Early life Love Brewster was born at
Leiden, Holland,
circa 1611, although no birth records have been found, and died at
Duxbury, Massachusetts, sometime between October 6, 1650, and the "last day" of January 1651. This latter date is based on the date of his will and when the inventory of his estate was taken. He was the son of Elder William Brewster, (ca. 1567 – April 10, 1644), the Pilgrim colonist leader and spiritual elder of the
Plymouth Colony and his wife,
Mary. At the age of nine, he traveled with his father, mother and brother, Wrestling, on the
Mayflower to Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Marriage He married Sarah Collier at
Plymouth, Massachusetts, on May 15, 1634. Sarah was baptized on April 30, 1616, at
St Olave's Church, in the parish of
Southwark St Olave, an area of south-east
London in the
London Borough of Southwark, England, and died on April 26, 1691, at Duxbury, Massachusetts. She was a daughter of Jane Clark and
William Collier, one of the investors, or Merchant Adventurers, and an initial shareholder in the Plymouth Colony. She was the sister of Mary Collier, the wife of
Thomas Prence, a co-founder of
Eastham, Massachusetts, a political leader in both the Plymouth and
Massachusetts Bay colonies, and
governor of Plymouth (1634, 1638, and 1657–73). Thomas' first wife, Patience Brewster, was a sister of Love's. Sarah, Love's widow, married sometime after September 1, 1656, Richard Parke of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and he died there in 1665. He also gave her a life's interest in his estate, which was later sold to Thomas Parke in 1678.
Career He was admitted a
Freeman of the Colony on March 2, 1635/1636, which granted him the right to own land and to vote. Love and Sarah settled in Duxbury,
Plymouth County, Massachusetts, around 1636/7 next door to his father. Love was a successful farmer through his adult life. He served in the
Pequot War as a volunteer in 1637, and was a member of Captain
Myles Standish's Duxbury Company in 1643. He served on the grand jury from Duxbury in 1648 and was one of the founders of
Bridgewater, Massachusetts, although it is believed that he never lived there.
Death He died about January 1650/1 in Duxbury, Massachusetts. Governor
William Bradford reported that "Love lived till this year 1650 and dyed, & left 4 children, now living". He was probably buried in Duxbury, but his place of burial is unknown. • Sarah, born ca. 1635 • Nathaniel, called "eldest son," born ca. 1637 • William, born ca. 1645, died in
Duxbury, Massachusetts, on 3 November 1723), married (Duxbury, Massachusetts, 2 January 1672) Lydia Partridge (died 2 February 1742); eight children: 1) Sarah (born Duxbury, Massachusetts, 25 April 1674), 2) Nathaniel Brewster (born Duxbury, Massachusetts, 8 November 1676), 3) Lydia (born Duxbury, Massachusetts, 11 February 1680), 4) William Brewster (born Duxbury, Massachusetts, 4 May 1683), 5) Mercy (born Duxbury, Massachusetts, 7 December 1685), 6) Benjamin (born Duxbury, Massachusetts, 7 July 1688), 7) Joseph (born Duxbury, Massachusetts, 17 March 1693), 8) Joshua (born Duxbury, Massachusetts, c. 1698) • Wrestling, died 1 January 1696/7, married Mary; eight children: 1) Mary (born 10 February 1678/9), 2) Sarah, 3) Abigail, 4) Jonathan, 5) Hannah, 6) Elizabeth, 7) Wrestling (born 4 August 1695), 8) John
Descendants Love and Sarah's descendants number in the thousands today. Some of their notable descendants include: • Ralph Brewster Allison, M.D. (b. 1931), an
American psychiatrist and a pioneer in
Dissociative identity disorder (DID) •
Roger Nash Baldwin (b. 1884), one of the founders of the
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) •
John Bartlett (b. 1820), an American writer and publisher whose best-known work was ''
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations'' •
Gamaliel Bradford (b. 1863), an American biographer, critic, poet, and dramatist •
Benjamin Brewster (b. 1860),
Episcopal Bishop of
Maine and
Missionary Bishop of
Western Colorado •
Benjamin Brewster (b. 1828), an American industrialist, financier, and one of the original trustees of
Standard Oil • Dr.
Chauncey Bunce Brewster (b. 1848), the fifth American
Episcopal bishop of the
Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut •
David Brewster (b. 1931), an American television actress •
John Brewster Jr. (b. 1766), a prolific, deaf, itinerant painter who produced many charming portraits of much of Maine's elite society of his time, especially their children • Oliver Brewster (b. 1708), who was married to
Martha Wadsworth Brewster, a notable 18th-century American poet and writer. She is one of only four colonial women who published volumes of their verse before the American Revolution and was the first American-born woman to publish under her own name. •
Ralph Owen Brewster (b. 1888), American politician from
Maine; Republican
U.S. Senator from Maine from 1941 until 1952 •
Alfred Ely (b. 1815),
U.S. Representative from
New York •
William F. Halsey, Admiral, U.S. Navy, in World War II. •
Doris Humphrey, dancer and choreographer •
Brewster Jennings (b. 1842), an American philosopher and psychologist •
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (b. 1807), American educator and poet •
Archibald MacLeish (b. 1892), American poet, writer and
Librarian of Congress. He is associated with the
Modernist school of poetry. He received three
Pulitzer Prizes for his work. • Lieutenant
Kenneth MacLeish (b. 1894), Naval aviator during World War I. He received the
Navy Cross. • Admiral
Samuel Eliot Morison (b. 1887), Pulitzer Prize-winning historian • Gaylord Brewster Noyce (b. 1926), one of the first
Freedom Riders; arrested for trying to integrate the bus station lunch counter in Montgomery, Alabama •
Robert Noyce (b. 1915), American
architect, responsible for the site selection, plan and design of
O'Hare International Airport ==Notes==