William Bradford

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: William Bradford

(born March 1590, Austerfield, Yorkshire, Eng. — died May 9, 1657, Plymouth, Mass.) Governor of the Plymouth Colony in America for 30 years. A member of the Separatist movement within Puritanism, in 1609 he left England and went to Holland seeking religious freedom. Finding a lack of economic opportunity there, in 1620 he helped organize an expedition of about 100 Pilgrims to the New World. He helped draft the Mayflower Compact aboard the group's ship, and he served as governor of the Plymouth Colony for all but five years from 1621 to 1656. He helped establish and foster the principles of self-government and religious freedom that characterized later American colonial government. His descriptive journal provides a unique source of information on both the voyage of the Mayflower and the challenges faced by the settlers.

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William Bradford (1590-1657), one of the Pilgrim Fathers, was the leader of the Plymouth Colony in America. His extraordinary history, "Of Plymouth Plantation, " was not published until 1856.

On March 19, 1590, William Bradford was baptized at Austerfield, Yorkshire, England. His father, a yeoman farmer, died when William was only a year old. The boy was trained by relatives to be a farmer. He was still young when he joined a group of Separatists (Protestant radicals who separated from the established Church of England) in nearby Scrooby. For most of the rest of his life, the best source is his Of Plymouth Plantation.

Becoming a Pilgrim

In 1607 Bradford and about 120 others were attacked as nonconformists to the Church of England. They withdrew to Holland, under the religious leadership of John Robinson and William Brewster, living for a year at Amsterdam and then in Leiden, where they stayed nearly 12 years. They were very poor; Bradford worked in the textile industry. In these hard years he seems to have managed to get something of an education because he lived with the Brewsters near a university. Bradford was attracted to the ideal of a close-knit community such as the Scrooby group had established. At the age of 23 he married 16-year-old Dorothy May, who belonged to a group of Separatists that had come earlier from England.

The threat of religious wars, the difficulty of earning a decent living, the loss from the community of children who assimilated Dutch ways, the zeal for missionary activity - these forces led the Scrooby group to consider becoming "Pilgrims" by leaving Holland for America. After many delays they chose New England as their goal, and with financial support from London merchants and from Sir Ferdinando Gorges, who claimed rights to the American area they sought, the Pilgrims readied to leave for America.

Signing the Mayflower Compact

But the terms arranged for the colonists by their deacon were treacherous; the backers and the settlers were to share ownership in the land the colonists improved and the dwellings they constructed. Many of the Pilgrims' coreligionists backed out of the enterprise, and a group of "strangers" was recruited to replace them. When one of their two ships, the Speedwell, proved unseaworthy, the expedition was delayed further. Finally, in September 1620 the Mayflower departed alone, its 102 passengers almost equally divided between "saints" and "strangers." The men on board signed a compact that established government by consent of the governed, the "Mayflower Compact." John Carver (with Brewster, the oldest of the saints) was elected governor.

On landing at Cape Cod in November, a group led by Myles Standish went ashore to explore; they chose Plymouth harbor for their settlement. Meanwhile Dorothy Bradford had drowned. (In 1623 Bradford married a widow from Leiden, with whom he had three children.)

The settlers soon began to construct dwellings. The winter was harsh; one of many who died of the illness that swept the colony was Governor Carver. Bradford became governor, and under him the colonists learned to survive. Squanto, a Native American who had lived in England, taught the settlers to grow corn; and they came to know Massasoit, chief of the Wampanoag tribe. A vivid report on these early adventures written by Bradford and Edward Winslow was sent to England and published as Mourt's Relation (1622); with it went clapboard and other materials gathered by the settlers to begin paying off their debts. (Unfortunately the cargo was pirated by a French privateer - a typical piece of Pilgrim bad luck.)

Bradford was responsible for the financial burdens as well as the governing of the colony until his death, though for some five years he did not officially serve as governor. These years saw the debt continue to grow (with great effort it was paid off in 1648).

Developing Plymouth Colony

The population of the colony gradually increased, and by 1623 there were 32 houses and 180 residents. Yet during Bradford's lifetime the colony, which began for religious reasons mainly, never had a satisfactory minister. John Robinson, a great pastor in Holland who had been expected to guide the saints, never reached America. One clergyman who did come, John Lyford, was an especially sharp thorn in Bradford's side. Eventually he was exiled, with the result that the London backers regarded the colonists as contentious and incapable of self-rule.

Gradually as Plymouth Colony came to encompass a number of separate settlements, Bradford's particular idea of community was lost. After 1630 the colony was overshadowed by its neighbor, the Massachusetts Bay Colony. But in fact Plymouth never amounted to much as a political power. By 1644 the entire colony's population was still a mere 300. Plymouth did make other northern colonizing efforts attractive; it supplied important material aid to the Bay Colony, and it may have helped establish its Congregational church polity as the "New England way." Bradford was admired by Governor John Winthrop of Boston, with whom he frequently met to discuss common problems.

Bradford the Man

Bradford's private life was distinguished by self-culture. He taught himself Greek and came to know classical poetry and philosophy as well as contemporary religious writers. He worked on his great history, Of Plymouth Plantation, from 1630 until 1646, adding little afterward. Most of the events were described in retrospect. He wrote as a believer in God's providence, but the book usually has an objective tone. Though far from being an egotist, Bradford emerges as the attractive hero of his story. The last pages reflect his recognition that the colony was not a success, and the book has been called a tragic history. Though he stopped writing his history altogether in 1650, he remained vigorous and active until his death in 1657.

William Bradford
Bradford's statue in Plymouth Rock State Park, Plymouth, Massachusetts
2nd, 5th, 7th, 9th & 11th Governor of Plymouth Colony
In office 1621 – 1633 1635 – 1636 1637 – 1638 1639 – 1644 1645 – 1657
Preceded by	John Carver (1621) Thomas Prence (1635) Edward Winslow (1637) Thomas Prence (1639) Edward Winslow (1645)
Succeeded by	Edward Winslow (1633) Edward Winslow (1636) Thomas Prence (1638) Edward Winslow (1644) Thomas Prence (1645)

Born	March 19, 1590 Austerfield, Yorkshire, England
Died	May 9, 1657 (aged 67) Plymouth, Massachusetts
Nationality	English
Spouse(s)	Dorothy Bradford Alice Carpenter
Religion	Separatist

Biography

The Manor House, Austerfield, Yorkshire - birthplace of William Bradford

William Bradford was born on March 19, 1590 near Doncaster, in Austerfield, Yorkshire. At an early age, he was attracted to the "primitive" congregational church, in nearby Scrooby, and became a committed member of what was termed a "Separatist" church, since the church-members had wanted to separate from the Church of England. By contrast, the Puritans wanted to purify the Church of England. The Separatists felt the Church was beyond redemption due to unbiblical doctrines and teachings.

When James I began to persecute Separatists in 1609, Bradford fled to the Netherlands, along with many members of the congregation. These Separatists went first to Amsterdam before settling at Leiden. Bradford married his first wife, Dorothy May (d. December 7, 1620), on December 10, 1613 in Amsterdam. While at Leiden, he supported himself as a fustian weaver.

Signing of the Mayflower Compact, a painting by Edward Percy Moran, which hangs at the Pilgrim Hall Museum

Shifting alignments of the European powers (due to religious differences, struggles over the monarchies and intrigues within the ruling Habsburg clan) caused the Dutch government to fear war with Catholic Spain, and to become allied with James I of England. Social pressure (and even attacks) on the separatists increased in the Netherlands. Their congregation's leader, John Robinson, supported the emerging idea of starting a colony. Bradford was in the midst of this venture from the beginning. The separatists wanted to remain Englishmen (although living in the Netherlands), yet wanted to get far enough away from the Church of England and the government to have some chance of living in peace. Arrangements were made, and William with his wife sailed for America in 1620 from Leiden aboard the Mayflower.

Bas-relief on Bradford Street in Provincetown depicting the signing of the Mayflower Compact

On December 7, 1620, before the colony was established, Bradford's wife died. ^[1] Dorothy Bradford died while the Mayflower was at anchor in Provincetown Harbor. However, there are no contemporary accounts of the circumstances of her death, only a later mention of drowning by Cotton Mather in Magnalia Christi Americana. ^[2] Bradford included only brief mention of her passing in his own writing. There is a widely circulated story that she committed suicide because the Mayflower was a moored ship, but this is derived from a work of historical fiction published in the June, 1869 issue of Harper's New Monthly Magazine. This claims that they had decided to leave their young son in the Netherlands, and his wife was so stricken with sadness that she took her own life. Regardless of this fictional treatment, there is no proof of suicide. Although it is more likely to be referred to as an accident of her falling off the front side of the ship. ^[3]

The first winter in the new colony was a terrible experience. Half the colonists perished, including the colony's leader, John Carver. Bradford was selected as his replacement on the spring of 1621. From this point, his story is inextricably linked with the history of the Plymouth Colony.

William Bradford's second wife, Alice Carpenter Southworth, came to Plymouth aboard the Anne in July 1623 following the death of her first husband, Edward Southworth.^[4] Governor Bradford married Carpenter on August 14, 1623 at Plymouth. Bradford and Carpenter had three children, William, Mercy, and Joseph. Alice also helped to raise John, the son of his first marriage; Alice's sons from her first marriage, Constant and Thomas, arrived in Plymouth sometime after 1627 and presumably lived with their mother and stepfather.^[5]

William Bradford died at Plymouth, and was interred at Plymouth Burial Hill. On his Grave is etched: "qua patres difficillime adepti sunt nolite turpiter relinquere" “What our forefathers with so much difficulty secured, do not basely relinquish.”

Plymouth Burial Hill

William Bradford's life displayed a mixture of the commonplace and the extraordinary that was characteristic of the Puritan experience. Bradford was the son of a prosperous farmer in Yorkshire, England. He received no higher education but instead was taught practical arts of farming. Despite his lack of formal training (or perhaps because of it), Bradford was to become a successful, longstanding Colonial governor in America, dealing out justice and settling disputes.

Growing up in England, Bradford took a radical step when he was twelve years old. Inspired by his reading of the Bible and by the sermons of a Puritan minister, Bradford began attending the meetings of a small group of Nonconformists, despite the vehement objections of his family and friends. It was illegal for Nonconformists to worship publicily, so the group met furtively in a private house in the nearby town of Scrooby. In 1606, when the group organized as a separate Congregational church, Bradford joined them. In 1608, under increasing pressure of persecution and fearful that they would be imprisoned, the Scrooby group crossed the North Sea to Holland, the group was aided by Longdon profiteers and merchants, who lent them a ship and a crew as an investment. In September the Nonconformists sailed for America in order to found a community where they would be free to worship and live according to their beliefs.

For Bradford the hardships of the long ocean voyage did not end with landing at Plymouth. In December, while the Mayflower was anchored in Provincetown Harbor, Bradford and other men took a small boat ashore to scout for a place to land and build shelter. When they returned, Bradford learned that his young wife had fallen or jumped from the ship. Perhaps Dorothy Bradford was in despair when land was finally sighted and she did not see the hoped-for green hills of an earthly paradise. Beyond the ship lay only the bleak sand dunes of Cape Cod. That bitter winter, half the settlers were to die of cold, disease, and malnutrition.

The following year, Bradford was elected governor of the plantation. "If he had not been a person of more than ordinary piety, wisdom, and courage," the Puritan preacher Cotton Mather later recorded, Bradford would "have sunk" under the difficulties of governing such a shaky settlement. Bradford proved to be an exemplary leader, and he went on to be elected governor of the Colony no fewer than thirty times.

As the Plymouth Colony prospered and grew, it also gradually disintegrated as a religious community, despite Bradford's efforts to hold it together. The ideal of the "city upon a hill," the Pilgrims' dream of an ideal society founded on religious principles, gradually gave way to the realities of life in the new land. Bradford's record of this grand experiment ends in disappointment. When more fertile areas for settlement were found and after Boston became a more convenient port to England, Plymouth then lost much of its population. "Thus was this poor church left," Bradford wrote in 1644, "like an ancient mother grown old and forsaken of her children...Thus, she that had made many rich became herself poor."

Literary Works

William Bradford’s most well-known work by far is Of Plymouth Plantation. It was a detailed history in manuscript form about the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the lives of the Puritan colonists from 1621 to 1646 (Wenska 152)^[6]. It is a common misconception that the manuscript was actually Bradford’s journal. Rather, it was a retrospective account of his recollections and observations, written in the form of two books. The first book was written in 1630; the second was never finished, but “between 1646 and 1650, he brought the account of the colony’s struggles and achievements through the year 1646” (Gould 349)^[7]. As Walter P. Wenska states, "Bradford writes most of his history out of his nostalgia, long after the decline of Pilgrim fervor and commitment had become apparent. Both the early annals which express his confidence in the Pilgrim mission and the later annals, some of which reveal his dismay and disappointment, were written at about the same time” (152)^[6]. In typical Puritan form, Bradford drew deep parallels between everyday life and the events of the Bible. As Philip Gould writes, “Bradford hoped to demonstrate the workings of divine providence for the edification of future generations” (349)^[7]. Despite the fact that the manuscript was not published until 1656, the year before his death, it was well-received by his near contemporaries. In 1888 Charles F. Richardson referred to Bradford as a “forerunner of literature” and “a story-teller of considerable power”; Moses Coit Tyler called him “the father of American history” (Wenska 151)^[6]. Many American authors have cited the manuscript in their works; for example, Cotton Mather referenced it in Magnolia Christi Americana and Thomas Prince referred to it in A Chronological History of New-England in the Form of Annals. Even today it is considered a valuable piece of American literature, included in anthologies and studied in Literature and History classes. It has been called “‘an American classic’ and ‘the pre-eminent work of art’ in seventeenth-century New England” (Wenska 151)^[6]. The Of Plymouth Plantation manuscript disappeared from New England, “presumably stolen by a British soldier during the British occupation of Boston” and reappeared in Fulham, England (Gould 349)^[7]. As Philip Gould states, “In 1855, scholars intrigued by references to Bradford in two books on the history of the Episcopal Church in America (both located in England) located the manuscript in the bishop of London’s library at Lambeth Palace” (349)^[7]. A long debate ensued as to the rightful home for the manuscript. Multiple attempts by United States Senator George Frisbie Hoar and others to have it returned proved futile at first. According to Francis B. Dedmond, “after a stay of well over a century at Fulham and years of effort to affect its release, the manuscript was returned to Massachusetts” on May 26, 1897 (243)^[8].

As previously stated, Bradford’s journal did not become Of Plymouth Plantation. In fact, it was contributed to another work entitled Mourt's Relation which was published in England by one of Bradford’s contemporaries. Published in 1622, it was intended to inform Europeans about the conditions surrounding the American colonists at the Massachusetts Bay Colony. As governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, his work was considered a valuable contribution and was thus included in the book. Despite the fact that the book included a large amount of Bradford’s work it is not typically referenced as one of his significant works due to the fact that it was published under someone else’s name.

In addition to his more well-known work, Bradford also dabbled in poetry. According to Mark L. Sargent, “his poems are often lamentations, sharp indictments of the infidelity and self-interest of the new generation. On occasion, the poems recycle dark images from the history” (418)^[9]. Although his poetry is still available today to the interested reader it is not nearly as famous as his manuscript Of Plymouth Plantation.

Bradford’s Dialogues are a collection of fictional conversations between the old and new generations. In the Dialogues, conversations ensue between “younge men” and “Ancient men,” the former being the young colonists of Plymouth, the latter being “the protagonists from Of Plymouth Plantation” (Sargent 413)^[9]. As Mark L. Sargent states: “By bringing the young from Plymouth Plantation and the ancients from Of Plymouth Plantation into ‘dialogue,’[…] Bradford wisely dramatizes the act of historical recovery as a negotiation between the two generations, between his young readers and his text” (413)^[9]. Today, only a small portion of the Dialogues remain; however, a modified copy made by Nathaniel Morton exists, though it has been altered.

Notable descendants

Serena Armstrong-Jones, Viscountess Linley,^[10] wife of David Armstrong-Jones, Viscount Linley
The Baldwin brothers; (Alec, Daniel, William, and Stephen)^[11] American actors
Ambrose Bierce^[12] American dystopian novelist and satirist
Gamaliel Bradford (1768-1824),^[13] American Revolutionary War officer, and his descendants, including Gamaliel Bradford (1863-1932), American biographer and journalist
Robert F. Bradford,^[14]^[15] American lawyer, Republican Party strategist, and Governor of Massachusetts from 1947 to 1949
William Bradford (1624-1703), military commander of the Plymouth forces during King Philip's War^{[citation needed]}
William Bradford (1729-1808), American physician, lawyer, and U.S. Senator from Rhode Island^{[citation needed]}
William Bradford (painter),^[16] American painter, photographer, and explorer
Andrea Bradford - Children's Philanthropist and designer
James G. Carter,^[17] American congregational minister, Massachusetts State Representative, and pioneer of Normal schools and public education
Julia Child,^[18] American entrepreneur and chef of French and French-influenced cuisine
Frederic Edwin Church,^[19] American landscape painter
Frank Nelson Doubleday,^[20] American publisher, and his descendants, including Nelson Doubleday, Nelson Doubleday, Jr., and Russell Doubleday
George Eastman,^[21] American inventor and the founder of the Eastman Kodak Company
Clint Eastwood,^[22] American film actor, director, and producer
Harold Eugene "Doc" Edgerton,^[23] a Professor at MIT who was the developer of pioneering stop-action photographic techniques and electronic flashes.
Charles Dana Gibson,^[24] illustrator, best known for his "Gibson girl" drawings
Edward "Ned" Lamont,^[25]^[26] American businessman and Democratic Party politician
John Lithgow,^[27] American actor and philanthropist
Jan Masaryk,^[28] Czechoslovak diplomat and politician
George B. McClellan,^[29] Civil War general, Governor of New Jersey, Democratic opponent of Abraham Lincoln in the 1864 United States presidential election
Thomas Pynchon,^[30] American short story writer and novelist
Christopher Reeve,^[31] American film actor and political activist
William Rehnquist,^[32] Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1972 to 1986 and Chief Justice of the United States from 1986 until his death in 2005
Deborah Sampson,^[33]^[34] female member of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War
Benjamin Spock,^[35] child care specialist and author
Adlai Stevenson III,^[36] United States Democratic Senator representing Illinois from 1970 to 1981, two-time candidate for Governor of Illinois
Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr.,^[37] publisher of the New York Times since 1992
Charles Sumner,^[38] American statesman and Republican Party politician
Noah Webster,^[39] American educator, journalist, and lexicographer noted for his Webster's Dictionary
William Collins Whitney,^[40]^[41] American financier and politician, and his descendants, the Whitney family

Hugh Hefner, media and pornography executive, is a claimant of descent from William Bradford^[42], but his claims have been disproved by The Mayflower Society.^[43]

References

^ Patricia Scott Deetz; James Deetz. "Mayflower Passenger Deaths, 1620-1621". The Plymouth Colony Archive Project. http://etext.virginia.edu/users/deetz/Plymouth/Maydeaths.html. Retrieved 2006-05-21.
^ "William Bradford in 17 Century Records". Pilgrim Hall Museum. http://www.pilgrimhall.org/bradfordwilliamrecords.htm. Retrieved 2006-05-21.
^ Austin, Jane Goodwin (1777). "William Bradford's Love Life". Harper's New Monthly Magazine 39 (229): 135–140. http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/pageviewer?frames=1&cite=&coll=&view=50&root=%2Fmoa%2Fharp%2Fharp0039%2F&tif=00145.TIF&pagenum=135.
^ Stratton, Eugene Aubrey (1986). Plymouth Colony: Its History & People 1620-1691. USA: Ancestry Incorporated. pp. 365–366. doi:0-916489-13-2. http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0916489183/ref=sib_dp_pt/002-2814230-1648055#reader-link.
^ Alice Bradford
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Wenska, Walter P. “Bradford’s Two Histories: Pattern and Paradigm in ‘Of Plymouth Plantation.’” Early American Literature 13.2 (1978): 151-164. Print.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Gould, Philip. “William Bradford 1590-1657.” The Heath Anthology of American Literature: Beginnings to 1800. Vol. A. 6th ed. Ed. Lauter, Paul. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2009. 348-350. Print.
^ Dedmond, Francis B, ed. “A Forgotten Attempt to Rescue the Bradford Manuscript.” The New England Quarterly 58.2 (1985): 242-252. Print.
^ ^a ^b ^c Sargent, Mark L. “William Bradford’s ‘Dialogue’ with History.” The New England Quarterly 65.3 (1992): 389-421. Print.
^ Roberts, Gary Boyd. "Genealogical Thoughts by Gary Boyd Roberts #14". New England Historic Genealogical Society. http://www.newenglandancestors.org/education/articles/research/special_guests/gary_boyd_roberts/14_659_414.asp. Retrieved 2007-06-24.
^ Newcomb, Bethuel Merritt (1923). Andrew Newcomb and his Descendants: A Revised Edition of "Genealogical Memoir of the Newcomb Family" by John Bearse Newcomb. New Haven, CT: The Tuttle, Morhouse, and Taylor Co.
Daniel LeRoy Martineau, mentioned in the book, is the grandfather of the Baldwin brothers.
^ Morris, Roy (1996). Ambrose Bierce: Alone In Bad Company. New York: Crown, p. 10. Retrieved on 2007-05-05.
^ Bradford, Gamaliel. Correspondence: Guide. Houghton Library, Harvard College University. Retrieved on 2007-05-04.
^ Robert Fiske Bradford Papers, 1909-1971, Massachusetts Historical Society; accessed 4 June 2007.
^ "Blue Bloods," Time; 19 Sept. 1938. On-line source: Time On-line; accessed 4 June 2007.
^ William Bradford: Sailing Ships and Arctic Seas
^ The Mayflower Quarterly, Vol. 51, General Society of Mayflower Descendants: 1985 (quarterly journal).
^ Fitch, Noel Riley. Appetite for Life: The Biography of Julia Child; New York: Doubleday, 1999; pp. 10.
^ Roberts, Gary Boyd. "Genealogical Thoughts by Gary Boyd Roberts #36", New England Historic Genealogical Society. On-line source (NewEnglandAncestors.org); accessed 5 May 2007.
^ Doubleday, Frank Nelson. The Memoirs of a Publisher; New York: Doubleday, 1972; appendices.
^ See ref for Frederic Edwin Church.
^ McGilligan, Patrick. Clint: The Life And Legend; New York: St. Martin's Press, 2002; pp. 13.
^ http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~edgerton/FrankEugene1875.htm
^ Roberts, Gary Boyd. Notable Kin: Volume Two; Santa Clara, CA: Carl Boyer, 1999.
^ Sleeper, Jim. "The American Lamonts," The New York Times, "Opinions and Editorials;" on-line publication: 15 October 2006; accessed 5 May 2007.
^ Lamont, Corliss, ed. The Thomas Lamonts In America; New York: A. S. Barnes, 1971. The family-published history of the Lamont family in America details how the socialist Lamonts arrived in America in the 1750s and married into New England Pilgrim and Puritan families, including descendants of William Bradford.
^ The Mayflower Quarterly, Vol. 64, General Society of Mayflower Descendants: 1998 (quarterly journal).
^ Roberts, Gary Boyd and Wood, Michael J. "Notable Kin: Foreign Prime Ministers or Presidents with New England-Derived Forebears or Wives: Part II - Europe", New England Historic Genealogical Society. On-line source (NewEnglandAncestors.org); accessed 10 June 2007.
^ Ancestry of Mitt Romney (This link shows McClellan's (and Benjamin Spock's) descent from the Joshua Ripley who married Mary Backus, also ancestors of Christopher Reeve. Look at the source for Reeve to see that Joshua Ripley was the son of Joshua Ripley and Hannah Bradford, the grandson of William Bradford and Alice Richards, and the great-grandson of Governor William Bradford.)
^ Roberts, Gary Boyd. "Royal Descents, Notable Kin, and Printed Sources #48", New England Historic Genealogical Society. On-line source (NewEnglandAncestors.org); accessed 1 June 2007.
^ Roberts, Gary Boyd. "Royal Descents, Notable Kin, and Printed Sources #77", New England Historic Genealogical Society. On-line source (NewEnglandAncestors.org); accessed 4 May 2007.
^ Ancestry of William Rehnquist (William Bradford, #1702 in Rehnquist's ahnentafel, was the son of Governor William Bradford.)
^ Scott, Fred. Clifton William Scott and Mildred Evelyn Bradford Scott of Ashfield, Mass.: Volume 1 (Genealogical record); iUniverse, 2004; pp. 423.
^ Young, Alfred. Masquerade: The Life and Times of Deborah Sampson, Continental Soldier; New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004; pp. 4-5.
^ See ref for George B. McClellan.
^ See first ref for Deborah Sampson.
^ Roberts, Gary Boyd. "Genealogical Thoughts by Gary Boyd Roberts #42", New England Historic Genealogical Society. On-line source (NewEnglandAncestors.org); accessed 10 June 2007.
^ Pierce, Edward L. Memoir and letters of Charles Sumner: volume 1, Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University; on-line source, accessed 15 June 2007.
^ "Noah Webster"; Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th ed. (1911). On-line source: "Classic Encyclopedia;" accessed 4 May 2007
^ Biddle, Flora Miller. The Whitney Women and the Museum They Made New York: Arcade Publishing, 1999; pp. 26. Account of F. M. Biddle, president emeritus of the Whitney Museum, describes the descent of W. C. Whitney's mother Laurinda Collins (Whitney) from Bradford.
^ "William Collins Whitney (1841 - 1904)". The Whitney Research Group, 1999; accessed 4 May 2007.
^ "Mr. Playboy"; Isenberg, Barbara. Time, on-line: 2 October 2005; accessed 4 May 2007.
^ The Mayflower Quarterly, "Letters," Vol. 72, No. 2 (June 2006), publication of the General Society of Mayflower Descendants.

=See also

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External links

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