Vincent Kartheiser: Playing William Bradford | Saints & Strangers

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William Bradford was a man who was born in England, and at a very young age, was exposed to church and religion. There were some people on the outskirts of their religion that were beginning to be arrested for their beliefs. In his early adulthood, he, as well as several other people in the church, escaped to Holland. They lived there for quite a while in Holland until they started to become dismayed that their children were adopting cultures that weren't English.

So, they realized they needed a new place. They couldn't go to England, and they didn't want to stay in Holland. So, they decided to set off for the New World. He had a wife and a young son. I think his son was a year and a half years old when they decided to make the voyage. They sold all their belongings, and they came to the New World to create a New England, really to create a place where their religion would be the one that people followed, what they believed to be the real word of the Lord.

So, those were his primary goals: to really serve the Lord and to serve the Bible, and all else, including his own survival, was secondary.

"I know it troubles you. God chose these strangers to be our partners in this venture."

Where they lived in Holland, although they were surrounded by the Dutch, their community was quite insulated. All of a sudden, they're in very close quarters with a group of quite burly people—kind of like the exact opposite of them, very ragged and burly types. They've already pushed their relationship to the limit, and he’s just trying to keep his wife sane, keep her calm, and keep her positive.

And when she passes, he's left very much alone in the New World. He was a very selfless man, and in all of his books, he barely mentions himself. Barely—and I mean maybe not at all—any of his achievements. He doesn’t bring them up. He says, "The group did this." He’s a very modest, selfless man who was much more godly than I [Music] am.