Home > William Bradford (1663-1752)

William was born in Leicestershire, England where his father was a printer. As was customary, he was apprenticed outside the family to Andrew Sowle in London. By 1685 he had mastered the trade, acquired his own press, and married the master's daughter. The young couple emigrated to Philadelphia. William had the first press in the middle colonies.

In 1692 William was arrested and tried in the first case in America that raised the issue of Freedom of the Press. He printed a tract of George Kieth that contained material objectionable to the Quaker community leaders. He and John McComb, a taverner who distributed the paper, were briefly jailed, and his press was seized. The trail resulted in no decision, based on a split jury, but soon after release he decided to leave Philadelphia.

Bradford moved to New York in 1693, where he was made the official printer for that colony. He died there in 1752 and was interred in the Trinity Churchyard Cemetery in ManhattanFor other uses, see Manhattan (disambiguation . Manhattan is the name of an island alongside the lower Hudson River and also of one of the five boroughs that form the City of New York. The borough is coterminous with New York County and includes the Islan. His son AndrewAndrew Bradford ( 1686- November 24, 1742) was an early American printer in colonial Philadelphia. He published the first newspaper in Pennsylvania in 1729. He was the son of a printer, and grandson of two others. He was born to William and Elizabeth Sowl did return to Philadelphia.