Elder WILLIAM BREWSTER

The story that is about to unfold is that of our ancestor, Elder WILLIAM BREWSTER of Mayflower fame. Here you will learn of WILLIAM BREWSTER's history in England, Holland and America.

You, as the reader of this story, will travel back in time to the sixteenth century, a time of unprecedented change; the beginning of a modern era. A time when life for the average person was fairly prosperous as the economy grew, becoming a capitalist, money-based one because of expanded commerce, international finance, trading fleets on the oceans and entrepreneurial ventures.

In the sixteenth century, there were no comforts such as the ones that we have in the twenty-first century (no bicycles, no railroads, no automobiles, no planes). Most travel was done on foot, and the persons in a village traveled no farther than half a day's walk from home as there was no reason to do so. Everything that they needed was available in their own village. A trip of a few miles to a local market fair was regarded as a great journey. To travel by ship to a far away land was a huge event, and very few people at that time had an opportunity to do so, especially the common villagers who were farmers and tradesmen, hard-working individuals with a strong religious background. They had been born in their village and expected to live out their lives there, forming relationships with their neighbors that would last a lifetime. Wandering peddlers and others who came into the village spread the news of Europe and of the neighboring villages and counties (no newspapers, no phones, no television, no Internet).

The 1590s brought cold and wet weather for three years in a row, resulting in three bad harvests in a row making food supplies scarce all over Europe.

Our ancestor, WILLIAM BREWSTER, was a resident of the village of Scrooby in Nottinghamshire, England, where he had formed strong social and religious relationships with many of his friends and neighbors. As insulated as they were here in their little village of Scrooby from the rest of the world and its swirling events which were unfolding around them, little could they know what adventures many of them would face in the future as friends and family members of WILLIAM BREWSTER of Scrooby.

So, the story has begun...

WILLIAM BREWSTER was born sometime during the last half of 1566 and the first half of 1567, and he may have been born at Scrooby in Nottinghamshire, England, where his father, also named WILLIAM, was appointed receiver and bailiff of the manor house in January 1575-76. The parish registers of Scrooby do not begin until 1695, and no record of WILLIAM's birth, baptism or marriage have yet been discovered. He grew up at Scrooby and matriculated at Peterhouse (the oldest of the colleges at that time grouped into the University of Cambridge) December 3, 1580, however, it does not appear that he earned any degree in the short time that he was there. The next record finds him as an assistant of WILLIAM DAVISON, Secretary of State to QUEEN ELIZABETH. He accompanied WILLIAM DAVISON to the Netherlands in August of 1585, and served him at court after his return, until WILLIAM DAVISON's retirement in 1587. Thereafter, young WILLIAM, who was by this time 20-21 years of age, returned to Scrooby where he lived amongst his friends and family members. In the summer of 1590, his father died, and he was appointed administrator of his father's estate. His father was post master at Scrooby at the time of his death. Now, in 1590, young WILLIAM was appointed to the same office and remained in that position until September 1, 1607. By 1607, he would have been 40-41 years of age, married, and raising a family. From the birth date of his eldest child, JONATHAN, the 12th of August, 1593, we know that WILLIAM was married to MARY at least by 1592. Much speculation has been made as to her maiden name, however, it has never been proven so she is simply referred to as MARY.

Here at his home in Scrooby, somewhere between 1587 and 1607, he had gathered together a group of friends to worship with him in his own home. Although he was but a lay preacher, he was the leading man among them and was their religious leader. He came to be known as ruling elder of this little group of common people who were expressing their dissatisfaction with the doctrine of the Church of England, and JOHN ROBINSON was their pastor. “They believed that a true church was a company or body of holy and faithful souls under the guidance of pastors and teachers, freely elected by 'the Lord's godly and free people.'”¹ (Andrews, 1934, p. 250). In 1599, the Act of Uniformity and the Act of Supremacy were passed. “Under these laws, an English subject's political life depended on the state; his religious life, on the state church. Refusal to conform to the state was political anarchy; to the state church, religious anarchy.”² (Lefler, 1958, p. 70). As WILLIAM BREWSTER and his congregation had rejected the state church, many of them were prosecuted, fined and imprisoned, including the men, women and children. Seven of the leaders were kept in prison at Boston, England, for more than a month.

After years of persecution in building up the church at Scrooby, in 1608, several members of the Scrooby congregation fled England for Holland. For nearly two weeks, a fearful storm drove them across the North Sea, filling them with terror as they prayed for safety and deliverance. For seven days they did not see the sun, the moon, nor the stars. Their many prayers were finally answered and they first settled at Amsterdam where they lived for nearly a year in grime and poverty. Then they applied to the authorities of Leiden to settle there. Their application was granted on February 12, 1609, and thereafter they relocated to Leiden where they enjoyed complete religious freedom. Upon arrival in Leiden, WILLIAM, his wife, MARY, and son, JONATHAN, in an affidavit, declared their ages respectively as 42, 40 and 16 years. They also had daughters, PATIENCE and FEAR, who were born at Scrooby in 1601 and 1607 respectively. FEAR would have been only about a year old when they boarded the ship that took them to Holland, and they had a child of unknown age and sex that was buried at St. Pancras in Leiden, on Saturday, June 20, 1609. Sons LOVE and WRESTLING were born in Leiden in 1611 and 1614 respectively, and these two sons accompanied their parents on the Mayflower voyage in 1620. JONATHAN and his sisters joined their parents in Plymouth later. JONATHAN arrived in the ship Fortune in 1621, while PATIENCE and FEAR came in the ship Ann in July of 1623.

In Leiden, JOHN ROBINSON was their beloved pastor and WILLIAM BREWSTER was appointed elder of their church. Here in Leiden they worshiped freely, lived and died, married and had families, worked hard and purchased properties and became good neighbors to the Dutch people. Elder WILLIAM provided for his family by teaching English at the University of Leiden and from the profits of a printing press that he and several friends had set up at Leiden. He edited, published and printed between fifteen and twenty theological treatises of a propagandist nature (in Latin and English) which were then shipped back to England for distribution. In 1619, one of these books contained a denunciation of King James and Elder WILLIAM went into hiding to avoid the authorities. With that, the printing of the books and pamphlets was abandoned.

The members of the congregation were not completely happy with their lives in Holland. Among other things, they feared that their children were not being educated properly and that they (the children) were losing their native language and hardly remembered their English origins. Seven of the original group from Scrooby had become Dutch citizens, and among them were JONATNAN BREWSTER who was admitted as a citizen in 1617, and his foster-brother, WILLIAM BRADFORD, who would eventually become Governor of Plymouth Colony. After much debate and prayer, early in 1617, some of the congregation reached the decision to leave Holland. Their motives for migrating were economic, religious and nationalistic. It took them two years to obtain a land grant, and as they were not rich enough to finance a colony themselves, they had to locate financial backers, and they needed royal sanction to settle in America.

The Virginia Company was offering patents to groups who would go to Virginia where they could live as a distinct body by themselves, and they would be subject only to the government of the colony as a whole. After long and careful consideration and much prayer, they decided to begin the negotiations. On February 20, 1620, a patent was issued in the name of JOHN PIERCE and his Associates for land in Virginia, and THOMAS WESTON traveled to Leiden to convince JOHN ROBINSON and others of the Leiden church to join him and his associates in taking advantage of the PIERCE patent, to which they agreed. Once all of the steps had been completed, a part of the former residents of Scrooby sold their properties in Leiden and purchased provisions for the voyage. The ship Speedwell was to transport them back to England, en route to Virginia. By 1620, there were about two hundred and thirty-eight members of the Leiden church, and about thirty-eight members of the church embarked upon their voyage from Delfshaven on July 22, 1620, across the North Sea, arriving near the end of July in Southampton, England, where they met up with the Mayflower and several passengers who were also bound for Virginia. The Speedwell and the Mayflower were to transport all of them to Virginia. However, the Speedwell began leaking so badly that it was abandoned, and the Mayflower sailed on with as many as it could carry, departing from Plymouth, England, September 16, 1620. The Mayflower was a cargo ship, and it was not designed to accommodate passengers. “There were on board, as usually estimated, one hundred and one persons, besides the officers and the crew. Thirty-five of these were from Leiden and sixty-six from London and Southampton.”³ (Andrews, 1934, p. 268). Although the Mayflower was “overcrowded and insufficiently provisioned”⁴, very few of the crew and only one passenger died en route. “The subsequent mortality, however, was very high, for the members of the company paid the penalty of their sixty-five days at sea, in a general sickness that carried off half their number and half the ship's crew during that first terrible winter. They died of scurvy, that dreaded starvation disease, and general debility, the result of long confinement, unnutritious food, and a badly proportioned diet.”⁵ (Andrews, 1934, p. 271). The living conditions aboard the ship had to be despicable. For a moment, imagine yourself confined to a huge wooden box loaded with household furniture, tools and utensils; barrels of salted meat and fish, vegetables, butter, bread, and hogshead beer; dogs, goats, pigs and chickens and well over 100 other persons, most of whom you only know by sight and many of whom are undesirable characters. Imagine that you are only able to leave the box's confines for a few minutes a day (weather permitting) to go topside for a breath of cold, salty air, hoping to relieve yourself of the sea sickness that hounds you day and night as the sea pitches and rolls. (Many were injured from being thrown against the walls of the wind-tossed ship). Imagine yourself eating food that was previously dried and salted and having only a small allotment of beer each day for drinking (men, women and children alike drank beer as there was no fresh water for drinking), no water for bathing or washing clothes and certainly no toilet facilities other than slop buckets for vomiting and voiding. Imagine the offensive stench below decks! Then imagine that you endured these conditions for sixty-five days and that along the way most of the provisions had been consumed.

After a long beating at sea, having traveled more than 3,000 miles, the Mayflower sighted Cape Cod on November 9 (O.S.) (19 N.S)⁶ With the wind failing them, the ship became entangled in the shoals and rocks of Monomoy Point, so the plan to put about and continue on their original course to the south was changed and they anchored in Cape Cod Harbor two days later. Being unable to continue their voyage to Virginia because of the lateness of the year, they decided that they would have to remain where they were, despite the fact that it was a desolate wilderness, full of wild men and beasts. Little did they know that had they continued their voyage and settled in Virginia, most likely they would all have perished there.

Here in Plymouth Harbor the Mayflower compact was drawn up and signed because they had no charter from the king, no title to the soil, and their Virginia grant was inoperative in this place. The compact was an agreement to organize a government and a declaration of purposes: to plant a colony “for the glorie of God, and the advancemente of the Christian faith, and honour of our king and countrie.”⁷ (Barck, 1958, p. 76). So here in Plymouth Harbor they remained, exploring the land for a month. On December 11 (O.S.) 21 (N.S.), an exploring party landed on the shore of Plymouth harbor, and the Mayflower itself entered Plymouth Harbor on December 26 (N.S.) A house for common use was begun on December 25 (N.S.), and the families were gradually transferred to the shore where the town was laid out with homesteads and garden plots. Many of the passengers and crew died that first winter due to the general sickness that carried off half their numbers. Therefore, the new community grew slowly, but others came to take up residence during the next decade, coming to America in the Fortune, the Charity, the Ann, the Little James, the Mayflower (in subsequent voyages), and the Handmaid.

Much has been written about the Plymouth settlement, and it has been recreated as “PLIMOTH PLANTATION” in Plymouth, Massachusetts, for history buffs, the simply-curious and Mayflower descendants to visit. PLIMOTH PLANTATION is an hour's drive from Boston.

Although the English colonists are often credited with settling Plymouth for religious reasons, many of them came more for the economic benefits than religious freedom since the majority of them were not members of the group who had emigrated from Leiden. Out of absolute necessity, the Plymouth settlement was one of agriculture, but early on they began fishing and trading with the native Wampanoag people, and they attempted salt-making and boat building. The native people furnished them with corn and showed them how to plant it, with a fish in each hill for fertilizer. By 1630, the population was 300; by 1640, the population had increased to 3,000, and ten new towns or congregations had been established, among which were Duxbury, Scituate, Yarmouth, Sandwich, and Taunton.⁸ (Barck, 1958, p. 78).

Elder WILLIAM BREWSTER was about 54 years of age at the time of the landing in Plymouth Harbor. He worked alongside the other colonists in establishing the settlement, and he continued to minister to their needs. Their pastor, JOHN ROBINSON, had remained in Leiden, and he died there in 1625. As they had no pastor at Plymouth, and WILLIAM BREWSTER was only their church Elder, he was not permitted to administer the sacraments; marriages were performed by the civil authorities and baptisms were omitted entirely. The first formal military organization was formed February 27 (N.S.), 1621, and included all those able to bear arms, including Elder WILLIAM BREWSTER, and he acted also as its chaplain under Captain Myles Standish. His two swords, pistol, dagger and armor are mentioned in the inventory of his estate, and his son, JONATHAN, as the first-born, inherited his father's arms.

In 1627, Plymouth Colony completed its contract with the merchants in London who had advanced them the money for their ill-fated voyage to Virginia. In anticipation of this relationship coming to an end, much of the jointly owned property of the colony was divided up. Several historical documents of Plymouth Colony survive, one being the 1627 Division of Cattle, a complete list of the residents of Plymouth as of May 22, 1627. This list divides the residents into 12 lots with 13 persons per lot sharing the use of one cow or calf and two goats. The list generally kept families together in each lot, and the single men are listed throughout.

On April 17, 1627, Elder WILLIAM's wife, MARY, died at Plymouth, about age 58-59. According to Governor WILLIAM BRADFORD, she had performed “great and continuall labours, with other crosses, and sorrows...” The list above shows #9, MARY BREWSTER. This is JONATHAN and LUCRETIA's daughter, MARY, who was born the day before her grandmother, MARY, died and was no doubt named for her.

Elder WILLIAM outlived his wife by nearly 17 years, dying at Plymouth on April 10, 1644, 78-79 years of age, without having made a will. A final division of his estate was made on August 20, 1645, between JONATHAN and LOVE, his only surviving children. The inventory of his possessions was extensive, right down to his stockings. His outer clothing consisted of waistcoats, suits, drawers, hats, gloves, and shoes. All of his books were inventoried, many of which were written in Latin. All told, the inventory amounted to approximately 400 volumes which he had collected (and no doubt read) throughout his lifetime.

Now for a word about WILLIAM BRADFORD. He was born in 1590 at Austerfield in Yorkshire. As a boy, he traveled the three miles between York and Nottingham on Sundays to worship with the congregation at Scrooby. His parents were members of the Church at Austerfield, but before he was twelve, both of his parents had died, and he was put into the custody of his uncles. His religious nature led him to the simpler worship offered by the congregation at Scrooby. For the most part, the members of the Scrooby congregation were humble folks: farmers, artisans and tradesmen -- simple English countrymen, most of whom lacked education and social position, poor in purse, but inspired with a great vision of religious freedom. Young WILLIAM BRADFORD became a foster-child of WILLIAM and MARY BREWSTER, and they raised him with their own children. They even sent him to Cambridge University.

In the Summer of 1608, WILLIAM BRADFORD fled England with the other members of the Scrooby congregation, and there he became a silk weaver. He was among the passengers on the Mayflower, and in 1621 he was appointed Governor of Plymouth Colony. He continued as Governor from 1621 to shortly before his death in 1657, except for a period of 5 years. Because of his early upbringing in the home of WILLIAM BREWSTER at Scrooby and the years following, WILLIAM BRADFORD was completely devoted to the Elder who had been like a father to him since he was about twelve years of age. As WILLIAM BRADFORD had witnessed the entire saga of the Scrooby congregation and the “strangers” who came on the Mayflower, nearly thirty years after settling in Plymouth, he began writing down his recollections for posterity. His original manuscript is entitled “Of Plimoth Plantation”, and it is considered to be one of the greatest documents of the English colonies in America.

Of Elder WILLIAM BREWSTER, WILLIAM BRADFORD wrote: “For his personal abilities, he was qualified above many; he was wise and discreet and well spoken, having a grave and deliberate utterance, of a very cheerful spirit, very sociable and pleasant amongst his friends, of an humble and modest mind, of a peaceable disposition, undervaluing himself and his own abilities . . . inoffensive and innocent in his life and conversation . . . he was tender-hearted, and compassionate of such as were in misery, but especially of such as had been of good estate and rank, and were fallen into want and poverty, either for goodness and religions sake, or by the injury and oppression of others; . . . "⁹ (Bradford, about 1630). After the death of Elder WILLIAM BREWSTER, Bradford wrote: “I am to begin this year with that which was a matter of great sadness and mourning unto them all. About the 18th [sic] of April died their Reverend Elder and my dear and loving friend Mr. William Brewster, a man that had done and suffered much for the Lord Jesus and the gospel's sake, and had borne his part in weal and woe with this poor persecuted church above 36 years in England, Holland and in this wilderness, and done the Lord and them faithful service in his place and calling. And notwithstanding the many troubles and sorrows he passed through, the Lord upheld him to a great age. He was near fourscore years of age (if not all out) when he died. He had this blessing added by the Lord to all the rest; to die in his bed, in peace, amongst the midst of his friends, who mourned and wept over him and ministered what help and comfort they could unto him, and he again recomforted them whilst he could. His sickness was not long, and till the last day thereof he did not wholly keep his bed. His speech continued till somewhat more than half a day, and then failed him, and about nine or ten a clock that evening he died without any pangs at all. A few hours before, he drew his breath short, and some few minutes before his last, he drew his breath long as a man fallen into a sound sleep without any pangs or gaspings, and so sweetly departed this life unto a better ... ¹⁰ (Bradford, about 1644).

So here ends the chapter on our ancestor, Elder WILLIAM BREWSTER, whose death, by no means, ended his legacy. He was the founder of the first free church in America and one of the most influential men of the English colonists who founded the first free colony in New England.

Elder WILLIAM's legacy continues through his son, JONATHAN BREWSTER.  See my book for further details of our BRUSTER ancestry.