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Good morning. Are you enjoying my 2020 A to Z Challenge so far? I hope you’ve taken the plunge with me and started your 14 day trial of Ancestry.com so we can go through this together. Maybe we’ll even discover a common ancestor!
One ancestor that I know I share with tens of thousands of Americans would be – William Brewster (a Mayflower Pilgrim). So for the letter “B”, I wanted to share some trivia about Elder William Brewster.
#1. William Brewster Was the Senior Elder at Plymouth Colony
TRIVIA: Brewster was the only Pilgrim with political and diplomatic experience.
The Brewsters offered their home in Scrooby (seen below) as a meeting house for the Brownist church (separatists from the Church of England).
In 1608, Brewster successfully escaped England without permission (which was against the law) and settled in Holland and Leiden before coming to Plymouth Colony where they could worship freely.
Brewster began working a printing press and publishing religious books and pamphlets that were then illegally conveyed into England. Thomas Brewer (his partner) was arrested and held in the University of Leiden’s prison but Brewster managed to evade the authorities and went into hiding for a couple years.
As the elder of the church, his responsibilities included seeing that the congregation’s members “carried themselves properly”.
He undertook the role of spiritual leader until the colony’s first pastor, Ralph Smith, arrived in 1629.
Afterwards he served as an advisor to Governor William Bradford who wrote a biography of Brewster in Of Plymouth Plantation.
#2. William Brewster Lost 2 Daughters to Influenza
It seemed timely to share that William Brewster, the Elder of the community at Plymouth Colony, sadly lost 2 of his grown daughters to influenza in 1634 – Fear Brewster Allerton (wife of Isaac Allerton, a signatory to the Mayflower Compact) and Patience Brewster Prence (wife of Thomas Prence, 4th Governor of Plymouth).
The 1633-1634 outbreak of Smallpox and Influenza came over to the American Colonies with the European settlers. Native Americans and Colonists alike suffered large losses.
It was not until 1770 when Edward Jenner found a vaccine that helped the recipients become immune.
Thankfully medicine and science have come a long way since.
#3. 7 Places were Named after William Brewster
- Great Brewster, Boston, Massachusetts
- Little Brewster, Boston, Massachusetts
- Middle Brewster, Boston, Massachusetts
- Outer Brewster, Boston, Massachusetts
- Brewster Gardens, Plymouth, Massachusetts
- Brewster, Massachusetts
- Brewster, Nebraska
#4. Famous Descendants of William Brewster
Bing Crosby through daughter Patience Brewster Prence (mentioned in #2)
Norman Rockwell through daughter Patience Brewster Prence (mentioned in #2)
William Wadsworth Longfellow through son Love Brewster and his wife Sarah Collier
First Lady Mamie Eisenhower through son Love Brewster and his wife Sarah Collier
Katharine Hepburn through son Jonathan Brewster and his wife Lucretia Oldham
Julia Child through son Jonathan Brewster and his wife Lucretia Oldham
Glenn Close through son Jonathan Brewster and his wife Lucretia Oldham
Ashley Judd through son Jonathan Brewster and his wife Lucretia Oldham
Richard Gere through son Jonathan Brewster and his wife Lucretia Oldham
Ellen DeGeneres through son Jonathan Brewster and his wife Lucretia Oldham
and so many more!!!
#5. My Connection to William Brewster (11th Great Grandfather)
Me
My mother
My grandmother
Hildred Julia Young & Charles Harry Connors [Pepper]
Ella Jane Maxson & Nelson Young
James S. Maxson & Julia Maria Manning
Phylomel Dayton & Benjamin C. Maxson
Tabitha Welton & Isaac Dayton
Ann Brewster & Daniel Welton
Samuel Brewster & Tabitha Baldwin
William Brewster & Patience Reed
Captain Benjamin Brewster & Anna Addis
Jonathan Brewster & Lucretia Oldham
Elder William Brewster
FURTHER READING:
The Brewster Genealogy, 1566-1907 (archive.org)
Elder William Brewster, of the Mayflower: His Books and Autographs, with other notes (amazon)
Chief of the Pilgrims, Or, the Life and Time of William Brewster (amazon)
SPREAD THE LOVE:
TELL ME IN THE COMMENTS BELOW:
Are you a descendant of Elder William Brewster?
Interesting post. Sobering to think about influenza epidemics in the 1600s, but sadly worldwide viral infections are cyclical as we are now learning. So cool the you are tangentially related to Katherine Hepburn, Julia Child and Glenn Close among others. Please stop by for a visit during A to Z Challenge https://mollyscanopy.com/
I will happily stop by Molly. thanks for visiting. what is amazing back in the 1600s was that they couldn’t come up with a vaccine until approximately 150 years later. thankfully we’ve come a long way since.
That’s alot of ancestors. It’s amazing really that some families don’t survive that number of generations because of a disease like smallpox while others do.
Happy A to Zing
http://moondustwriter.com/2020/04/02/alzheimers-and-old-butcher-knives-part-2-atozchallenge-elderly
very interesting indeed. it’s nice to know though that even though Patience Brewster passed away due to the illness she still created a beautiful family with descendants like Bing Crosby to follow.
Great history of your ancestor. I looked at your list of names and the only one familiar to me is Reed. My great grandmother was a Reed and as far back as I’ve gotten with them is Pennsylvania. Still researching them. We have however traced another side of our geneology back to the Lairds of Scotland in the 1300’s. The Hunters 🙂 Geneology is so fascinating!
My AtoZ link:
https://katytrailcreations.com/2020/04/02/bibs-bedding-burpcloths-letter-b/
We all eventually are connected, no? I am writing about “royalty” later on in the series and planning on talking about how pretty much every single person in europe is a descendant of Charlemagne.
That was an interesting read. The part that I found most fascinating was the familial descent. I’ve always been a big fan of family trees and history.
do you have a family tree, bill? maybe one day we will find we are connected (although we all are, no?) 🙂
Wow! This is amazing! I hope I can trace my ancestry too! Sounds so interesting!
i hope so too, emman! enjoy the hunt.
That’s quite a lineage. Looks like you’re getting lots of great info from your Ancestry.com trial. Weekends In Maine
i actually paid for a 3 month membership of Ancestry this time around.
This is very interesting, Knowing one’s root always amaze people. Have fun getting more discovering. Thanks for sharing.
thanks Ana Rose. What a pretty name! i appreciate the support.
I have never heard of him before but this article gives me an interest to know more about my roots. Thank you!
sweet. i hope you have a good time researching your tree, Gervin!!
i love learning new things. how hard that must have been to lose both his daughters.
yes. he had a large family but to lose TWO daughters in the same influenza. that is terrible.
Impressive family tree! We never could get that far back — but my husband has lists of ancestors on both sides that go back that far too.
that’s so cool your family has those lists. do you know if he’s related to the brewsters?
Must admit my knowledge about the pilgrims is lacking, but it’s cool your ancestor managed to make america and make it a successful trip
yes. very cool. i didn’t really know much either beside what we learn in elementary school and what i read in some fictional books.
Interesting post and I love the A-Z Challenge. We are learning something new every day and I look forward to learning about C 🙂 – Knycx Journeying
thanks so much Knycx. I’ll have to check out your series too!
Wow. It’s cool to share about your ancestry here! and this A-Z challenge, I admire you for keeping up. Continue to rock on. <3
This is so interesting! I knew little of Elder William Brewster before your post! Your A-Z challenge sounds so cool!
Now that’s interesting, even though I’ve never heard of him before. Thanks for sharing.