Bradford, William (1590-1657)

British colonial administrator in America, the first governor of Plymouth colony, Massachusetts, 1621-54. As one of the Pilgrims, he sailed for America aboard the Mayflower 1620 and was among the signatories of the Mayflower Compact, the first written constitution in the New World. His History of Plimoth Plantation is an important source for the colony's early history.

Bradford was born in Yorkshire, England. He joined the Puritans (later known as the Pilgrim Fathers or Pilgrims) at an early age and lived with them in exile in Leiden, the Netherlands, 1609-20. In 1621 he succeeded John Carver as governor of Plymouth and served in that office almost continuously for the next 35 years.

Bradford, William (1663-1752)

English-born printer. Emigrating to Pennsylvania in 1685, he set up the first colonial printing press outside New England and the first colonial paper mill. Moving to New York, Bradford founded that colony's first paper, the New York Gazette, in 1725.