William bradford of plymouth plantation

Bradford's Early Life and Religious Beliefs

Bradford was born in in Austerfield, a farming community in Yorkshire, England. Orphaned at a young age, he was raised by relatives.

A long illness left him too weak to do much farm work, and instead, he focused on reading the Bible and other religious texts.

William bradford of plymouth plantation summary

As a teenager, Bradford was drawn to a growing Puritan sect known as the Separatists, and a congregation led by William Brewster and John Robinson in the nearby village of Scrooby. The Separatists sought to recreate what they saw as the simpler, more pious life of the earliest Christians by freeing themselves from the rituals and hierarchies of the Church of England.

Did you know? William Bradford's descendants include Noah Webster, Julia Child and Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist.

Under threat of prosecution from King James I, the group fled to the Netherlands in , living in Amsterdam briefly before settling in the smaller city of Leiden in Bradford and his fellow exil