Family of William * BREWSTER and Mary *

Husband:	William * BREWSTER (1565-1644)
Wife:	Mary * (1569-1627)
Children:	Jonathan * BREWSTER (1593-1659)
	Patience BREWSTER (c. 1595- )
	Fear BREWSTER (c. 1597- )
	Love BREWSTER (c. 1599- )
	Wrestling BREWSTER (c. 1601- )
Marriage	15911

Husband: William * BREWSTER

Wife: Mary *

Child 1: Jonathan * BREWSTER

Child 2: Patience BREWSTER

Name:	Patience BREWSTER
Sex:	Female
Birth	1595 (est)

Child 3: Fear BREWSTER

Name:	Fear BREWSTER
Sex:	Female
Birth	1597 (est)

Child 4: Love BREWSTER

Name:	Love BREWSTER
Sex:	Male
Birth	1599 (est)

Child 5: Wrestling BREWSTER

Name:	Wrestling BREWSTER
Sex:	Male
Birth	1601 (est)

Note on Husband: William * BREWSTER

MAYFLOWER!!! Elder William Brewster (c. 1566 or 1567 – 10 April 1643) was a Mayflower passenger and a Pilgrim colonist leader and preacher who in 1620, travelled to the New World on board the Pilgrim Fathers' ship the Mayflower.[1]

Contents

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1 Origins

2 Family

3 Dissent

4 Emigration

5 Mayflower landing and life in the New World

6 Places and things named after Brewster

7 Notable descendants

8 Sources

9 References

10 Further reading

11 External links

 

[edit] Origins

 

William Brewster was probably born at Doncaster, Yorkshire, England, circa 1566/1567, although no birth records have been found, and died at Plymouth, Massachusetts on 10 April 1644. He was the son of William Brewster and Mary (Smythe) (Simkinson) and he had a number of half-siblings. His paternal grandparents were William Brewster and Maud Mann. His maternal grandfather was Thomas Smythe. [2]

 

He was raised in Scrooby, north Nottinghamshire. In the seventeenth century, Scrooby Manor was in the possession of the Archbishops of York. Brewster's father, William senior, had been the estate bailiff for the archbishop for thirty-one years, from around 1580. With this post went that of postmaster, which was a more important one than it might have been in a village not situated on the Great North Road, as Scrooby was then.[citation needed]

 

William studied briefly at Peterhouse, Cambridge before entering the service of William Davison in 1584.[3] In 1585, Davison went to the Netherlands to negotiate an alliance with the States-General. In 1586, Davison was appointed assistant to Queen Elizabeth's Secretary of State Francis Walsingham, but in 1587 he lost the favour of Elizabeth, after the beheading of her cousin (once removed) Mary, Queen of Scots. Brewster was the only Pilgrim with political and diplomatic experience. With his mentor in prison, Brewster had returned home to Scrooby for a time, where he took up his father’s former position as postmaster.[4]

Title page of a pamphlet published by William Brewster in Leiden

[edit] Family

 

Sometime before 1593, in England, William Brewster married Mary, whose maiden name and parentage have not yet been proven; it has been speculated that it could be either Wyrall or Wentworth, but there is no compelling evidence for either assumption.[5][6][7][8][9] She was probably born in England circa 1568–1569. She 'dyed at Plymouth, Massachusetts on 17 April 1627.' (Brewster Book).* Bradford says that, though she died ' long before' her husband, 'yet she dyed aged,' but by her affidavit of 1609 she was less than sixty years of age and it is probable that her ' great & continuall labours, with others crosses, and sorrows, hastened it (t. a. old age) before y* time.'[10]

 

The children of William and Mary were:

 

Elder Jonathan Brewster (12 August 1593 – 7 August 1659) married Lucretia Oldham of Derby on 10 April 1624,[8][11][12][13][14] and were the parents of eight children.

Patience Brewster (c. 1600 – 12 December 1634)[8] married Gov. Thomas Prence of Lechlade, Gloucestershire, 4 children.

Fear Brewster (c. 1606 – before 1634)[8] so called because she was born at the height of the Puritans' persecution. Married Isaac Allerton of London, 2 children.

Unnamed child was born, died and buried in 1609 in Leiden, Holland.[8]

Love Brewster was born in Leiden, Holland about 1611 and died between 6 October 1650 and 31 January 1650/1, at Duxbury, Massachusetts.[8][15][16] At the age of about 9, he traveled with his father, mother and brother, Wrestling, on the Mayflower to Plymouth, Massachusetts. He married Sarah Collier in Plymouth, Massachusetts on 15 May 1634. Love and Sarah were the parents of 4 children.

Wrestling Brewster was born in 1614 in Leiden, Holland; was living in 1627, died unmarried before the 1644 settlement of his father's estate.[8]

 

[edit] Dissent

 

Cambridge was a centre of thought concerning religious reformism, but Brewster's time in the Netherlands, in connection with Davison's work, gave him opportunity to hear and see more of reformed religion. While, earlier in the 16th century, reformers had hoped to amend the Anglican church, by the end of it, many were looking toward splitting from it.[17] (See Brownist.)

 

On Davison's disgrace, Brewster returned to Scrooby. There, from 1590 to 1607, he held the position of postmaster. As such he was responsible for the provision of stage horses for the mails, having previously, for a short time, assisted his father in that office. By the 1590s, Brewster's brother, James, was a rather rebellious Anglican priest, vicar of the parish of Sutton cum Lound, in Nottinghamshire. From 1594, it fell to James to appoint curates to Scrooby church so that Brewster, James and leading members of the Scrooby congregation were brought before the ecclesiastical court for their dissent. They were set on a path of separation from the Anglican Church. From about 1602, Scrooby Manor, Brewster's home, became a meeting place for the dissenting Puritans. In 1606, they formed the Separatist Church of Scrooby.[citation needed]

[edit] Emigration

 

Restrictions and pressures applied by the authorities convinced the congregation of a need to emigrate to the more sympathetic atmosphere of Holland, but leaving England without permission was illegal at the time, so that departure was a complex matter. On its first attempt, in 1607, the group was arrested at Scotia Creek, but in 1608 Brewster and others were successful in leaving from The Humber. In 1609, he was selected as ruling elder of the congregation.[18]

 

Initially, the Pilgrims settled in Amsterdam and worshiped with the Ancient Church of Francis Johnson and Henry Ainsworth. Offput by the bickering between the two, which ultimately resulted in a division of the Church, the Pilgrims left Amsterdam and moved to Leiden after only a year.[citation needed]

 

In Leiden, the group managed to make a living. Brewster taught English and later, in 1616–1619, as the partner of one Thomas Brewer, printed and published religious books for sale in England, though they were proscribed there. In 1619, Brewster and Edward Winslow published a religious tract critical of the English king and his bishops. James ordered Brewster’s arrest, and when the king’s agents in Holland came to seize the Pilgrim elder, Brewster was forced into hiding just as preparations to depart for America entered the most critical phase. The printing type was seized by the authorities from the English ambassador, Sir Dudley Carleton, and Brewster's partner was arrested. Brewster escaped and, with the help of Robert Cushman and Sir Edwin Sandys, obtained a land patent from the London Virginia Company on behalf of himself and his colleagues.[19]

 

With Brewster in hiding, the Pilgrims looked to their deacon John Carver and to Robert Cushman to carry on negotiations with the appropriate officials in London.[20] In 1620 when it came time for the Mayflower departure, Elder Brewster returned to the Leiden congregation. He had been hiding out in Holland and perhaps even England for the last year. The return of Brewster, the highest-ranking layperson of the congregation and their designated spiritual leader in the New World.[21]

 

Brewster joined the first group of Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower on the voyage to North America. Brewster was accompanied by his wife, Mary Brewster, and his sons: Love Brewster and Wrestling Brewster.[22]

 

Among children boarding the Mayflower were four children from Shipton in Shropshire placed as indentured servants with senior Pilgrims by John Carver and Robert Cushman, on behalf of Samuel More, husband of the children’s mother Katherine More. The children were placed without their mother’s permission after four rancorous years between the More adults over charges of adultery against Katherine More with her longtime lover, the children’s alleged father. Two children were placed with William and Mary Brewster - Mary More, age four and Richard More, age five. Mary was to die in the winter of 1620 as did two other siblings. Only Richard survived. The event has become a bizarre 17th century historic incident. It is not known what Brewster knew about the More children.[23]

A rare 17th-century "Brewster Chair," named after the original owned by William Brewster [2]

[edit] Mayflower landing and life in the New World

 

When the colonists landed at Plymouth, Brewster became the senior elder of the colony, serving as its religious leader and as an adviser to Governor William Bradford. Brewster's son Jonathan joined the family in November 1621, arriving at Plymouth on the ship Fortune, and daughters Patience and Fear arrived in July 1623 aboard the Anne.[24]

 

As the only university educated member of the colony, Brewster took the part of the colony's religious leader until a pastor, Ralph Smith, arrived in 1629. Thereafter, he continued to preach irregularly until his death in April 1644. “He was tenderhearted and compassionate of such as were in misery,” Bradford write, “but especially of such as had been of good estate and rank and fallen unto want and poverty.” [25]

 

Brewster was granted land amongst the islands of Boston Harbor, and four of the outer islands (Great Brewster, Little Brewster, Middle Brewster and Outer Brewster) now bear his name. In 1632, Brewster received lands in nearby Duxbury and removed from Plymouth to create a farm there.[26]

 

In 1634, smallpox and influenza ravaged both the English and the Indians in he region. William Brewster, whose family had managed to survive the first terrible winter unscathed, lost two daughters, Fear and Patience, now married to Isaac Allerton and Thomas Prence, respectively.[27]

 

William Brewster died and was buried in 1644 at Burial Hill, Plymouth, Massachusetts. At present, a gravestone/memorial stone exists there for him. The memorial stone states that it is in honor of "Elder William Brewster Patriarch of the Pilgrims and their Ruling Elder 1609-1644". The burial place of his wife Mary, who died in 1627, is unknown."[28]

 

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ilgrim colonist, leader and preacher

Elder William Brewster came from Scrooby, in north Nottinghamshire and reached what became the Plymouth Colony in the Mayflower in 1620. He was accompanied by his wife, Mary Brewster, and his sons, Love Brewster and Wrestling Brewster. The town of Brewster, Barnstable, MA was incorporated Febr 19, 1803 and was named for Elder William Brewster. A large part of the inhabitants being his descendants

William Brewster attended Peterhouse College, Cambridge 1580-1583; was postmaster and baliff-receiver at Scrooby, England 1590-1607. Organized Scrooby congregation 1606-1609; removed his family to Amsterdam and later to Leyden, Holland where he tutored 1609-1616 and was ruling Elder 1616-1619. He was in flight and hiding in England in 1619-1620 while arranging passage for the Sainets to New England. William, his wife and two youngest sons arrived Plymouth via the Mayflower in 1620. At Plymouth, William was Ruling Elder until 1643. He was also purchaser 1626; Undertaker 1627-1641

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PRINCIPAL LEADERS OF THE SCROOBY PILGRIMS

 

William Brewster was postmaster of the little country town of Scrooby, and it was part of his job to be on the alert for travelers or royal mail carriers passing up and down the Great North Road. He was required by law to keep three “good and sufficient” horses, together with saddles, bridles, and post bags for the use of the post riders, who carried only royal and official mail. He was also expected to keep an inn or tavern for the riders, as well as stables for their horses. In order to serve passing travelers, Brewster set aside the largest room in Scrooby manor to serve as the tavern, overseeing a bake house and a brew house to provide bread and beer.

 

In his position as postmaster on that important highway, Brewster kept in touch with the world by talking with travelers passing through Scrooby.

 

Richard Clyfton was minister of the church at Babworth, not far from Scrooby, where William and Mary Brewster worshipped. Although a minister of the Church of England, Clyfton believed the church needed to be reformed. Clyfton had studied at Cambridge and had been the “grave and reverend” minister at Babworth since 1586. Each Sunday the Brewsters-together with their children Jonathan and Patience-walked six miles across the countryside to hear Clyfton's sermons.

 

Many in the Scrooby district were converted to Clyfton's dangerous religious views. By 1602 there were several other churches in the nearby countryside which had begun question the prsctices of the Church of England. One congregation of about 100 people met at Worksop, near Babworth. Another more radical group was meeting at Gainsborough, eight miles east of Scrooby.

 

Suddenly short tracts (pamphlets) ridiculing the bishops began flooding England. People read them and passed them from hand to hand. The name of the person who wrote them is still not known for certain. But in 1593 the bishops arrested, accused, and sent John Penry to trial for having operated the press where the tracts were printed. That same year Penry, who was a classmate of Brewster's at Cambridge, was hanged in London. For his writings against the church, Penry's friend John Greenwood had also been hanged a few months earlier.

 

One Sabbath in 1602, at Clyfton's church in Babworth, Brewster met a twelve-year-old boy named William Bradford. He had been born in the nearby village of Austerfield. When William Brewster first met him, Bradford was a rather sickly, intelligent boy whose parents were both dead and Bradford was living with his two uncles. Bradford's uncles strongly objected to the radical ideas their nephew was learning from his new acquaintances at Babworth. However, Bradford insisted he would not be deterred.

 

William Brewster and the young Bradford were to became lifetime friends with Bradford bcoming like a son to the older Brewster. Later, in Holland, Bradford lived in the Brewster home until the time he married. In his old age, Brewster would live with Bradford in the New World.

 

William Brewster soon invited the Scooby congregation to meet secretly in Scrooby manor, where Clyfton , Robinson and the rest of the Separatists continued to meet until the Fall of 1607.

 

On 30 September 1607 William Brewster lost his job as postmaster - probably because the authorities had learned the Separatists were holding meetings at Scrooby manor. Bradford tells us “they could not long continue in any peaceable condition, but were hunted and persecuted on every side.” Some of the members found they were watched night and day by the church officers, tormented, imprisoned and “by a joynte consente they resolved to goe into the Low Countries, wher they heard was freedome of Religion for all men.”

 

The Scrooby Separatists were soon to learn the Gainsborough congregation of seventy or eighty members and their pastor, John Smyth, had sold their lands and goods and removed themselves and their families to Amsterdam, where they joined the First Church at Amsterdam, known as the Ancient Brethern.

 

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Another story about Brewster (II) Elder William (2) Brewster , immigrant ancestor, who came in the "Mayflower," was born during the last half of the year 1566 or the first half of 1567 , the date being fixed by an affidavit made by him at Leyden , June 25, 1609 , when he declared his age to be forty-two years. The place of his birth is not known. but is supposed to have been Scrooby . The parish registers of Scrooby do not begin until 1695 , and no record of Brewster 's birth, baptism or marriage has ever been discovered. He matriculated at Peterhouse , which was then the "oldest of the fourteen colleges grouped into the University of Cambridge", December 3, 1580 , but does not appear to have stayed long enough to take his degree. He is next found as a "discreete and faithfull" assistant of William Davison , secretary of state to Queen Elizabeth , and accompanied that gentleman on his embassy to the Netherlands in August, 1585 , and served him at court after his return until his downfall in 1587 . He then returned to Scrooby , where he was held in high esteem among the people of that place, and did much good "in promoting and furthering religion". In 1590 he was appointed administrator of the estate of his father, who died in the summer of that year, and succeeded him as postmaster, which position he held until September 30, 1607 . While in Scrooby he lived in the old manor house, where the members of the Pilgrim church were accustomed to meet on Sunday. When the Pilgrims attempted to remove to Holland in the latter part of 1607 , they were imprisoned at Boston . Brewster was among those imprisoned, and suffered the greatest loss. After he reached Holland , he endured many unaccustomed hardships, not being as well fitted as the other Pilgrims for the hard labor which was their common lot, and spent most of his means in providing for his children. During the latter part of the twelve years spent in Holland , he increased his income by teaching and by profits from a printing press which he set up in Leyden . When, after the twelve years, it was decided that the church at Leyden should emigrate to Virginia , Brewster , who had already been chosen elder, was desired to go with the first company. He was, therefore, with his wife Mary, and two young sons, among the passengers of the "Mayflower," which landed in Plymouth harbor , December 16, 1620 . Here he bore an important part in establishing the Pilgrim republic, was one of the signers of the famous Compact, and believed to have drafted the same. He was the moral, religious and spiritual leader of the colony during its first years and its chief civil advisor and trusted guide until his death. His wife was Mary - . She died April 17, 1627 , somewhat less than sixty years old. Elder Brewster died April 10, 1644 , in Plymouth , and a final division of his estate was made by Bradford , Winslow, Prence and Standish , between Jonathan and Love , his only remaining children. Children: Jonathan , born August 12, 1593 , mentioned below; Patience ; Fear ; Child, died in Leyden , buried June 20, 1609 ; Love ; Wrestling , came in the "Mayflower" with his parents and brother Love , was living at the time of the division of cattle, May 22, 1627 .

Sources

1	"US and International Marriage Records, 1550-1900" (on-line, Yates Publishing, Provo, UT).

2	Robert Charles Andeson, "The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1632" (New England History Genealogical Society, 200).

3	Charles Henry Pope, "Pioneers of Massachusetts, 1620-1650" (Genealogical Publishing Co, 1998).

4	"Find a Grave".

5	"Mayflower Births and Deaths Vol 1 and 2".

6	"MA Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Indes, 17990-1890 Record".