Introduction: In this article, to help celebrate Thanksgiving, Melissa Davenport Berry gives some interesting information about the Pilgrim’s Elder William Brewster. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.

In the last two years I collaborated with Guy and Kathy (Williams) Curtis to research and document their family genealogy for membership in the General Society of Mayflower Descendants. Both have since been formally admitted.

Guy’s Mayflower passenger is William Brewster, patriarch of the Pilgrims and their ruling elder; however, he has other lines which include John Howland, Elizabeth Tilley, and Francis Cooke.

Lineage:

• William Brewster and his wife Mary
• Patience Brewster and Gov. Thomas Prence
• Mercy Mary Prence and John Freeman
• Nathaniel Freeman and Mary Howland
• Lydia Freeman and Elisha Freeman
• Barnabus Freeman and Thankful Dennis
• Dennis Freeman and Mercy Gorham
• George Freeman and Catharine Kempton
• Syphorous/Siphorus Freeman and Mary Elizabeth Harlow
• John Edgar Freeman and Adeliza Snow Whitman
• Guy Dana Freeman and Margaret Ross
• Beulah Benton Freeman and Woodrow Leslie Curtis
• David Lyon Curtis and Valerie Ann Kay

Guy Dana Curtis married Kathy Williams, who was accepted into the Maine Mayflower Society under passenger James Chilton, whose daughter Mary married John Winslow, the brother of Mayflower passenger Edward Winslow. See “Genealogy & Photos of the Quimby Family Line.”

Here is a photo of Guy and his wife Kathy when they participated in a reenactment which depicts the Colonial and British armies battling for control of the Red Horse Tavern (now known as Longfellow’s Wayside Inn) in Sudbury, Massachusetts. (More on Guy’s reenactment battle events coming in my 250th celebration series.)

Stay tuned for my coverage of Guy’s Freeman ancestors. One item I am trying to locate is a sampler with genealogy made by Mary Freeman noted in Freeman Families of Nova Scotia, and Their Ancestors and Descendants and Allied Families: A Genealogy with Biographical Sketches, Vol. 2.

For the spirit of the season and Thanksgiving holiday I am dishing up some Brewster tidbits.

William Brewster, who was both a scholar and a theologian, attended the University of Cambridge. Even though he was not officially ordained, he demonstrated that he could effectively serve as a chaplain.

Below is a photo of Ray Byrne of Plymouth, a retired executive and actor, portraying William Brewster at Plimoth Plantation.

Nathaniel Hawthorne noted that Brewster’s “laudable efforts contributed much to the order and edification of the first church.”

In “Plymouth’s Pilgrims Not Such a Sour, Stuffy Lot,” William F. Willoughby claims Brewster sported some colorful garb.

This article reports:

But right from the start, good old Elder William Brewster must have been quite a sight to behold by the clothes he wore. Not the black or the gray garments that marked the Sunday observance of worship. Not what he had in his closet, at least. He boasted that not only did he have a violet coat, but “1 paire of greene drawers for wear on occasion,” a white cap, a red one, a quilted one and a lace one. Life definitely had its brighter moments.

Brewster emerged as a leading figure in Plymouth. His awareness of the internal battles people faced with “sins of the flesh” was evident when he named his son Wrestling, as a reference to “wrestling with God.”

In fact, Brewster’s father had quite a bawdy lifestyle, and you can read about that transgression with his maid in my article, “Pious Pilgrims and Mayflower Misbehavior,” published in Genealogy Magazine in November 2016.

Brewster was not only the colony’s preacher but an adviser to Gov. William Bradford.

In this photo we see Rev. Michael R. Denney, Elder and Historian of the Mayflower Society, dressed as Elder Brewster and attending the William Bradford statue at Mayflower Society House Gardens in Plymouth. Rev. Denney is a direct descendant of both Mayflower passengers, and he assisted in the application process for both Guy and his wife Kathy.

I found a newsclip citing Bradford, who says this of Brewster:

“My dear friend, Mr. William Brewster, was a man that hath done much and suffered much for the Lord Jesus and the gospel’s sake, and hath borne his part in weal and woe with this poor persecuted church, above 36 years in England, Holland, and in this wilderness, and hath done the Lord and them faithful service in his place and calling.”

Below is a photo of “Pilgrims Led by William Brewster Give Thanks to God for Their Safe Voyage Aboard the Mayflower in This Scene Depicting Plymouth Colony” from “The Frieze of American History” on the U.S. Capitol rotunda, by Constantino Brumidi.

Further noted: In the records of the First Church of Plymouth is an extended account of William Brewster’s life and character, supposed to have been written by Secretary Winton, from which the following is extracted:

“He was wise, and discreet, and well-spoken, having a grave and deliberate utterance; of a very cheerful spirit, very sociable and pleasant among his friends; of a humble and modest mind; of a peaceful disposition; undervaluing himself and in his own abilities, and sometimes overvaluing others; inoffensive and innocent in life and conversation, which gained him the love of those [friends and others]. He was careful to preserve good order in the church, and purity both in doctrine and communion of the same, and to suppress any error or contention that might arise among them.”

Below is a photo of the Brewster tablet taken by Heather Wilkinson Rojo of Nutfield Genealogy while she was in Scrooby, England, on a tour.

William Brewster died in Plymouth Colony in 1644 at age 76. William Bradford attested in the eulogy that Brewster was “seasoned with the seeds of grace and virtue” and stood strong to correct dalliers dictated by earthly desires because he understood them.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Note on the header image: “Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor,” by William Halsall, 1882. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.