Chapter I: Preface

It is a pleasing task to record afresh the life course of one of those whom the poet Whittier characterized as "the noblest ancestry that ever a people looked back to with love and reverence."

The leading authorities, particularly the Pilgrim narrators themselves and those more nearly contemporary with them, have contributed to this biography. Though early Plymouth events and the career of Bradford are inseparably connected, the colonial history is here limited and made subservient to the personal consideration, with regret that there do not appear more obtainable data of this nature. Undoubtedly the Governor's modest reticence largely accounts for this. We can only be thankful that we have what we have.

ALBERT H. PLUMB.

CONTENTS

PAGE

I
THE BOY 11

II
THE PILGRIM 23

III
THE GOVERNOR: EARLY DUTIES 41

IV
THE GOVERNOR: LATER ADMINISTRATION 61

V
THE GOVERNOR: LAST ACTS 89

WILLIAM BRADFORD OF PLYMOUTH