William Bradford

Who was William Bradford?

Major William Bradford was the son of Governor William Bradford and his second wife, Alice Carpenter Southworth. Born four years after the Pilgrims arrival in 1620, William was his father's second child, but the first born in the new world, as his older half-brother John Bradford had been left behind in Leiden, Netherlands. He later served as the deputy governor of Plymouth Colony under Governor Josiah Winslow. He was the commander of the military forces of Plymouth Colony during the King Philip's War, during which his eye was wounded in the notable Great Swamp Fight.

Maj. Bradford was married three time and had at least fourteen children from the three marriages. He is buried in the Burial Hill Cemetery in Plymouth, Massachusetts.