Individual Details
William BREWSTER
(Abt 1566 - 10 Apr 1644)
Events
| Birth | Abt 1566 | Scrooby, Nottinghamshire, England |  | ||
| Birth | Bet Jun 1566 and Jun 1567 | probably near or in, Scrooby, Nottinghamshire, England |  | | |
| Education | 3 Dec 1580 | (but never graduated) as a pensioner student who paid for his lodging - Peterhouse College, Cambridge, England | | | |
| Employment | Jan 1586 | in the service of Sir William Davison, Secretary of State To Queen Elizabeth and ambassador to Holland, - Leiden, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands | | ||
| Miscellaneous | Abt 1587 | left the diplomatic service, after the disgrace of Davison because of his role in the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, | | ||
| Employment | Abt 1587 | as an assistant to his father, the Postmaster - Scrooby, Nottinghamshire, England | | ||
| Employment | Abt 1588 | Royal Master of the Post - Scrooby, Nottinghamshire, England | | ||
| Marriage | By 1593 | Scrooby, Nottinghamshire, England - Mary [wife of William Brewster] [UNKNOWN] | | ||
| Miscellaneous | 17 Jun 1598 | was summoned to appear before the High Commission Court to face a charge of repeating of sermons without authoriization - York, England | | ||
| Religion | left the established church and became a member of a "Separatist" congregation sometime - Scrooby, Nottinghamshire, England | | |||
| Employment | 30 Sep 1607 | resigned his position as bailiff and postmaster - Scrooby, Nottinghamshire, England | | | |
| Miscellaneous | 1 Dec 1607 | was cited by the High Court of Commission for religious disobedience | | | |
| Religion | Bet 1608 and 1620 | elder minister of the church - Leiden, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands | | | |
| Removed | 1608 | Leiden, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands | | ||
| Miscellaneous | 25 Jun 1609 | made an affidavit giving his age as 42, his wife Mary's age as 40 and son Jonathan's age as 16 - Leiden, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands | | ||
| Occupation | Bef 1620 | printer - Leiden, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands | | ||
| Arrival | 1620 | from Leiden, aboard the Mayflower - Plymouth, Plymouth Colony | | ||
| Miscellaneous | 1633 | on list of freemen - Plymouth, Plymouth Colony | | ||
| Removed | Bet 1634 and 1644 | Duxbury, Plymouth, British America | | | |
| Death | 10 Apr 1644 | Duxbury, Plymouth, British America | |
Families
| Spouse | Mary [wife of William Brewster] [UNKNOWN] (1568 - 1627) |
| Child | Jonathan BREWSTER (1593 - 1659) |
| Child | Patience BREWSTER (1603 - ) |
| Child | Fear BREWSTER (1605 - ) |
| Child | Love BREWSTER (1612 - 1650) |
| Child | [child] BREWSTER (1607 - ) |
| Child | Wrestling BREWSTER (1611 - 1627) |
| Father | William BREWSTER ( - ) |
| Mother | Mary SMYTHE ( - ) |
| Sibling | James BREWSTER ( - ) |
Notes
Birth
inferred from age given in 1609 affidavitEducation
Quoted from Anderson:EDUCATION: Entered Peterhouse, Cambridge, 3 December 1580, but did not graduate [Venn 1:213; Morison 368]. Within the inventory of William Brewster separate listings were made of his Latin and English books, with nearly four hundred titles included; "the total of both Latin & English books amounts to the sum of £42 19s. Ild." [MD 3:27].
Quoted from GSMD Vol 24.1, p 2:
He was the only Mayflower passenger proven to have attended a university.
Employment
The meetings of the Separatists were located at Scrooby Manor.Miscellaneous
He did not appear, was fined 20 pounds, and an arrest warrant issued.Religion
Quotation from Anderson:Morison summarized Brewster's church activities prior to 1620: "One of the original members of the separatist congregation at Scrooby which became the nucleus of the Pilgrim church, he emigrated with them to Holland in 1608, and became elder and teacher of their church at Leyden" [Morison 368]. With no minister at the Plymouth church for most of the years before Brewster's death, he was the lay leader and preached to the congregation regularly, and continued in this manner after his move to Duxbury. In the course of relating the controversy surrounding John Lyford, Bradford recounts how "our reverend Elder hath labored diligently in dispensing the Word of God to us, before he came: and since, hath taken equal pains with him-self, in preaching the same" [Bradford 162]. Included in the inventory of his library were "7 sermons by W B," which may have been his notes for some of his own sermons.
Removed
1634: appeared on Plymouth tax rolls1644: died
Endnotes
1. Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, 3 vols. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995), 228; digital page images, New England Historic Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (http://www.americanancestors.org/ : accessed 24 March 2016; "BIRTH: About 1566, probably at Scrooby, Nottinghamshire, son of William Brewster".
2. Barbara Lambert Merrick, compiler, The Descendants of Elder William Brewster: Part 1, Generations 1 through 4, Mayflower Families through Five Generations: Descendants of the Pilgrims who Landed at Plymouth, Mass. December 1620, vol 24, part 1 (Plymouth, MA: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2014), p. 1.
3. Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, 3 vols. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995), pp 227; digital page images, New England Historic Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (http://www.americanancestors.org/ : accessed 2 August 2015; "Entered Peterhouse, Cambridge, 3 December 1580, but did not graduate [Venn 1:213; Morison 368]".
4. Barbara Lambert Merrick, compiler, The Descendants of Elder William Brewster: Part 1, Generations 1 through 4, Mayflower Families through Five Generations: Descendants of the Pilgrims who Landed at Plymouth, Mass. December 1620, vol 24, part 1 (Plymouth, MA: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2014), p 2.
5. Barbara Lambert Merrick, compiler, The Descendants of Elder William Brewster: Part 1, Generations 1 through 4, Mayflower Families through Five Generations: Descendants of the Pilgrims who Landed at Plymouth, Mass. December 1620, vol 24, part 1 (Plymouth, MA: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2014), p 2.
6. Barbara Lambert Merrick, compiler, The Descendants of Elder William Brewster: Part 1, Generations 1 through 4, Mayflower Families through Five Generations: Descendants of the Pilgrims who Landed at Plymouth, Mass. December 1620, vol 24, part 1 (Plymouth, MA: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2014), p 3.
7. Barbara Lambert Merrick, compiler, The Descendants of Elder William Brewster: Part 1, Generations 1 through 4, Mayflower Families through Five Generations: Descendants of the Pilgrims who Landed at Plymouth, Mass. December 1620, vol 24, part 1 (Plymouth, MA: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2014), p 3.
8. Barbara Lambert Merrick, compiler, The Descendants of Elder William Brewster: Part 1, Generations 1 through 4, Mayflower Families through Five Generations: Descendants of the Pilgrims who Landed at Plymouth, Mass. December 1620, vol 24, part 1 (Plymouth, MA: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2014), p 3.
9. Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, 3 vols. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995), 228; digital page images, New England Historic Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (http://www.americanancestors.org/ : accessed 24 March 2016; "MARRIAGE: By 1593 Mary ____; she died at Plymouth 17 April 1627 [MD 1:7]".
10. Barbara Lambert Merrick, compiler, The Descendants of Elder William Brewster: Part 1, Generations 1 through 4, Mayflower Families through Five Generations: Descendants of the Pilgrims who Landed at Plymouth, Mass. December 1620, vol 24, part 1 (Plymouth, MA: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2014), p. 1.
11. Barbara Lambert Merrick, compiler, The Descendants of Elder William Brewster: Part 1, Generations 1 through 4, Mayflower Families through Five Generations: Descendants of the Pilgrims who Landed at Plymouth, Mass. December 1620, vol 24, part 1 (Plymouth, MA: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2014), p 4.
12. Barbara Lambert Merrick, compiler, The Descendants of Elder William Brewster: Part 1, Generations 1 through 4, Mayflower Families through Five Generations: Descendants of the Pilgrims who Landed at Plymouth, Mass. December 1620, vol 24, part 1 (Plymouth, MA: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2014), p 4.
13. Barbara Lambert Merrick, compiler, The Descendants of Elder William Brewster: Part 1, Generations 1 through 4, Mayflower Families through Five Generations: Descendants of the Pilgrims who Landed at Plymouth, Mass. December 1620, vol 24, part 1 (Plymouth, MA: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2014), p. 3, biographical sketch of Edward Brewster.
14. Barbara Lambert Merrick, compiler, The Descendants of Elder William Brewster: Part 1, Generations 1 through 4, Mayflower Families through Five Generations: Descendants of the Pilgrims who Landed at Plymouth, Mass. December 1620, vol 24, part 1 (Plymouth, MA: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2014), p 5, bibliographical sketch of William Brewster.
15. Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, 3 vols. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995), pp 227; digital page images, New England Historic Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (http://www.americanancestors.org/ : accessed 2 August 2015; "'he emigrated with them to Holland in 1608, and became elder and teacher of their church at Leyden' [Morison 368].".
16. Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, 3 vols. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995), pp 227; digital page images, New England Historic Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (http://www.americanancestors.org/ : accessed 2 August 2015; "'he emigrated with them to Holland in 1608, and became elder minister of their church at Leyden' [Morison 368].".
17. Barbara Lambert Merrick, compiler, The Descendants of Elder William Brewster: Part 1, Generations 1 through 4, Mayflower Families through Five Generations: Descendants of the Pilgrims who Landed at Plymouth, Mass. December 1620, vol 24, part 1 (Plymouth, MA: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2014), p 2.
18. Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, 3 vols. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995), pp 227; digital page images, New England Historic Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (http://www.americanancestors.org/ : accessed 2 August 2015; "OCCUPATION: Printer (in Leiden)".
19. Barbara Lambert Merrick, compiler, The Descendants of Elder William Brewster: Part 1, Generations 1 through 4, Mayflower Families through Five Generations: Descendants of the Pilgrims who Landed at Plymouth, Mass. December 1620, vol 24, part 1 (Plymouth, MA: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2014), p 7, bibliographical sketch of William Brewster.
20. Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, 3 vols. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995), pp 227; digital page images, New England Historic Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (http://www.americanancestors.org/ : accessed 2 August 2015; "ORIGIN: Leiden, Holland. MIGRATION: 1620 on Mayflower. FIRST RESIDENCE: Plymouth. REMOVES: Duxbury".
21. Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, 3 vols. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995), pp 229; digital page images, New England Historic Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (http://www.americanancestors.org/ : accessed 2 August 2015; "In his list of passengers on the Mayflower Bradford included 'Mr. William Brewster, Mary, his wife, with two sons, whose names were Love and Wrestling' [Bradford 441]".
22. Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, 3 vols. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995), pp 227; digital page images, New England Historic Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (http://www.americanancestors.org/ : accessed 2 August 2015; "'FREEMAN: In '1633' Plymouth list of freemen, prior to those admitted on 1 January 1632/3 [PCR 1:3]".
23. Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, 3 vols. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995), pp 227; digital page images, New England Historic Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (http://www.americanancestors.org/ : accessed 2 August 2015; "ORIGIN: Leiden, Holland. MIGRATION: 1620 on Mayflower. FIRST RESIDENCE: Plymouth. REMOVES: Duxbury".
24. Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, 3 vols. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995), 228; digital page images, New England Historic Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (http://www.americanancestors.org/ : accessed 24 March 2016; "DEATH: Duxbury 10 April 1644 [MD 1:7]".
25. Barbara Lambert Merrick, compiler, The Descendants of Elder William Brewster: Part 1, Generations 1 through 4, Mayflower Families through Five Generations: Descendants of the Pilgrims who Landed at Plymouth, Mass. December 1620, vol 24, part 1 (Plymouth, MA: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2014), p. 1.