BRADSTREET, Simon, American colo nial governor: b. Horbling, Lincolnshire, Eng land, March 1603; d. Salem, Mass., 27 March 1697. Left an orphan at the age of 14, he was brought up under the care of Thomas Dudley (q.v.), whose daughter Anne he married. For a time he was steward to the Earl of Lincoln and later to the Countess of Warwick. He, with Dudley and Winthrop, determined to emi grate and form a settlement in Massachusetts. Embarking with his wife on the Arbella, 29 March 1630, they anchored off Salem on 12 June. In 1631 Bradstreet was one of those who commenced building at Newtown, now Cambridge, and he resided there for several years. In 1639 he was granted 500 acres of land at Salem. He was also one of the first settlers of Andover, building in 1644 the first mill on the Cochichewick. After the death of his wife in 1672, he seems to have spent his time mainly in Boston and Salem. He was the colony's first secretary, one of the first commissioners of the United Colonies in 1643 and in 1653 vigorously opposed making war on the Dutch in New York and on the In dians; and it was prevented by his steady and conscientious opposition and the decision of the General Court of Massachusetts. He was
deputy governor from 1672 until his election as governor in 1679, in which office he con tinued until 1686. When Charles II demanded the colony's charter, Bradstreet thought it better that it should be surrendered than that it should be taken away by judgment. He op posed the arbitrary proceedings of Andros, and when, in 1689, the people put down his authority, they made their former governor their president and he continued as the head of the administration till May 1692, when Gov. William Phipps arrived, bringing the new charter, in which Bradstreet was named as first assistant. For 62 years he had been in the service of the colony, and he lived to be the °Nestor of New England," for all who came over from England with him died before him. He was a popular magistrate and official, a man of integrity and piety and one of the few who stoutly opposed the witchcraft delusion of 1692. Consult New England Historical and Genealogical Register (Vol. I, pp. 75-76, and Vol. VIII, p. 325) for a reprint of his 'Journal, 1664-83.'