Bradley, Joseph 2nd

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Birth

Joseph Bradley, 2nd, was born October 19th, 1746, and baptized the following February, at Greenfield Church, the son of Joseph Bradley 1st and Olive Hubbell. His siblings were:

  • Thaddeus, May 25, 1727; (died young)
  • Onesimus, July 17, 1730;
  • Eunice, Jan. 2, 1732; [1732-3] (died young)
  • Ruth, Feb. 24, 1734; [1734-5]
  • Martha, Sept. 2, 1737
  • Nathan, July 20, 1740
  • Isaac, Jan. 15, 1738; [mistake for 1743-4] (died young)
  • Benjamin, April i, 1749.

As before stated, it is probable that Thaddeus, Eunice and Isaac died young, as they are not mentioned in their father's will, and I do not remember to have heard my great-grandfather speak of them.

Onesimus is registered in the Fairfield Record of Marriages and Births, as follows : "Onesimus Bradley (son of Joseph Bradley), and Emitt Cable were married August 1, 1754. Children born — Asa, June 26, 1756. I learned from my grandfather, or great-grandfather, that Onesimus had two sons, Asa and Thaddeus ; and that he emigrated with his family, soon after the Revolutionary War, to Delaware County, New York, and, afterwards, to a more Western part of that State. I have never heard more of the family.

Ruth married Thomas Treadwell, and was long respected in Weston as a most estimable and excellent woman, not-withstanding an indiscretion in early life. At Westport in 1851, I heard her spoken of in the highest terms by an old gentleman called Squire Nichols, who had known her well when he was a young man. Perhaps the one weakness of her life, had a redeeming effect on her character. She lived to extreme old age.

Martha married Nehemiah Cable — "Miah Cable" — the hero of many a story told on Winter evenings by my great-grandfather of his early days.

Nathan settled at Saugatuck (Westport) and had three sons, Nathan, Stephen and Abel, the eldest of whom died without issue, and the others resided at Saugatuck for many years. Whether their descendants are there still, I do not know. I get these facts principally from the relation of my grandfather in 1851, on the occasion of our visit to Weston mentioned below ; though they were often alluded to in family conversations during all my boyhood.

Benjamin, the youngest, joined the British side in the Revolutionary War, entered into their service, and lost his life in some engagement. He had one son, Gould, or Gold, Bradley, who after the war became a man of wealth and prominence in or near Weston. I always heard that he had a son Burr, who became in after years, owner of his great-grand-father's old place.

Education

Occupation

My great-grandfather left Connecticut in 1791, and settled  on a quarter section of land in Van Rensselaer's Patent, in  in the town of Bern and County of Albany, attracted by the  advertisements put forth by Mr. Stephen Van Rensselaer  after getting possession of his estate. The lands were repre-  sented as fertile and valuable, and nothing- was charo-ed for the  purchase money of a hundred ard sixty acre lot, which was  regarded as sufficient for a farm. But, although a fee simple  was given, it had the fatal condition of a perpetual annual  rent — not to commence immediately — but only after the lapse  of seven years after settlement. The rent, it is true, was not  large, only 30 Dutch schepels, (pronounced skipples) of wheat  per annum, or its value on the first of January each year.*  The land was covered with heavy timber, for which there was  no demand, and which had to be consumed by fire on the  ground. It took years, with great labor and toil, to clear off   * A schepel contained about 3 pecks. 30 schepels, therefore, were 22^ bushels.     enough, and get it into an arable condition, to make a com-  fortable farm. The result, in the end, was that the rent was  found to be a greater burden than the settlers could well bear;  which, in long subsequent years, produced the discontents  that resulted in the anti-rent war. But these troubles came  after my great-grandfather's day. In his time, and when I  was a lad, the farm, by much industry and economy, produced  all the comforts that persons leading a plain farmer's life could  desire. The family, in removing from Connecticut, took a  sloop at Campo. on which they deposited all their household  goods, and traversed the entire distance to Albany by water, oc-  cupying in the voyage many days. The worst part of the jour-  ney then commenced. It was the Spring of the year, and even  the streets of Albany consisted of deep mud and clay which  made them almost impassable, and the country roads were, if  any thing, still worse ; and when they reached the borders  of the Helderberg Wilderness they were indeed in sad case.  But they finally reached their destination, and put up a tem-  porary shelter, and soon a log dwelling ; and commenced to  clear the land. The privations to which they were subject,  however, can hardly be conceived of at the present day.  Sometimes meal for family use had to be brought many miles  on horseback, and seed and every thing needed had to be con-  veyed great distances along rough and dangerous paths in the  woods. It seems hardly credible, now, that such hardships  were endured by the early settlers of a district so near to a  city like Albany. But they had stout hearts, and they w^ent  through it all bravely, and brought out of the wilderness a  smiling farm, crowned with plenty and pleasantness. As far  back as I can remember, the fields were all well cultivated,  and apple orchards and other fruit trees abounded. What we  called the "old orchard" had sprung up from apple seeds  planted by my great-grandmother herself. One of the trees,  I remember, produced an early Summer sweet apple ; and the  fruit of that tree the old lady always claimed the prerogative     40   of having at her own disposal. I need not say that, when a  boy, I largely profited by this whim of hers, being always one  of her most favored beneficiaries.   Of my great-grandfather, of course, I have a very vivid  recollection. He was in his 67th year when I was born, and  lived to his 826. year. He was a tall, strongly built man,  standing six feet in his stockings. He had black eyes, and a  very sweet and kindly expression ; a full head of soft, silken  black hair, in which were seen but a few silver threads to the  day of his death. He had a small hand but strong limbs, and  must, in his prime, have been a man of great physical power.  In his old ag^e, when I knew him, he made his o:arden his  special care, and used to set me occasionally at weeding out  his precious beds of vegetables. It was quite a large enclos-  ure for a garden, and besides containing fruit trees, was sur-  rounded by a thick hedge of current bushes. It was well  stocked, I remember, with herbs of various kinds, catnip,  sage, horehound, &c., bundles of which, in the proper season,  were hung up in the garret to dry : and in some sunny spot,  on the farm, he always raised a small crop of tobacco, to stand  him in stead in the long winter season, in case his ordinary  supply should hap}:)en to fail. Decoctions of herbs were the  only medicines used in the family. I never knew a doctor to  be called in. Though deprived of the enjoyment of church  privileges in the secluded section in which he lived, except  from the occasional visits of methodist and baptist traveling  preachers, my great-grandfather never forgot his presbyterian  training. It was his regular practice on every Sunday, to  spend a considerable time in reading the Sacred Scriptures,  whilst his wife devoted herself to the perusal of her old Prayer  Book. An old neighbor, by the name of Harris, who lived a  lonely life a mile or more away, on a neighboring farm, used to  drop in on Sundays, and have a long chat with my great-grand-  father on religious subjects, generally staying to dinner. I re-  member this old man very well, and his singular pronunciation     41   of Scripture Names — such as Phar-i-sees and Sadd-u-cces —  and the deference he paid to my great-grandfather when the  latter expounded some particular point of religious doctrine  always from the stand-point of the Scriptures themselves.- — If  ever a human being loved another as intensely as he loved his  own mother, so I loved this old great-grandfather of mine — he  was so good, so kind, so tender, and so just. He died on the  24th of January, 1828, in his 82d year, of sheer old age.  More than once, sometimes in the cold winter season, I have  gone to his grave alone, whilst yet a mere boy, and wept bit-  ter tears for his loss. His wife survived him eight years, and  died the 13th of March, 1836, in her 87th year; but much of  this period I was obliged to be absent, and saw her but little,  being in college at the time of her death. It was always a  source of great joy, however, both to her and myself, when I  could make arrangements to pay her a visit, which I always  did at least once a year. 


Marriage & Children

Jospeh Bradley, 2nd married Martha Bates (July 19th, 1749 - ), daughter of Elias Bates. Their children were:


Death

Obituary

Additional Media

Sources