William
Brewster (c. 1566 –
April 1644[1]) was an
English official and Mayflower passenger in 1620. In Plymouth Colony he
became a Separatist
leader and preacher.[2]
Life in England
William
Brewster was most probably born in Scrooby,
Nottinghamshire, England, about 1566, and died at Duxbury, Plymouth
Colony, on 10 April 1644. He was the son of William Brewster and Mary
(Smythe) (Simkinson) and he had a number of half-siblings. His paternal
grandparents were William Brewster (1510–1558), and Maud Mann (1513–1558). His
maternal grandfather was William Smythe (1505–1560).[3][4]
He studied
briefly at Peterhouse, Cambridge, before entering the
service of William Davison in 1584.[5] Brewster was
the only Pilgrim with political and diplomatic experience. With his mentor in
prison, Brewster had returned home to Scrooby for a time, where he took up his
father’s former position as postmaster.[6] Cambridge was
a centre of thought concerning religious reformism, but Brewster had spent time
in the Netherlands in connection with Davison's work, giving him opportunity to
hear and see more of reformed religion. While, earlier in the 16th century, reformers
had hoped to amend the Anglican church, by the end of it, many were
looking toward splitting from it.[7] (See Brownist.)
Restrictions
and pressures applied by the authorities convinced the congregation of a need
to emigrate to the more sympathetic atmosphere of Holland, but
leaving England without permission was illegal at the time, so that departure
was a complex matter. On its first attempt, in 1607, the group was arrested at Scotia Creek, but in 1608 Brewster and
others were successful in leaving from The Humber. In 1609
he was selected as ruling elder of the congregation.[6]
Life in Holland
A rare
17th-century "Brewster Chair," named after William Brewster
[8] William lived
near St. Peter's church in Pieterskerk with his wife and children. He
taught English to Leiden University students and was also a printer
of religious pamphlets. His son, Jonathan, was a ribbon weaver. William was
chosen as assistant and later as an elder to Pastor John Robinson. He was still an elder when he
travelled to Plymouth Colony in 1620.[4]
In Leiden, the group
managed to make a living. Brewster taught English and later, in 1616–1619, as
the partner of one Thomas Brewer, printed and published religious books for
sale in England, though they were proscribed there. In 1619 Brewster and Edward
Winslow published a religious tract critical of the English king and his
bishops. James ordered Brewster’s arrest, and when the king’s agents
in Holland came to seize the Pilgrim elder, Brewster was forced into hiding
just as preparations to depart for America entered the most critical phase. The
printing type was seized by the authorities from the English ambassador, Sir
Dudley Carleton, and Brewster's partner was arrested. Brewster escaped and,
with the help of Robert Cushman and Sir Edwin Sandys, obtained a land patent
from the London Virginia Company on behalf of himself and his colleagues.[9]
With Brewster
in hiding, the Separatists looked to their deacon John Carver
and to Robert Cushman to carry on negotiations with the
appropriate officials in London.[10] In 1620 when
it came time for the Mayflower departure, Elder Brewster returned to the Leiden
congregation. He had been hiding out in Holland and perhaps even England for
the last year. At the time of his return, Brewster was the highest-ranking
layperson of the congregation and would be their designated spiritual leader in
the New World.[11]
Brewster joined
the first group of Separatists aboard the Mayflower on the voyage to North
America. Brewster was accompanied by his wife, Mary Brewster, and his sons:
Love Brewster and Wrestling Brewster.[12]
Mayflower voyage
Signing the
Mayflower Compact 1620, a painting by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris 1899
Among children
boarding the Mayflower were four unaccompanied children from Shipton in Shropshire
placed as indentured servants with senior Separatists
William Brewster, John Carver and Robert
Cushman, on behalf of Samuel More, husband of the children’s mother Katherine
More. The children were placed without their mother’s permission after four
rancorous years between the More adults over charges of adultery against
Katherine More with her longtime lover, the children’s alleged father. Two
children were placed with William and Mary Brewster.[13]
The Mayflower
departed Plymouth in England on 6/16 September 1620. The small, 100-foot ship
had 102 passengers and a crew of about 30–40 in extremely cramped conditions.
By the second month out the ship was buffeted by strong westerly gales. The
ship‘s timbers were badly shaken with caulking failing to keep out sea water. Passengers
laid wet and ill even when in their berths. On the journey there were two
deaths, a crew member and a passenger. The worst was yet to come after arriving
at their destination. In the space of several months almost half the passengers
perished in the cold, harsh, unfamiliar New England winter.[14]
On 9/19
November 1620, after about 3 months at sea, including a month of delays in England,
they spotted land, which was the Cape Cod Hook, now called Provincetown Harbor. After several days of
trying to get south to their planned destination of the Colony of Virginia, strong winter seas forced
them to return to the harbour at Cape Cod hook, where they anchored on 11/21
November. The Mayflower Compact was signed that day.[14][15]
In Plymouth Colony
When the
colonists landed at Plymouth Colony, Brewster became the senior elder
of the colony, serving as its religious leader and as an adviser to Governor William Bradford. Brewster's son
Jonathan joined the family in November 1621, arriving at Plymouth on the ship Fortune,
and daughters Patience and Fear arrived in July 1623 aboard the Anne.[16]
As the only
university educated member of the colony, Brewster took the part of the
colony's religious leader until a pastor, Ralph Smith, arrived in 1629.
Thereafter, he continued to preach irregularly until his death in April 1644.
“He was tenderhearted and compassionate of such as were in misery,” Bradford
write, “but especially of such as had been of good estate and rank and fallen
unto want and poverty.” [17]
Brewster was
granted land amongst the islands of Boston
Harbor, and four of the outer islands (Great Brewster, Little Brewster, Middle Brewster and Outer Brewster) now bear his name. In 1632,
Brewster received lands in nearby Duxbury and removed from Plymouth to create a
farm there.[18]
In 1634
smallpox and influenza ravaged both the English and the Indians in the region.
William Brewster, whose family had managed to survive the first terrible winter
unscathed, lost two daughters, Fear and Patience, now married to Isaac
Allerton and Thomas Prence, respectively.[19]
Family
Title page of a
pamphlet published by William Brewster in Leiden
In about 1591
or 1592 William Brewster married a woman named Mary.[4][20] The maiden
surname of Mary, wife of Elder William Brewster is unknown.[21]
Mr. Jeremy
Bangs made an extensive search for any documents relating to the Brewsters,
including a marriage document for them, in the archives of London and
Nottingham. Mr. Bangs has been unable to find any new information on Mary, the
wife of William Brewster, including any record of their marriage in the
preserved marriage records of Nottinghamshire Archives.[22]
Their first
child, Jonathan, was born on 19 August 1593. Two other children were born in
Scrooby, Nottinghamshire - Patience about 1600, and Fear about 1606. There are
many theories about the surname of Mary, wife of William Brewster, but
apparently without acceptable genealogical verification. William's wife Mary
Brewster died in April 1627, at about age sixty.[4][23]
The children of
William and Mary were:
- Jonathan Brewster (12 August 1593 – 7 August 1659) married Lucretia Oldham of Derby on 10 April 1624, and were the parents of eight children.
- Patience Brewster (c. 1600 – 12 December 1634) married Gov. Thomas Prence of Lechlade, Gloucestershire, 4 children.
- Fear Brewster (c. 1606 – before 1634) so called because she was born at the height of the Puritans' persecution. Married Isaac Allerton of London, 2 children.
- Unnamed child was born, died and buried in 1609 in Leiden, Holland.
- Love Brewster was born in Leiden, Holland, about 1611 and died between 6 October 1650 and 31 January 1650/1, at Duxbury, in Plymouth Colony. At the age of about 9, he travelled with his father, mother and brother, Wrestling, on the Mayflower to Plymouth Colony. There he married Sarah Collier on 15 May 1634. Love and Sarah were the parents of four children.
- Wrestling Brewster was born in 1614 in Leiden, Holland; was living in 1627, died unmarried before the 1644 settlement of his father's estate.[4]
Death and Burial of William Brewster
William
Brewster died in April 1644[1] and was buried
in Burial Hill in Plymouth. A memorial stone exists there for him, which states
that it is in honour of "Elder William Brewster Patriarch of the Pilgrims
and their Ruling Elder 1609–1644".[24] The burial
place of his wife Mary is unknown.
Unaccompanied More children traveling with the Brewster
family on the Mayflower
- Mary More was essentially an indentured servant at about four years of age, as was her brother Richard. She fell ill and died after the Mayflower reached New Plymouth sometime after early December 1620.
- Richard More was also an indentured servant at about age five and did survive to live a long life with adventures as an Atlantic ship captain as well as other professions.[25][26][27][28][29]
Places and things named after Brewster
- Great Brewster Island
- Little Brewster Island
- Middle Brewster Island
- Outer Brewster Island
- Brewster, Massachusetts
- Brewster Gardens
- Brewster Chair
Notable descendants
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