William Bradford (15901657) was an English Separatist leader who grew up in Yorkshire, and later moved to Leiden, Holland, and helped found the Plymouth Colony. He was a signatory to the Mayflower Compact while aboard the Mayflower in 1620. He served as Plymouth Colony Governor five times covering about thirty years between 1621 and 1657. His journal, Of Plymouth Plantation, covered the period from 1620 to 1657 in Plymouth Colony.