User:Jonathan.M.Brewster

Jonathan Malcolm Brewster



Biography - Jonathan Malcolm Brewster Origins Born at Princess Alexandra Hospital, Harlow, Essex, England, 1969. Son of Malcom Brewster & Eileen Lowrie. His paternal grandparents were Frank Brewster of Bishops Stortford, Herts and Wavelyn Kelly. His maternal grandparents were Fredrick William Lowrie and Doris Ivy Hoy. Brother to Helen Rebecca Brewster & Daniel Paul Brewster. Married 7th Sept 1991 - Val Brewster Divorced Sept 2009 Remarried 14th June 2011 - to Tracy Brewster.

Father to Johanna Catherine Brewster & Oliver Malcom Brewster

Brewster Family origins - Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire Hatfield Broad Oak, Essex. High Roding, Essex. Hatfield Heath, Essex.

Lowrie Family Origins -

Edmonton, London Tottenham, London Holborn, London Islington, London Clerkenwell, London.

Descendant of William Brewster (Pilgrim Father) Scrooby Manor was in the possession of the Archbishops of York. Brewster's father, William senior, had been the estate bailiff for the archbishop for thirty-one years from around 1580. With this post went that of postmaster, which was a more important one than it might have been in a village not situated on the Great North Road, as Scrooby was then.

William Junior studied briefly at Peterhouse, Cambridge before entering the service of William Davison in 1584.[6] In 1585, Davison went to the Netherlands to negotiate an alliance with the States-General. In 1586, Davison was appointed assistant to Queen Elizabeth's Secretary of State Francis Walsingham, but in 1587 Davison lost the favour of Elizabeth, after the beheading of her cousin (once removed) Mary, Queen of Scots.

[edit] DissentCambridge was a centre of thought concerning religious reformism, but Brewster's time in the Netherlands, in connection with Davison's work, gave him opportunity to hear and see more of reformed religion. While, earlier in the 16th century, reformers had hoped to amend the Anglican church, by the end of it, many were looking toward splitting from it. (See Brownist.)

On Davison's disgrace, Brewster returned to Scrooby. There, from 1590 to 1607, he held the position of postmaster. As such he was responsible for the provision of stage horses for the mails, having previously, for a short time, assisted his father in that office. By the 1590s, Brewster's brother, James, was a rather rebellious Anglican priest, vicar of the parish of Sutton cum Lound, in Nottinghamshire. From 1594, it fell to James to appoint curates to Scrooby church so that Brewster, James and leading members of the Scrooby congregation were brought before the ecclesiastical court for their dissent. They were set on a path of separation from the Anglican Church. From about 1602, Scrooby Manor, Brewster's home, became a meeting place for the dissenting Puritans. In 1606, they formed the Separatist Church of Scrooby.

[edit] EmigrationRestrictions and pressures applied by the authorities convinced the congregation of a need to emigrate to the more sympathetic atmosphere of Holland, but leaving England without permission was illegal at the time, so that departure was a complex matter. On its first attempt, in 1607, the group was arrested at Scotia Creek, but in 1608 Brewster and others were successful in leaving from The Humber. In 1609, he was selected as ruling elder of the congregation.

Initially, the Pilgrims settled in Amsterdam and worshiped with the Ancient Church of Francis Johnson and Henry Ainsworth. Offput by the bickering between the two, which ultimately resulted in a division of the Church, the Pilgrims left Amsterdam and moved to Leiden after only a year.

In Leiden, the group managed to make a living. Brewster taught English and later, in 1616-1619, as the partner of one Thomas Brewer, printed and published religious books for sale in England, though they were proscribed there. In 1619, the printing type was seized by the authorities under pressure from the English ambassador, Sir Dudley Carleton, and Brewster's partner was arrested. Brewster escaped and, with the help of Robert Cushman and Sir Edwin Sandys, obtained a land patent from the London Virginia Company on behalf of himself and his colleagues.

In 1620, he joined the first group of Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower on the voyage to North America. When the colonists landed at Plymouth, Brewster became the senior elder of the colony, serving as its religious leader and as an adviser to Governor William Bradford.

As the only university educated member of the colony, Brewster took the part of the colony's religious leader until a pastor, Ralph Smith, arrived in 1629. Thereafter, he continued to preach irregularly until his death in April 1644.

Brewster was granted land amongst the islands of Boston Harbor, and four of the outer islands (Great Brewster, Little Brewster, Middle Brewster and Outer Brewster) now bear his name. In 1632, Brewster received lands in nearby Duxbury and removed from Plymouth to create a farm there.[7]

Brewster died in 1644 and was likely buried in Plymouth, possibly upon Burial Hill; however his place of burial is unknown.[1][2][3][4][5][8]

[edit] ChildrenSometime before 1593, in England, William Brewster married someone by the name of Mary, whose maiden name and parentage have not yet been proven; it has been speculated that it could be either Wyrall or Wentworth, but there is no compelling evidence for either assumption.[1][2][3][4][5] She was probably born in England circa 1568-1569. She 'dyed at Plymouth, Massachusetts on April 17, 1627.' (Brewster Book).* Bradford says that, though she died ' long before' her husband, 'yet she dyed aged,' but by her affidavit of 1609 she was less than sixty years of age and it is probable that her ' great & continuall labours, with others crosses, and sorrows, hastened it (t. a. old age) before y* time.'[9]

The children of William and Mary were:

Elder Jonathan Brewster (August 12, 1593 - August 7, 1659) married Lucretia Oldham of Derby on 10 April 1624,[4][10][11][12][13] and were the parents of eight children. Patience Brewster (c. 1600 - December 12, 1634)[4] married Gov. Thomas Prence of Lechlade, Gloucestershire, 4 children. Fear Brewster (c. 1606 - before 1634)[4] so called because she was born at the height of the Puritans' persecution. Married Isaac Allerton of London, 2 children. Unnamed child was born, died and buried in 1609 in Leiden, Holland.[4] Love Brewster was born in Leiden, Holland about 1611 and died between October 6, 1650 and January 31, 1650/1, at Duxbury, Massachusetts.[4][14][15] At the age of about 9, he traveled with his father, mother and brother, Wrestling, on the Mayflower to Plymouth, Massachusetts. He married Sarah Collier in Plymouth, Massachusetts on May 15, 1634. Love and Sarah were the parents of 4 children. Wrestling Brewster was born in 1614 in Leiden, Holland; was living in 1627, died unmarried before the 1644 settlement of his father's estate.[4]