 Simon Bradstreet was baptized on March 18 , 1603 / 4 in <unk> , 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 <unk> , 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 <unk> , a Simon Bradstreet attended Emmanuel during this time , receiving an <unk> degree , but <unk> Robert Anderson is of the opinion that this was not the same individual . During one of Bradstreet 's <unk> 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 . 
