C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
William Bradford (1590–1657)
Bradford, William. An American colonial governor and author; born in Austerfield, Yorkshire, England, in 1590; died in Plymouth, MA, May 9, 1657. He was one of the signers of the celebrated compact on the Mayflower; and in 1621, on the death of the first governor, John Carver, was elected to the same office, which he continued to fill (with the exception of a brief period when he declined re-election) until his death. His administration was remarkably efficient and successful, especially in dealing with the Indians. His ‘Diary of Occurrences,’ covering the first year of the colony, was published in 1622. He left a number of religious compositions in verse; and historical prose compositions of great value, the most important being his ‘History of the Plymouth Plantation’ from the formation of the society in England in 1602 down to 1647.