William Bradford

His name stands second among the signers of the agreement made at Cape Cod on 11 November 1620 (Mayflower Compact list of signers). In his own history he says that he was among the sick in the first winter and was nursed by those who stayed well (Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, book 2, 1620 (pp. 111–112)). When the first governor, John Carver, died in the spring of 1621, Bradford was chosen in his place while still recovering from an illness that had brought him near death, with an assistant, and he notes that the choice was renewed by election every year for some years (Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, 1621 (pp. 121–122)).

His history, Of Plymouth Plantation, tells of the congregation’s exile at Leiden, the voyage and the first decades of the colony, and in recording his election he names himself in the third person (Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, 1621 (pp. 121–122)). Of the peace made with Massasoit in 1621 he remarks that it had lasted twenty-four years at the time of writing (Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, book 2, 1620–1621 (pp. 114–116)). See the Pilgrims Land at Plymouth.