The more I can find out about a certain family member, the greater it feels. A few times, I have happened to make quite a discovery. How cool it is to find out that a well-known person is part of our family tree!
I was very much surprised when I learned that our direct ancestor (11 generations back) is William Brewster, one of the earliest pioneers and the founders of this country. That 'revelation' made me feel quite excited as I had not expected such a family connection at all.
William Brewster was born in England (circa 1566), not far from Scrooby in Nottinghamshire. His parents were William Brewster Senior and Mary Smythe.
William Brewster junior was a well-educated man, he also spent some time studying in Cambridge.
Brewster worked as a Secretary of State, then he was postmaster at the Scrooby post office. William Brewster was one of the religious reformists who created a Separatist church in England. Due to his religious views, William had to flee with his wife to The Netherlands. They settled in Leiden where Brewster became an elder of his church. He also worked as an English teacher and religious books' publisher. In his works, he criticized the English bishops and the king of England as well. To avoid prosecution, Brewster, his wife Mary, and other members of his church decided to leave to America. In September 1620, they started they voyage to the New World - they left Plymouth in England on the Mayflower ship. They reached the coast of the American continent on December 21, 1620. The group established a colony called Plymouth. William Brewster was the Colony Leader and the Church Elder and preacher. He was later granted some lands near Duxbury and founded a farm there.
He died on April 10, 1644.
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| An actor depicts Elder William Brewster in Plymouth Plantation |
Mary Brewster - wife of William's - was born around 1569 in England. The couple got married circa 1592 in Nottinghamshire. She arrived on Mayflower with her two youngest children Love and Wrestling.
Mary was one of the five women who survived the first winter in America and one of the fourth ladies who took part in The First Thanksgiving celebrations.
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| Mayflower - replica built in 1956 |
Our connection to William and Mary Brewster is their daughter Fear, born around 1606 (Scrooby, Nottinghamshire). She came to America on the ship Anne in 1623.
In (around) 1626 Fear married Issac Allerton, who was also Mayflower passenger. He was born in England about 1586. Fear and Isaac had three children Rose (born circa 1633), Sarah and Isaac.
Proud of our pioneers!
Credits:
Photo #1: By Becurry (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons,
Photo #2: wikitravel:user:OldPine [CC BY-SA 1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
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