William Bradford was one of the Pilgrims who sailed from England to America aboard the Mayflower's in 1620. Having been born in Austerfield, Yorkshire, early in the year 1590, he was in his thirtieth year when he arrived in the New World. He was the third child, and only son, born to Alice Hanson and William Bradford.
Of his parents, Bradford's mother was the daughter of a village shopkeeper. His father was a yeoman farmer, but died when Bradford was but a year old. However, William's grandfather and uncles taught him the fine art of farming. His mother remarried.
When young William was of the age of twelve he became a constant reader of the Bible. He became such a devout believer in its words that he joined a group of Puritans who regularly met for meetings of prayer and discussion at the home of William Brewster in Scrooby, a village nearby.
Under the leadership and inspiration of the Reverend Richard Clyfton, this group of Puritans formed themselves into a separate Congregational church in 1606, when Bradford was a lad of sixteen years. In spite of the anger of his uncles and the neighbors that sneered at such an idea, Bradford joined this organized church group.
William Bradford remained a member of this group, in Scrooby, the Low Countries, and New England in America, for the rest of his life, which ended near a half-century later.
In 1611, William came of age and received an inheritance from his parents, which allowed him to enter into a business venture of his own.
William Bradford continued.
