Having American Indian ancestors has allowed me to appreciate and have a deep respect for the American Indian culture. I have learned that my ancestry traces

all of the way back to (and further) William Brewster.

My aunt (Grace Travis Wilson) is a genealogist¹ and she's good at it!

She has worked hard for many years to put this big puzzle together.

Elder William Brewster Born 24 January 1560, was a Mayflower passenger and a Pilgrim colonist leader and preacher who in 1620, traveled to the New World on board the Pilgrim Fathers ship the Mayflower.

William Brewster was born in Scrooby, Nottinghamshire, England, on 24 January 1560 (although no birth records have been found), and died at Plymouth, Massachusetts on 10 April 1644. He was the son of
William Brewster and Mary (Smythe) (Simkinson) and he had a number of half-siblings. His paternal grandparents were William Brewster (1510-1558), and Maud Mann (1513-1558). His maternal grandfather was William Smythe (1505-1560)

He was raised in Scrooby, north Nottinghamshire. In the seventeenth century, 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 studied briefly at Peterhouse, Cambridge before entering the service of William Davison in 1584. 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 he lost the favour of Elizabeth, after the beheading of her cousin (once removed) (Get it?? Beheading - Once removed??)) Mary, Queen of Scots. Brewster was the only Pilgrim with political and diplomatic experience. With his mentor in prison, Brewster had returned home to Scrooby for a time, where he took up his father’s former position as postmaster.

His religion: Separatist

From the best I can tell Separatists were English Christians in the 16th and 17th centuries who wished to separate from the Church of England and form independent local churches were influential politically under Oliver Cromwell , who was himself a separatist. They were eventually called Congregationalists . The Pilgrims who established the first successful colony in New England were separatists

Anyways, Enough about William Brewster