesn’t mean what that phraseology means today. Would conscience be a more appropriate word for what the author means?
William would spend a lot of time with his Separatist friend, Mr. Brewster.
When William and his Separatists friends first tried to go to Holland, after boarding with all their belongings the captain of the ship they hired to take them tricked them and turned them over to King James’ men and then spent a month in jail.
Months later, a second attempted boarding didn’t go well either.
Eventually, even still months later, William arrived in Holland. Rather than travel in a large group, the Scrooby Separatists had traveled in small groups or individually. At first, William lived with the Brewsters in large Amsterdam, very unlike the farmlands on which he grew up.
Holland had “no king to tell them which church to attend.” (21) It was the only European country to have religious freedom.
William met his future wife Dorothy May in Amsterdam when she was too young to be married (“early teens”). When she was 16, they got married, even after William had moved to Leyden, Holland.
William became a weaver in Holland.
“Some businessmen loaned the Separatists money to travel to America. In return they wanted work from all the Pilgrims for seven years. That was too much time for some Separatists, and they decided not to go. But for William,
seven years was not too long to work for free land and free worship.” (26)
On September 6, 1620 William and his wife sailed from Holland to America aboard the Mayflower. They left their young son, John, behind with friends in Holland thinking the journey too hard for him. It would take 2 months to get to Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
The Mayflower had over 100 passengers and only 40 or so were Separatists. The others “were not concerned about religious freedom. Together the group became known as the Pilgrims. They all had to get along if they were going to make new lives in the New World.” (32)
Aboard the Mayflower, the Pilgrims shared and ate dried fish, beer, and hard crackers.
“No one was allowed off the ship even though they had reached land. The men, William Bradford included, had business to do first. They got together and talked about how they would all get along. In the New World, there were no old laws. Some people said they should do whatever they wanted. Others said that they should follow God's rules. The men finally decided that they would vote for a leader and have just and equal laws. These ideas were very different from those in England. The men wrote the new ideas down on a piece of paper and signed their names to this special agreement, called the Mayflower Compact. Finally the Pilgrim men voted for a governor. They chose a man named John Carver. Once on land the Saints dropped to their knees and thanked God for keeping them safe.” (34)
While early on in exploring the new land, William got caught in a Native American deer trap and hung upside down for a while until friends cut him free.
It took William and the other Pilgrim men weeks to find a place to settle, eventually choosing Plymouth, which had what “they were looking for in a home: fresh water, a good port, and cleared land.” (38) After discovering this spot, “William rushed to tell Dorothy she would have a good place to live” but sadly found that she had fallen overboard and drowned.
The Pilgrims did not celebrate Christmas for it appears to have been unknown to them.
During that first winter, many Pilgrims got sick while building their homes due to the consistent rain and snow. (About half of the Pilgrims died that first winter.) The first completed house served as “the common house,” or a kind of hospital in which the sick stayed.
One night, there was a fire at the common house; it burned the house down. “Almost everything he owned was inside. Once the fire was out, William had very little left. Now he had no wife, and very few belongings. But he still had something he felt was worth a lot: his belief that God would take care of him.” (43)
Samoset and Squanto helped connect the new Pilgrims with this group’s Chief Massasoit and a peace treaty was agreed to. Squanto lived with the Pilgrims (likely with Bradford and became good friends with him). William wrote later that Squanto was “a special instrument sent of God for their good.” (46) Squanto taught the Pilgrims things necessary for their survival.
After the first Pilgrim governor died, they voted William as the new governor. From April to October 1621, the Pilgrims experienced blessings. William was “thankful to God and wanted to do something special.” He “declared a holiday of thanksgiving to God and invited Chief Massasoit.” (49)
No turkey, stuffing, cranberries, or pumpkin pie that thanksgiving holiday, which lasted 3 days. They likely ate “mainly shellfish, deer meat, eels, and salad.” (42) The Native Americans had hunted and got five deer. Ten Pilgrim women cooked the food for the feast. The Pilgrims and the Native Americans “played games of skill.” The two groups “became even better friends after that first Thanksgiving holiday.” (51)
Another ship came to Plymouth, the Fortune. More Englishmen and women. They didn’t have extra food, so they would stay with the Pilgrims and all would eat a half-portion over the cold months.
Troubles from Squanto: “When Squanto was around other [p. 58] Native Americans, he would pretend that he could make Governor Bradford attack them. He told them that unless they gave him presents, the Englishmen would kill them all with a disease. William wrote that he ‘began to see that Squanto sought his own end and played his own games ... and was likely to have cost him his life.’
Massasoit did not like Squanto's games. He wanted Squanto dead. For the rest of his life, Squanto had to stay close by the Englishmen because he was afraid Massasoit's people would kill him.” (56, 58)
On a trip with the Pilgrims to trade with other Native Americans for corn, Squanto got sick and as he was dying, he begged William “to pray for him, that he might go to the Englishmen’s God in heaven.” (61)
There were few unmarried women at Plymouth. From a letter coming from Holland, William learned that Alice Southworth became a widow. He remembered her from the church in Leyden. He wrote her a letter to come to Plymouth. She did, along with her two sons, and she and William got married. The ship carrying them, the Anne, also came with lots of food so the Pilgrims wouldn’t starve to death. William’s house was very sparsely furnished with only a rug and two silver spoons. At some point after their marriage, John Bradford (William and Dorothy’s son) came from Holland to join them. Lots of children, including four orphan boys, would live with William and Alice. William provided for them all and taught the children how to read and write.
“[William] had been chosen as governor by the Plymouth people over and over again. He refused to be paid for the job. He believed that God had given him good things, and he in turn would give to the people.” (66) He did not “make himself a lord over the other people.” He “made sure that each man got an equal share of land” and that people voted (69) and no one starved (70).
William wrote Of Plymouth Plantation over 20 years to record what took place in those years. “He didn’t want people to forget how God had guided the little band of Pilgrims to the New World.” (69)
It took the Plymouth colony years to pay back the debt they owed to the businessmen who had financed their voyage from Holland (not until 1648).
William said just before he died in 1657, “God has given me a pledge of my happiness in another world.” “Once again, William was leaving his home to find freedom.” (70)
Poem by Bradford:
“From my years young in days of youth,
God did make known to me his truth,
And call'a me from my native place
For to enjoy the means of grace.
In wilderness he did me guide,
And in strange lands for me provide.
In fears and wants, through weal and woe,
A Pilgrim passed I to and fro.” (70)
My Notes:
“In Colonial and Revolutionary War America, there were no standard rules for spelling, punctuation, capitalization, or grammar.” (6, copyright page)
As a boy William would sneak off early Sunday mornings to attend Puritan church meetings. His uncles (with whom he lived) were angered by this, but he still kept doing it for years.
Foxe’s Book of Martyrs was one of William’s favorite books, shaping many of his ideas. (12)
More than once the author this biography describes William’s decision-making process as “He kept listening to his heart and doing what he believed the Bible said.” (16) I read this talk about “listening to the heart” negatively, but I wonder if that’s language William used or if the author chose it but doesn’t mean what that phraseology means today. Would conscience be a more appropriate word for what the author means?
William would spend a lot of time with his Separatist friend, Mr. Brewster.
When William and his Separatists friends first tried to go to Holland, after boarding with all their belongings the captain of the ship they hired to take them tricked them and turned them over to King James’ men and then spent a month in jail.
Months later, a second attempted boarding didn’t go well either.
Eventually, even still months later, William arrived in Holland. Rather than travel in a large group, the Scrooby Separatists had traveled in small groups or individually. At first, William lived with the Brewsters in large Amsterdam, very unlike the farmlands on which he grew up.
Holland had “no king to tell them which church to attend.” (21) It was the only European country to have religious freedom.
William met his future wife Dorothy May in Amsterdam when she was too young to be married (“early teens”). When she was 16, they got married, even after William had moved to Leyden, Holland.
William became a weaver in Holland.
“Some businessmen loaned the Separatists money to travel to America. In return they wanted work from all the Pilgrims for seven years. That was too much time for some Separatists, and they decided not to go. But for William,
seven years was not too long to work for free land and free worship.” (26)
On September 6, 1620 William and his wife sailed from Holland to America aboard the Mayflower. They left their young son, John, behind with friends in Holland thinking the journey too hard for him. It would take 2 months to get to Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
The Mayflower had over 100 passengers and only 40 or so were Separatists. The others “were not concerned about religious freedom. Together the group became known as the Pilgrims. They all had to get along if they were going to make new lives in the New World.” (32)
Aboard the Mayflower, the Pilgrims shared and ate dried fish, beer, and hard crackers.
“No one was allowed off the ship even though they had reached land. The men, William Bradford included, had business to do first. They got together and talked about how they would all get along. In the New World, there were no old laws. Some people said they should do whatever they wanted. Others said that they should follow God's rules. The men finally decided that they would vote for a leader and have just and equal laws. These ideas were very different from those in England. The men wrote the new ideas down on a piece of paper and signed their names to this special agreement, called the Mayflower Compact. Finally the Pilgrim men voted for a governor. They chose a man named John Carver. Once on land the Saints dropped to their knees and thanked God for keeping them safe.” (34)
While early on in exploring the new land, William got caught in a Native American deer trap and hung upside down for a while until friends cut him free.
It took William and the other Pilgrim men weeks to find a place to settle, eventually choosing Plymouth, which had what “they were looking for in a home: fresh water, a good port, and cleared land.” (38) After discovering this spot, “William rushed to tell Dorothy she would have a good place to live” but sadly found that she had fallen overboard and drowned.
The Pilgrims did not celebrate Christmas for it appears to have been unknown to them.
During that first winter, many Pilgrims got sick while building their homes due to the consistent rain and snow. (About half of the Pilgrims died that first winter.) The first completed house served as “the common house,” or a kind of hospital in which the sick stayed.
One night, there was a fire at the common house; it burned the house down. “Almost everything he owned was inside. Once the fire was out, William had very little left. Now he had no wife, and very few belongings. But he still had something he felt was worth a lot: his belief that God would take care of him.” (43)
Samoset and Squanto helped connect the new Pilgrims with this group’s Chief Massasoit and a peace treaty was agreed to. Squanto lived with the Pilgrims (likely with Bradford and became good friends with him). William wrote later that Squanto was “a special instrument sent of God for their good.” (46) Squanto taught the Pilgrims things necessary for their survival.
After the first Pilgrim governor died, they voted William as the new governor. From April to October 1621, the Pilgrims experienced blessings. William was “thankful to God and wanted to do something special.” He “declared a holiday of thanksgiving to God and invited Chief Massasoit.” (49)
No turkey, stuffing, cranberries, or pumpkin pie that thanksgiving holiday, which lasted 3 days. They likely ate “mainly shellfish, deer meat, eels, and salad.” (42) The Native Americans had hunted and got five deer. Ten Pilgrim women cooked the food for the feast. The Pilgrims and the Native Americans “played games of skill.” The two groups “became even better friends after that first Thanksgiving holiday.” (51)
Another ship came to Plymouth, the Fortune. More Englishmen and women. They didn’t have extra food, so they would stay with the Pilgrims and all would eat a half-portion over the cold months.
Troubles from Squanto: “When Squanto was around other [p. 58] Native Americans, he would pretend that he could make Governor Bradford attack them. He told them that unless they gave him presents, the Englishmen would kill them all with a disease. William wrote that he ‘began to see that Squanto sought his own end and played his own games ... and was likely to have cost him his life.’
Massasoit did not like Squanto's games. He wanted Squanto dead. For the rest of his life, Squanto had to stay close by the Englishmen because he was afraid Massasoit's people would kill him.” (56, 58)
On a trip with the Pilgrims to trade with other Native Americans for corn, Squanto got sick and as he was dying, he begged William “to pray for him, that he might go to the Englishmen’s God in heaven.” (61)
There were few unmarried women at Plymouth. From a letter coming from Holland, William learned that Alice Southworth became a widow. He remembered her from the church in Leyden. He wrote her a letter to come to Plymouth. She did, along with her two sons, and she and William got married. The ship carrying them, the Anne, also came with lots of food so the Pilgrims wouldn’t starve to death. William’s house was very sparsely furnished with only a rug and two silver spoons. At some point after their marriage, John Bradford (William and Dorothy’s son) came from Holland to join them. Lots of children, including four orphan boys, would live with William and Alice. William provided for them all and taught the children how to read and write.
“[William] had been chosen as governor by the Plymouth people over and over again. He refused to be paid for the job. He believed that God had given him good things, and he in turn would give to the people.” (66) He did not “make himself a lord over the other people.” He “made sure that each man got an equal share of land” and that people voted (69) and no one starved (70).
William wrote Of Plymouth Plantation over 20 years to record what took place in those years. “He didn’t want people to forget how God had guided the little band of Pilgrims to the New World.” (69)
It took the Plymouth colony years to pay back the debt they owed to the businessmen who had financed their voyage from Holland (not until 1648).
William said just before he died in 1657, “God has given me a pledge of my happiness in another world.” “Once again, William was leaving his home to find freedom.” (70)
Poem by Bradford:
“From my years young in days of youth,
God did make known to me his truth,
And call'a me from my native place
For to enjoy the means of grace.
In wilderness he did me guide,
And in strange lands for me provide.
In fears and wants, through weal and woe,
A Pilgrim passed I to and fro.” (70)
September 19, 2019
A concise portrayal of William Bradford and the Plymouth Colony history. Also some excellent suggestions for further reading.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews