The Heirs of Col. William Bradford
Orria B. Doten, 1883 (Saint Croix Courier Newspaper, April 12, 1883)

A Historical sketch of Colonel William Bradford, Second Governor of Plymouth Colony, his Forefather and Descendants, prepared and copied by Orria B. Doten of Oak Bay, Charlotte County, New Brunswick, from Family Records and events kept by the descendants and such facts as can be obtained from the History and Encyclopedia of the United States and the History of Governor Bradford.

The name of Bradford is derived from the Saxon "Braden-ford" or "Broadford" and is doubtless very ancient. One of the first martyrs who perished at the stake in Bloody Queen Mary’s time was John Bradford, prepend of St. Paul’s, and a celebrated preacher, who was born in Manchester, Lancashire, about A.D. 1510 and was burnt at Smithfield, July 1st, 1555. He was an intimate friend of Roger Hooper, Latimer, Cranmer and Ridley. He was never married, but left at his death a number of relative. From some of whom, Governor William Bradford descended.

(1) William Bradford lived at Austerfield, Yorkshire, England, in or about 1575. He died Jan. 10th, 1595 or 1596.

(2) William Bradford (son) married Alice Hanson, daughter of John Hanson. He was buried July 15th, 1591.

(3) His son, William Bradford, the Pilgrim and Governor, was baptized in the church at Austerfield, March 19th, 1589, which church was still standing in 1871. His parents died when he was young, and he was brought up by his grandfather, and uncles Thomas and Robert. He was born to some estate. About 1608 he went to Holland, joined the Pilgrims and came to Plymouth in the Mayflower, in company with 101 other Pilgrims and his wife, whose maiden name was Dorothy May. She was drowned on the 7th December, 1620, by the upsetting of a boat in Cape Cod harbour during his absence on one of the journeys of exploration. She was the first English female who died at Plymouth, and the first whose death was recorded in New England. Mr. Bradford was chosen Governor in 1621, and was re-elected to that office every year, with five exceptions, until 1657. He subsequently married Alice Southworth, widow Constant Southworth and daughter of a Mr. Carpenter. She died March 26th, 1670. Gov. Bradford died May 9th, 1657, lamented by all the colonies of New England as a “common father to them all”. He was one of the most efficient persons in directing and sustaining the new settlement, or, in the words of an ancient writer, “he was the very prop and glory of the Plymouth Colony.” He succeeded Carver as Governor of the Colony, and may well be said to have been one of its chief founders. He sprang from the yeomanry, a class of small landed proprietors, among whom were to be found the best of the national characteristics of the English people – independence, industry, and manly respect. Reared by his own labors, and receiving only the scanty education of a farmer of the day, his natural thirst for knowledge and power of intellect enabled him to acquire most of the learning of the age. He mastered Dutch, French, Latin, Greek, and even Hebrew, which he studied with earnestness, that he might see with his own eyes the ancient oracles of God in all their native beauty. He adopted the theological views of the Separatist divines, and moulded his life strictly in practice to his religious belief, and finally became the venerated Governor and historian of the infant State of America which he had so greatly assisted to found. He lived almost through the whole period of the English Commonwealth, and saw other flourishing colonies, the offspring of that at Plymouth, rising around him, and forming the germ of an immense nation. By all these he was regarded with the love and veneration due to a patriarch.

(4) William Bradford (son of Gov. William and Alice) was born June 17th, 1624, and married Alice, daughter of Thomas Richards of Weymouth, who died December 12, 1671, aged 44 years; later, a widow Wiswall; and still again, Mrs. Mary, widow of Rev. John Holmes, second minister of Duxbury. She was the daughter of John Atwood of Plymouth. This Bradford was, next to Miles Standish, chief military man of the colony. In Philip’s War he was commander-in-chief of the Plymouth forces and often exposed himself to all the perils of battle. At the Narragansett Fort battle he received a musket ball in his flesh which he carried the remainder of his life. In the war with the Indians he held the rank of Major and was Assistant Treasurer and Deputy Governor of Plymouth from 1682 until 1686, and from 1689 to 1691, and in the latter year was one of the Council of Massachusetts. His residence was in what is now known as Kingston. He died February 20th, 1703 or 04, aged about 80 years. He had ten children by his first wife, one by his second, and four by this third.

(5) Israel Bradford, twelfth child of William 4th, and first by his third wife, Mary, married Sarah Bartlett of Duxbury. He lived 1677-1760.

(6) Their son, Joshua Bradford, born June 23rd, 1710, married Hannah, daughter of Elisha Bradford and his wife whose maiden name was Hannah Cole. Elisha was son of Joseph Bradford and his wife Jael, the daughter of Rev. Peter Hobart, first minister of Hingham, whom he married May 25th, 1664. She died in 1730, aged 88 years. Joseph was son of Gov. William, and was born in 1630. Joshua Bradford removed from Kingston to Meduncook, now Friendship, Maine, where on May 27th, 1756, both himself and wife were inhumanly murdered by a party of Indians, who at the same time carried two of their children to Canada, where they remained in captivity until Quebec was taken by General Wolfe. They then returned to Meduncook. The children of Joshua Bradford and his wife Hannah were: Cornelius, Sarah, Rachel, Mary, Melatiah, Joshua, Hannah, Joseph, Benjamin, Elisha and Winslow. Cornelius, Rachel and Joshua lived and died in Friendship. Joseph removed to Farmington, where his descendants now reside. Winslow was slain the war of independence. Mary, Melatiah, Elisha, Sarah and Hannah removed to a place unknown.

(7) Benjamin Bradford, ninth child of Joshua Bradford and Hannah Bradford, was at Kingston, May 28, 1753; and lived for s short time in Maine and from there removed to the Province of New Brunswick. He married Martha Studly of Bristol, Maine and lived on what is now known as Conner's Farm at Oak Point, N.B. where both he and his wife are now buried. Their children, of whom there were eight (of the fifth generation, counting Gov. Bradford’s sons, William and Joseph, as the first) were: Daniel Bradford, who lived at Calais, Maine; Benjamin Bradford (of whom the writer is a grandson); Joshua Bradford who lived at Bayside (St. Croix); Hulda Bradford, who married Mr. Byrnes, and Polly Bradford, who married Mr. Siblay, lived at Robbinston, Maine; Martha Bradford, who married Mr. Hopps, Rachel Bradford, who married Mr. Smith, and Annie Bradford, who married Mr. Eary, lived on farms located on Oak Point and Ledge Road. All these have passed away. Of their children there are now living, Mrs. Deacon Kelly, J. R. Bradford, F. W. Bradford, Mrs. Deacon Rideout, Elias Smith, Cornelius Hopps, John Byrnes, Robert Eary and others; besides these, there were John Bradford, Mrs. Joseph J. Doten, Mrs. William C. Rideout, Mrs. George Murphy, Capt. Benjamin Bradford and Percival Byrnes who are not living; but nearly all the chculdren of the last mentioned group are living and settled on or near where their parents once lived. All these are heirs, by direct lineal descent, of the estate of Colonel William Bradford of Mayflower fame, which is said to amount to $100,000,000.

 

Originally published in the Saint Croix Courier, April 12, 1883. Please note that the above was transcribed from original source, “sic.”; original author’s information above may have errors and may not be accurate with research findings made in the last 100+ years.


About the author: Orrin Bradford Doten was born on April 15, 1845 at Oak Bay, Charlotte Co., New Brunswick, the son of Joseph Bradford Doten and Phebe Bradford. On February 7, 1888, he married the former Miss Annie Morrell and raised a family in the Oak Bay area. He died on February 9, 1924 at Oak Bay and is buried in the Oak Bay Cemetery.

Bradford Family Genealogy
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