BIOGRAPHIES
Source:
Caldwell's Illustrated Historical Atlas
of
Adams County, Ohio
Publ. 1880
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Sprigg Twp. -
DAVID
M. BRADFORD - The Bradford family is of Irish
origin, but we can learn little of the history of their
ancestry. As far back as we can gather anything
authentic, is that two brothers, David and William,
who came from Pennsylvania or Virginia and settled in Adams
county. David came at a very early date and
settled at the mouth of Brush Creek, on the Ohio river.
He became a very prominent man is the county, serving as
County Treasurer from 1801 to 1831, a period of thirty
years. When the county seat was removed, he was among
the first to locate in the new town of West Union, coming
here in 1804, as soon as the town was laid out. He
built the first hotel in the place and opened a tavern in
1806. William Bradford, the other brother, was
the grandfather of David M. Bradford, the subject of
this sketch. It appears that the father of William
died when the son was but a child, and the little fellow was
placed in a family of strangers, somewhere in Virginia, with
whom he lived until he grew to the years of manhood.
In 1819 he left Virginia, came to Adams county and settled
in West Union where he stayed a year, then moved to Sprigg
township and settled in Fox's survey, No. 401, on the
Ohio River, where he lived and died. He married
Margaret Parkinson. They were the parents of
twelve children, three boys and nine girls. They all
grew to years of maturity and married. They were
Eveline Kimble, Benjamin married Nancy Ann Burbage,
David married Mary Ann Terhune, Samuel
married Eliza Case, Sophia married
Alexander Hutchinson, Eliza married Samuel Beam, Sallie
married Thomas Batton, Jane married David Beam,
Rebecca married Washington Carpenter, Polly
married John McCauley, Margaret married Jacob
Holmes. David Bradford, the father of David M.
Bradford, was born 1st 1806, and married Mary Ann
Terhune, April 28th, 1830. They raised a family of
nine children, five sons and four daughters as follows:
William born May 17th, 1831, died July 21st 1832.
Samuel, born Oct. 22d, 1832, died Sept. 30th, 1862.
Amanda born Dec.23d, 1835, married John Brookover,
Feb. 19th, 1832. James, born Jan. 30th, 1838,
died Jan. 29th, 1880, Benjamin, born Oct. 18th, 1840,
married Margaret Brookover, Dec. 4th, 1870.
David M., born Aug. 17th, 1842, married Celesta
Robinson, Nov. 5th, 1808. Martha, born
Jan. 19th, 1844, married James W. Campbell, Mar.
17th, 1864. Eveline, born Jan. 21st, 1840,
married Robert Stewart, Mar. 12th, 1868.
Ann Eliza, born June 7th, 1851, married
James S. Lewis, Jul. 29th, 1880. Three of these
sons, Samuel, Benjamin and David all served in
the army. Samuel and Benjamin both
enlisted in the 70th O. V. I., Co. G. They were both
at the battle of Shiloh. Samuel was, after that
battle taken with the mumps and returned to Aberdeen, where
he convalesced, started to return to his regiment and got as
far as Cincinnati, where he had a relapse, was brought back
home and died a few days afterwards. Benjamin
continued in service longer. He served through the
siege of Vicksburg and started with Sherman on his
march to the sea, but some where in Georgia, was take sick
and sent to the Invalid Hospital at Evansville, Indiana.
He was, however, afterwards drafted in and served in the
142d Indiana regiment until the close of the war.
David M. Bradford enlisted Aug. 54th, 1864, in the 182d
Regt. O. V. I., commanded by Col. Butler. This
regiment was assigned to duty in the engineer corps in which
it did service most of the time. It was in the battle
of Nashville, where Hood's army was so disastrously
defeated. He served until the close of the war, was
discharged at Nashville, July 7th, 1865, and mustered out at
Camp Chase. As stated bef___ Mr. Bradford
married Miss Celesta Robinson, daughter of Wade
Robinson. They are the parents of seven children,
five boys and two girls. Their names are John
Nelson, Elmer Ellsworth, Dora Deen, David Decatur, Samuel
Preston, Elsie Ellwood, and Martin Lewis. Mr.
Bradford owns and occupies the old homestead. It
is a splendid farm of 350 acres, embracing a portion of the
best river bottom, and extending back to the hills. It
is provided with good and substantial buildings of every
kind, all tastefully arranged. A beautiful spot, 40x40
feet, has been selected on the farm for a family cemetery.
It has been enclosed with a substantial stone wall of
masonry. There is a marble monument fourteen feet
high, in the center of the lot, on which are to be inscribed
the names and ages of the deceased members of the family as
they are deposited there. Five members of the family
already repose in this cemetery. There are situated on
the road near the eastern side of this farm, a school house
and church. The church, which belongs to the
Protestant Methodist denomination, is a neat frame building
40x30. The congregation was organized in 1870 and the
house built in 1874. The society is in a prosperous
condition and now numbers sixty members. Mr.
Bradford devotes considerable attention to the raising
of bees. He has the most approved style of hives.
A few years age he made what he called his "Centennial
hive." He somewhere in the woods found a hollow poplar
tree which he cut down and sawed out a section seven feet
long, with an inside diameter of two feet. This he
roofed and set on flat stone. He then killed the bees
(which was wrong) and took their stores, which required two
years hard labor to collect. This yielded two hundred
pounds of marketable honey, which he sold for 25 cents a
pound. Mr. Bradford is stock holder and
director in the First National Bank of Manchester. He
is a man of business habits and a good financier.
Source: From Caldwell's Adams County, Ohio Atlas 1880 - Page
51 |
NOTES:
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