William Bradford, the great governor of the Plymouth colony, was born at Austerfield, a little village in Yorkshire, in1588, the same year (the year of the Spanish Armada) that John Winthrop, the great governor of the Massachusetts colony, was born at Groton, in Suffolk. While yet a youth, he became a member of Brewster’s little congregation at Scrooby, near by; and in 1608 he escaped with the others to Holland, and became a leading member of the church at Leyden, taking an active part in the removal to New England in 1620. Upon Carver’s death, in 1621, he was elected to succeed him as governor; and he continued to hold this office, with two slight breaks, to the time of his death, in 1657.No other person understood so well the history of the Plymouth colony. It is therefore singularly fortunate that he became the colony’s historian,—as, similarly, Gov. Winthrop became the historian of the Massachusetts colony. His “History of the Plymouth Plantation†may properly be called our New England Old Testament,—the Genesis, Exodus, Joshua, and Judges of the Plymouth settlement. The remarkable story of the loss of the MS. from the Old South Meeting-house, where it was preserved in the Prince Library, at the time of the British Evacuation of Boston, and its discovery in the Bishop of London’s library at Fulham in 1855, has been told by Charles Deane in his introduction to the volume, published by the Massachusetts Historical Society, and in theProceedingsof the Society, 1855 and 1882; also, more fully, by Justin Winsor, in theProceedingsfor 1882. It is an interesting fact that the third volume of Winthrop’s History, long lost, was found, in 1816, in the tower of the Old South Meeting-house, where, like Bradford’s History, it had been kept in Prince’s New England Library.Bradford’s Letter Book, containing copies of important letters addressed to him, was lost, like his History. Fragments were rescued in a grocer’s shop in Halifax, and printed in the Mass. Hist. Soc.Collections, iii., and in Young’s Chronicles. In vol. iii. of theCollectionsmay be found his “Account of New England in Verse.†His “Word to Boston†and “Word to New England†appear in vol. xxvii. of the same: and two others of his poems in theProceedingsfor 1870,—“Some Observations of God’s Merciful Dealings with us in this Wilderness,†and “A Word to New Plymouth.†A little piece called “Epitaphium Meum†was printed by Morton in his Memorial. Bradford’s letters to Winthrop are printed in the Mass. Hist. Soc.Collections, 4th series, vol. vi.In conjunction with Edward Winslow, Bradford wrote “A Diary of Occurrences,†covering the first year of the colony, which may be found in the Mass. Hist. Soc.Collections, viii. and xix.Bradford’s First Dialogue, given in the present leaflet, was first printed in 1648. It was copied by Morton in the records of the Plymouth Church, and thence reprinted by Young in his “Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers,†in 1841. It is of the highest historical value, giving fuller accounts than we have elsewhere of many of the first English Independents. Bradford’s Second Dialogue is lost. Deane says, “I have never seen it, nor any reference to it.†The Third Dialogue, “Concerning the Church and the Government thereof,†was published in theProceedingsof the Mass. Hist. Soc. for 1870, with an important historical introduction by Charles Deane.Mather included a biography of Bradford in hisMagnalia. This was reprinted in the first series of Old South Leaflets.
William Bradford, the great governor of the Plymouth colony, was born at Austerfield, a little village in Yorkshire, in1588, the same year (the year of the Spanish Armada) that John Winthrop, the great governor of the Massachusetts colony, was born at Groton, in Suffolk. While yet a youth, he became a member of Brewster’s little congregation at Scrooby, near by; and in 1608 he escaped with the others to Holland, and became a leading member of the church at Leyden, taking an active part in the removal to New England in 1620. Upon Carver’s death, in 1621, he was elected to succeed him as governor; and he continued to hold this office, with two slight breaks, to the time of his death, in 1657.
No other person understood so well the history of the Plymouth colony. It is therefore singularly fortunate that he became the colony’s historian,—as, similarly, Gov. Winthrop became the historian of the Massachusetts colony. His “History of the Plymouth Plantation†may properly be called our New England Old Testament,—the Genesis, Exodus, Joshua, and Judges of the Plymouth settlement. The remarkable story of the loss of the MS. from the Old South Meeting-house, where it was preserved in the Prince Library, at the time of the British Evacuation of Boston, and its discovery in the Bishop of London’s library at Fulham in 1855, has been told by Charles Deane in his introduction to the volume, published by the Massachusetts Historical Society, and in theProceedingsof the Society, 1855 and 1882; also, more fully, by Justin Winsor, in theProceedingsfor 1882. It is an interesting fact that the third volume of Winthrop’s History, long lost, was found, in 1816, in the tower of the Old South Meeting-house, where, like Bradford’s History, it had been kept in Prince’s New England Library.
Bradford’s Letter Book, containing copies of important letters addressed to him, was lost, like his History. Fragments were rescued in a grocer’s shop in Halifax, and printed in the Mass. Hist. Soc.Collections, iii., and in Young’s Chronicles. In vol. iii. of theCollectionsmay be found his “Account of New England in Verse.†His “Word to Boston†and “Word to New England†appear in vol. xxvii. of the same: and two others of his poems in theProceedingsfor 1870,—“Some Observations of God’s Merciful Dealings with us in this Wilderness,†and “A Word to New Plymouth.†A little piece called “Epitaphium Meum†was printed by Morton in his Memorial. Bradford’s letters to Winthrop are printed in the Mass. Hist. Soc.Collections, 4th series, vol. vi.
In conjunction with Edward Winslow, Bradford wrote “A Diary of Occurrences,†covering the first year of the colony, which may be found in the Mass. Hist. Soc.Collections, viii. and xix.
Bradford’s First Dialogue, given in the present leaflet, was first printed in 1648. It was copied by Morton in the records of the Plymouth Church, and thence reprinted by Young in his “Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers,†in 1841. It is of the highest historical value, giving fuller accounts than we have elsewhere of many of the first English Independents. Bradford’s Second Dialogue is lost. Deane says, “I have never seen it, nor any reference to it.†The Third Dialogue, “Concerning the Church and the Government thereof,†was published in theProceedingsof the Mass. Hist. Soc. for 1870, with an important historical introduction by Charles Deane.
Mather included a biography of Bradford in hisMagnalia. This was reprinted in the first series of Old South Leaflets.