Individual Details

He was the leader of the Pilgrim Fathers and a founder of the Plymouth Colony. He studied briefly at Peterhouse, University of Cambridge. From 1584 to 1587 he was in the service of an English ambassador, William Davison (1541?-1608), and after 1590 he was bailiff and postmaster in Scrooby. There he organized a group of religious dissenters, often called the Pilgrims, who in 1606 separated from the Church of England. Two years later Brewster and some Pilgrims, to avoid persecution, moved to the Netherlands, settling in Leiden. He was the ruling elder of the sect, and he supported himself by teaching and by publishing religious books that had been banned by the English government. With another Pilgrim leader, William Bradford, he returned to England in 1619 and secured a patent from the Virginia Company for a tract of land in America. Brewster remained in England until September 16, 1620, when he boarded the Mayflower for the trip to America. He was a signer of the Mayflower Compact and of the constitution of Plymouth Colony, and he continued as a leader of the colony. Until 1629, when an ordained minister was appointed, Brewster was the only church officer at the Plymouth Colony.

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Christen	Aft 24 Jan 1560	Scrooby, Nottingham, England
Birth	24 Jan 1566	Scrooby, Nottinghamshire, England
Education	1580	Marticulated College - Peterhouse College, Cambridge, England
Occupation	1580	Government Aid for William Davison, Secretary of State for Queen Elizabeth of England - England
Occupation	1584	Asst. Ambassador and Secty. of State to Q. Elizabeth 1584-87,
Military	1585 - 1586
Occupation	1588	Davison entrusted custody of these towns to William Brewster. - Neterlands
Occupation	1589 - 1609	Postemaster of Scrooby, England (fill in for his ill father William Brewster Sr. or III. - Scrooby, Nottinghamshire, England
Occupation	1589	Bailiff Of The Manor Of Scrooby (18 months fill in for his ill father William Brewster Sr. or III. - Srooby, England
Marriage	1592	Nottinghamshire, England - Mary Love
Religion	1606	formed a Separatist Congregation - Scrooby, Nottinghamshire, England
Occupation	1607	Dismissed as Postmaster in Scrooby, because of his Separatist activities. - Scrooby, Nottinghamshire, England
Occupation	1609	Taught English language after the Latin manner to many Gentlemen, both Danew and Germans. - Leiden, Holland
Occupation	1609	Ribbon Maker in a silk factory. - Leyden, Holland
Religion	1609	Chosen ruling elder in Separtist Church. - Leyden, Holland
Occupation	1616	Assistant Printer to John Reynolds a master printer from London, England. - Pieterskerkhof, Leiden, Holland
Petitioned	1619	the Virginia Company of London for land patent and passage to the New World - London, England
Arrested	1619	While in England petitioning Virginia Company, an order for his arrest was issued by the English ambassador in Holland - London, England
Emigration	1620	and was a .passenger on the Mayflower, Nottinghamshire, England
Freeman	1633	Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts
Burial	Apr 1644	Burial Hill Cemetery, Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, British America
Death	10 Apr 1644	Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, British America

Spouse	Mary Love (1569 - 1627)
Child	Patience BREWSTER (1600 - 1634)
Child	Fear BREWSTER (1606 - 1634)
Child	Wrestling BREWSTER (1614 - 1627)
Child	Jonathan BREWSTER (1593 - 1659)

Father	William BREWSTER III (1535 - 1590)
Mother	Mary SMYTHE (1535 - 1590)

Notes