William Bradford (Plymouth Governor) - Family

Family

William Bradford married:

• Dorothy May in Amsterdam, Holland on December 10, 1613. Their marriage record indicates she was 16 years old and was from Wisbech in Cambridgeshire. The record also notes a Henry May, who may been her father. William and Dorothy had one son.

Her death and memorial: On December 17, 1620, Dorothy fell from the deck of the Mayflower into the icy waters of Cape Cod harbor, where the ship was anchored, and drowned. This was while her husband was with others on an expedition ashore. She was one of 4 Mayflower passengers who died between Dec. 4/14, 6/16, 7/17, 8/18, 1620, including Edward Thomson, Jasper More (age 7 years), James Chilton and also William Butten, who was the first to die on November 16. They are all commemorated on two cenotaphs in Provincetown - one at Winthrop Street Cemetery and one at the Mayflower Passengers Who Died At Sea Memorial. Their burial places ashore are unknown and may have been unmarked in those very early days after the Mayflower landing. The death of these five persons was just a precursor of the deaths to come consuming about half the Mayflower company in that first bitter winter of 1620-1621.

• Alice (Carpenter) Southworth in Plymouth. She was the widow of Edward Southworth and brought two children to the marriage - Constant Southworth (1612-1678) and Thomas Southworth (1617-1669). Alice and William Bradford had three children. She died in Plymouth on March 26, 1670 and was buried on Burial Hill in Plymouth near her husband‘s stone.

Child of William and Dorothy Bradford:

• John was born in Leiden, Holland about 1617. He married Martha Bourne by 1650 but had no known children. He died in Norwich, Connecticut before September 21, 1676.

Children of William and Alice Bradford:

• William was born on June 17, 1624 in Plymouth and died there on February 20, 1703/4. He was buried on Burial Hill in Plymouth.

William married:

1. Alice Richards after April 23, 1650 and had ten children. She died in Plymouth on December 12, 1671.

2. Sarah (____) Griswold about 1674 and had one son.

3. Mary (Wood) Holmes about 1676 and had four children.

• Mercy was born before May 22, 1627 and may have been dead before her father’s 1657 will as she was not mentioned. She married Benjamin Vermayes on December 21, 1648 in Plymouth but had no known children.

• Joseph was born after 1630 and died in Plymouth on July 10, 1715. He married Jael Hobart on May 25, 1664 in Hingham, Massachusetts and had three children. He was buried on Burial Hill in Plymouth.