John Barry was researching the history of Massachusetts in a London library in 1855 when he made a starting discovery. He came across the original copy of William Bradford’s account Of Plymouth Plantation. Bradford’s diary from 1621-1650 contained a travel log of the Mayflower’s epic voyage and the founding of the Plymouth Colony. The document remained in the Bradford family until it was turned over to Old South Church in Boston. No one is quite sure how it ended up in England, perhaps it was transported by British soldiers during the Revolutionary War. Once the manuscript was authenticated, a legal battle ensued until it was returned to Massachusetts in 1897.
William Bradford (1590-1657) details in his diary the Pilgrim’s arrival to New England after sixty-six harrowing days at sea. The original plan was to settle at the mouth of the Hudson River. They were blown off course to Cape Cod, a harbor too shallow for a ship the size of the Mayflower. The sandy soil seemed “most unpromising” for a plantation. He wrote, “There were no friends to welcome them, no inns to entertain them.” Instead, native people lurked who seemed “readier to fill our sides with arrows.” They were three thousand miles from home and winter was fast approaching. Many were ill and two had already died. While William and others were exploring sites for a possible settlement, his wife Dorothy fell overboard and drowned in the sea. Yet Wiliam persevered. What stands out in his writing is his deep sense of gratitude. These Pilgrim settlers fell to their knees upon landing that God had brought them “over a vast and furious ocean” and “set their feet on the firm and stable earth, their proper element.” He closed with words from Psalm 107, “Let them praise the Lord, for He is good: his mercies endure forever.”
Near the end of his life, Bradford wrote words that lead us into prayer: