BREWSTER, Wit.t.tAm (c.1560-c.16-1-1). A leader of the 'Pilgrims,' generally known as Elder Irewster, who came to America in the r in 1620. lle was born at Serooby, Nottinghamshire. studied for a time at Cam bridge. and from 1584 to 1587 was in the service of William Davison, then Ambassador to the Low Countries and afterwards the Secretary of State of Queen Elizabeth. who. says Bradford. regarded him as "so discreet and faithful that he trusted him above all others who were with him." About 1587 Brewster retired to Scrooby. "to live in the country in good esteem:: amongst his freinds and the good gentlemen of those parts. est:et hilly the godly and religions." Ilere he .wenpied the old Serooby manor house, and for some years held the position of `post; which was then frequently filled by men of high social standing. and which involved the entertainment of travelers, as well as the dispatch of the mails and the supplying of relays of horses. He was in thorough sympathy with the Separatists at Serooby, who on each Sunday assembled for worship at the manor louse. In 1608 he was one of the company of Non-Conformists who, to avoid persecution, re moved to Holland; and at Leyden, his fortune having been exhausted, supported himself by teaching English to the students at the univer sity, and by publishing books whose circulation was prohibited by the English Government. With
Bradford, Carver, and Winslow, he urged the mi gration to America, and with Bradford he went to England in 1619 and secured a patent for a tract of land in America. In the following year he crossed the Atlantic, with the first company of `Pilgrims,' and for the next twenty-fou• years was one of the leaders at Plymouth, where lie did much by his energy and cheerful optim ism to make the colonizing experiment a success. Having been the ruling elder of the congregation in Serooby, Amsterdam, and Leyden, he eon tinned to act as such at Plymouth, and until 1629 was also a teacher and preacher, holding services twice each Lord's Day, though he al ways refused to administer the sacrament. At his death he left a library of 300 volumes. a catalogue of which has been preserved. Brad ford prepared an interesting Memoir of Elder Brewster, which may he found in Young's Chron icles of the Pilgrims (Boston, 1841), and in Vol. III.. 5th series, of the Collections of the assaeh u set ts Historical Society, Consult Steele, Chief of the Pilgrims: or the Life and Times of 'William Brewster (Philadelphia, 3857 ) .