Simon Bradstreet (baptized March 18, 1603/4 – March 27, 1697) was a colonial magistrate, businessman, diplomat, and the last governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Arriving in Massachusetts on the Winthrop Fleet in 1630, Bradstreet was almost constantly involved in the politics of the colony but became its governor only in 1679. He served on diplomatic missions and as agent to the crown in London, and also served as a commissioner to the New England Confederation. He was politically moderate, arguing minority positions in favor of freedom of speech and for accommodation of the demands of King Charles II following his restoration to the throne. Bradstreet was married to Anne, the daughter of Massachusetts co-founder Thomas Dudley and New England's first published poet. He was a businessman, investing in land and shipping interests. Due to his advanced age (he died at 93) Cotton Mather referred to him as the "Nestor of New England". Early life Simon Bradstreet was baptized on March 18, 1603/4 in Horbling, Aveland Wapentake, Parts of Kesteven, Lincolnshire, the second of three sons of Simon and Margaret Bradstreet. His father was the rector of the parish church, and was descended from minor Irish nobility. With his father a vocal Nonconformist, the young Simon acquired his Puritan religious views early in life. At the age of 16, Bradstreet entered Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He studied there for two years, before entering the service of the Earl of Lincoln as an assistant to Thomas Dudley in 1622. There is some uncertainty about whether Bradstreet returned to Emmanuel College in 1623–1624. According to Venn, a Simon Bradstreet attended Emmanuel during this time, receiving an M.A. degree, but genealogist Robert Anderson is of the opinion that this was not the same individual. During one of Bradstreet's stints at Emmanuel he was recommended by John Preston as a tutor or governor to Lord Rich, son of the Earl of Warwick. Rich would have been 12 in 1623, and Preston was named Emmanuel's master in 1622. Bradstreet took over Dudley's position when the latter moved temporarily to Boston in 1624. On Dudley's return several years later, Bradstreet then briefly served as a steward to the Dowager Countess of Warwick. In 1628 he married Dudley's daughter Anne, when she was 16. In 1628, Dudley and others from the Earl of Lincoln's circle formed the Massachusetts Bay Company, with a view toward establishing a Puritan colony