The Colonial Governors: William Bradford (1621-33) 1st Term

The Plymouth Colony was established in 1620 when pilgrims immigrated from England to the new world aboard the Mayflower. Unfortunately the eggheads in London who thought it was a good idea to settle in the middle of the damn fall & winter paid for it when half the patrons aboard the Mayflower died either on the journey or directly after. The leader of the expedition, John Carver, passed away in April of 1621 following the bitter winter. His replacement would be fellow Mayflower rider and Plymouth resident William Bradford.

                                 "Maybe we should have waited until spring" - Plymouth Colonists

William Bradford was born in Yorkshire in 1790 and lived a tough childhood as both his parents and his grandfather all died before he turned 7. By 12, he was very interested in religion and was mentored by future Plymouth colonist William Brewster. When King James took the throne in 1603, his main mission was to end church reform and silence critics of the church. Bradford, Brewster and others continued worshipping their own way but when their secret meetings got too popular, they almost all were arrested in 1607. They tried bolting to the Netherlands but a jagoff sea captain ratted on them and Bradford joined a bunch of them in the clink. Eventually in 1608, 18 year old Bradford and the others made it to Leiden in Holland. He was living on Stink Alley (yes of course I'm serious) when somehow he earned his family inheritance in 1611 by turning 21.

                                                 "Fee, fi, fo fum...somethin stinks!"

Bradford got married in 1613 to a woman named Dorothy and had their son John in 1617. Also in 1617 the British immigrants living in Leiden wanted to form their own colony in the new world to pray however they wanted. In 1619, Bradford sold his house in Leiden for money to pay for his trip back to England on the boat known as Speedwell. Both the Speedwell and Mayflower were supposed to go to the new world together but the Speedwell couldn't handle the arduous journey, so most of their passengers went over to the Mayflower. On top of that, William and Dorothy had to leave John behind in the Netherlands. The sad part was the Mayflower was supposed to land in Virginia where the other Virginia Company boats had been going the previous 13 years, but bad weather forced them to dock at Plymouth Rock. Bradford along with Governor John Carver both were signees of the Mayflower Pact.

                                           "We made it, hooray, hooray!" - William Bradford

The colonists then spent the next month and a half trying to find a place to set up shop. As mentioned earlier, it was extremely foolish to set sail so late in the year when the weather was due to turn bitter. Thankfully they found Clark's Island, named after Mayflower first mate John Clark. The site was also the home of the extinct native tribe Patuxet. Theories are the Patuxet contacted terminal diseases from either British fisherman or French settlers that wandered too far from Canada. Unfortunately, William's wife Dorothy went overboard the Mayflower at some point around this time while searching for more land and died. Rumors are she was drunk and depressed after leaving her home & child have never been proven, but it would be a sound theory. The colonists landed in Plymouth Bay in December and began to build houses when a viral illness spread through the colony. Bradford was dropped by it, but he recovered. Unfortunately half of the 100 colonists would die between December 1620 and April of 1621 including Governor John Carver. When William Bradford was elected Governor with only 50 settlers left, he turned to Captain Myles Standish to be his right hand man.

                                    "Governor Bradford isn't dying on my watch" - Captain Myles Standish

During the sweating out the winter, the Massasoit Native tribe came to visit and establish a peace treaty. The Massasoit were at odds with the Narragansetts and the Massachusetts tribes so the treaty was more or else watch each other's backs. With the colony nearly crippled due to the viral diseases and the Massasoit's having two other tribes breathing down their backs, the treaty made perfect sense. After John Carver died and Bradford was named Governor, Isaac Allerton was named assistant governor. By 1624, he had five assistants to form the "Governor's Council". Eventually John Bradford immigrated to the new world when he was able to and died in Norwich, Connecticut in 1676. William re-married to a woman named Alice in 1623 and their son William Jr was born the following year.

                                                         That guy's got a sick hat

Bradford would be the Governor FIVE times in his life but at different points in time. His first reign lasted from 1621 and ended in 1633. Thankfully suitable shelter was built by that point and it looked like Bradford was going to live a healthy life. His other reigns will be covered, but number 1 was at a very important time in US history where the Plymouth Colony damn near went extinct. Thankfully Bradford was able to overcome the illness.

                                                            "I've only just begun" - William Bradford