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WHO WAS WHO in PLUM TOWNSHIP
~ Titusville Herald ~
1962
By H. W. Strawbridge

J.J. Bradley

John Jackson Bradley, a well-known figure in northern Venango County during the last century, was born in Bradleytown on Oct. 2, 1827, one of five children of John Guy and Mary Jennings Bradley. The Bradleys had moved on a 200 acre tract in Plum in 1816 from Huntingdon County. The Jennings family arrived in Plum from Juniata County in 1800. In 1837 young John’s mother died. He and his brothers and sisters were then reared by his grandparents, James & Jane McField Bradley. The village of Bradleytown was named from this family.

J.J. was reared on the Bradley tract, and he acquired ownership of the north half of the tract upon which he built a frame house, now gone many years. It stood on the slope between the community and the present Leo Bumpus home.

J.J. was married Dec. 31, 1850 to Miss Margaret M. McAlevy of Plum Township with W.W. Davison, Esq. of Sunville performing the rites. Margaret was born Feb. 17, 1831, probably in Huntingdon County, one of six children of Miles and Elizabeth McCauley McAlevy who arrived in Venango County in 1833.

They had four children who with their dates of birth were as follows: James Wesley Bradley, Jan. 22, 1852; William Myron Bradley, April 14, 1855; Mary Elizabeth Bradley, Nov. 12, 1858; and Imelda Catherine Bradley, Aug. 16, 1860.

James was married Dec. 2, 1875 to Miss Anna Bower. He pumped oil wells in West Virginia during his younger years. However, he was primarily a farmer between Lake Creek and Sugar Creek, Cooperstown, RD1, during the main portion of his married life. He died Jan. 22, 1934, his 82nd birthday, and Anna died years previously, Nov. 9, 1919. They are buried at Sunville. They had one daughter, Mrs. Jennie Rice, who resides with the family of her son, Charles, in the home of her late parents.

William was married March 28, 1882 to Miss Edra Small of Plum at Cooperstown. He also worked in the oil fields and farmed. They lived near Bradleytown. He died on June 10, 1933 after an illness of about a year. Edra died May 6, 1940. They are buried in the Plum Cemetery, Jackson Township. One daughter, Mrs. Belle Harry, deceased, who last lived with her son, Ivan Harry, in Rocky Grove.

Mary was married in March 1876 to James P. Tingley. They lived in West Virginia and Butler County a number of years where he was mainly engaged in the oil business. They resided in Jackson Township at last. James died Nov. 10, 1910 and Mary died on May 28, 1913. They are buried at Sunville. No children were born to this couple.

Imelda was married to Warren A. Tingley. They mainly farmed in Jackson Township. He died on March 15, 1936 and Imelda died Oct. 11, 1944. They had a family of 11 children, as follows: Mrs. Elda Pelton, Lee Tingley, John Tingley, Roy Tingley – deceased, Mrs. Martha Cramer – deceased, Claude Tingley, Mrs Mary Tate, Herbert Tingley, Arthur Tingley – deceased, Mrs. Frances Fleming and Mrs. Irene Swogger.

On March 8, 1961, Mrs. J.J. Bradley, the young mother of these four children, died very unexpectedly. She had mopped the kitchen floor, then laid down on a cot to rest, and she died. She was only 30. She was buried in the Methodist churchyard in Sunville. This graveyard has been abandoned for scores of years. Her slab tombstone fell down long ago and it is overgrown with moss and myrtle.

On March 27, 1862, J.J. was married a second time to Miss Emeline Grove, one of eight children of Peter and Fannie Bruce Grove, who located at Wallaceville the same spring Emeline was born. Her birth occurred April 10, 1835. J.J. & Emeline were the parents of the following six children: Andrew Curtin Bradley, May 1, 1864; Jessie Grove Bradley, Jan. 31, 1866; Oren Clifton Bradley, Sept. 4, 1867; Sarah Amanda Bradley, Sept. 9, 1869; Clyde Ernest Bradley, Aug. 17, 1872 and Samuel Hays Bradley, June 20, 1874.

Curtin was married on June 1, 1892 to Miss Sophia Cooper of Evans City. He first worked in the Butler County oil fields but mainly farmed in Cherrytree Township. He was also engaged to some extent in the oil production of his neighborhood. They retired in Diamond where she died March 27, 1925. Curtin died Dec. 5, 1943. They are buried in the Fairview Cemetery. They had three children, John C. Bradley, Mrs. Ruth Green and George C. Bradley, all deceased.

Jessie was married on Jan. 31, 1884 to Adam P. Pizer. For a number of years they lived on Donation Hill. He blacksmithed at Donation and Cooperstown. Mr. Pizer last lived in Franklin where he died on Jan. 31, 1936. Jessie died on Dec. 31, 1937 and is buried in the Wallaceville Cemetery. They had two sons, Clyde Pizer, deceased, and Ralph Pizer.

Oren was married to Miss Alice Carothers. He attended colleges at Edinboro and Toronto and graduated from the National Veterinary College, Washington D.C. in March 1893. He spent the main portion of his life in West Virginia as a veterinarian. He died near Fairmont, W.Va., in the latter 1940s. He was preceded in death by his wife. They are buried in that state. No children were born to the couple.

Sarah was married on Sept. 19, 1894, in her father’s home to Michael C. Kerr of Cherrytree Township. They spent their married life on a farm near Breedtown. He died in 1936 and Sarah died April 11, 1951. They are buried in the Kerr Hill Cemetery. They had the following children: James Kerr, Harold Kerr, deceased, Grace Kerr, deceased when a baby, Samuel Kerr, deceased, Joseph Kerr, deceased and Mrs. Mary Harah.

Clyde was married in May, 1905 at Mayville, N.Y. to Miss Goldie Ware of Wallaceville. For several years Clyde worked at the Conneaut Lake golf course, and was superintendent at the Wanango Country Club at Reno. He and Goldie last lived in Wallaceville where he served as sexton of the cemetery there and also at Sunville. Goldie died Aug. 22, 1931 and Clyde died May 21, 1943. They are buried in the Wallaceville Cemetery. They had two daughters, Mrs. Margaret Locke and Mrs. Lena Gates.

Hays was married to Miss Louise Guy of Baltimore. He attended Sunville Seminary and later graduated from the Allegheny College. His family lived near Clarksburg, W.Va., where he worked for years in the office of the Hope Gas Company. He died around 1952 and is buried in that state. His widow may be living yet. They had three children, Guy H. Bradley, Mrs. Frances NcNeill and Mrs. Mary Lowther.

Mrs. Emeline Bradley, the mother of these six children also died young at the age of 39. She died when the youngest child, Hays Bradley, was born on June 20, 1874. She was buried at Wallaceville. Upon her death the infant son, Hays, was taken by J.J. Bradley’s brother-in-law and sister, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Hays of Sunville and reared until he was seven, when his father and step-mother took him. Clyde, not quite 2 years old when his mother died, was taken and reared by Emeline’s sister, Miss Amanda Grove of Wallaceville.

J.J. Bradley married a third wife, Miss Mary Emeline McDill, of Mead Township on June 14, 1877, at her parents’ home two miles east of Meadville. She was born Sept. 2, 1842, a daughter of Hugh and Mary McDill. This couple began housekeeping in the same house in Bradleytown in which his first two wives died, and in which the children of all three unions were born. One daughter was born to the last marriage, Jennie Grace Bradley, born Sept. 8, 1878. She was married in Wheeling, W.Va., on Jan. 21, 1902 to John H. Davison of Jackson Township. They lived in Jackson Township where he farmed. He died on Feb. 26, 1918 and is buried at Sunville. Grace married William Hummel at Rocky Grove on Jan. 1, 1920. He was a boilermaker in Franklin and Pittsburgh. He died June 14, 1951 and is buried at Franklin. Four children were born to the first marriage, little Romayne Davison, deceased, Mrs. Leda Muse, Wallace Davison and a baby dying in infancy.

Mrs. Grace Hummel is the only surviving child of J.J. Bradley. She lives with her daughter, Mrs. Muse, near Polk, Franklin RD 1. She is 86 and enjoys fairly good health.

Her father primarily farmed, although during his earlier years he was a teamster in the lumber woods in the Tionesta and Tidioute areas. He skidded logs to riverside after which they were floated down the river to mills.

When is oldest son James was old enough to handle the lines, two teams were maintained. James drove the older team while his father drove the young spirited team. They hauled loads of grain to sell at the oil excitement villages along Oil Creek.

Mr. Bradley was also quite handy with carpenter tools. He made cupboards and other pieces of furniture. Although he attained only a grade school education in his community, he delved farther into the subjects by educating himself. He loved to read and especially he liked to study the works of Shakespeare. Having a good memory, he remembered practically all of which he studied. In fact he wrote articles for a farm magazine which was either the “Pennsylvania Stockman and Farmer,” or the “Pennsylvania Farmer.” He also wrote a considerable number of poems. He had these poems in a book which he made himself, and considered having them published in book form, but he never accomplished that goal. The book of poems was finally taken by his youngest son, Hays, to West Virginia.

While living in Bradleytown he served on the Plum Township school board from 1867 until 1873. It was during this period of time that several of the old township school buildings were replaced with new structures and deeds given in each instance. He occasionally served as a pathmaster, or roadmaster, of the roads in his district which was listed in old books as District No. 1. Mr. Bradley was an early member of the Sunville Methodist Church. He remained a member until he moved away from Bradleytown. He served as a Venango County traverse juror at least twice, the August term of 1862 and the May term of 1875. He was also one of the 14 men included on the Plum committee to celebrate, countywise, the centennial Fourth of July in 1876. At least three times he sold chunks of his Bradley town farm to individuals for building purposes. In 1867 he sold a piece on the northeast corner of the main corners to Charles Keas for $50; in 1872 he sold a chunk to Robert Haslet on the southeast corner, and he sold a piece to Milton Rieb farther south in his farm.

An interesting anecdote has survived the time the new Haslet house was constructed. Mr. Bradley was helping Haslet to roof the new house which was within easy sight of the Bradley home. At home Jim and Will Bradley, then in their late teens, got into mischief by throwing corncobs at each other. Their father shouted at them to stop it, but to no avail. As Jim peeked around the barn, Will hurled a cob into Jim’s eye. They then had a good fight. But, next thing they knew, their father was on the scene with a whip, and each got a sound licking!

About the last construction work that J.J. had done on his place was a barn erected across the road from the house in 1878. This barn stood until about 10 years ago. In 1879 the family sold the farm to Robert McClelland for $4,000 and moved to a farm in Wayne Township. It was know as the Freeman place years ago. Here they were rather close to Sugar Lake. It was two miles by road to the lake, but much shorter “as the crow flies.” The family could hear the bullfrogs at thelake in the evenings. They remained in Wayne Township about seven years, then moved to a farm below a corners on the hill in Jackson Township for a year. This is the present William Bellen place. While there J.J. and Charles Collins made a trip to Kansas to visit their sons, William and Curtin, who had settled there temporarily. This was not J.J.’s first trip to Kansas. He went there alone in 1878 or 79 with the thought of locating in that state. However, due to serious illness of both his wife and baby Grace, he gave up the idea entirely.

In January 1888, J.J. bought a large productive farm of 187 acres in Cherrytree Township from George W. Prather for $5,000. Upon the place there stood a very large, beautiful and substantial house, equal to any other in the county at the time of its construction in 1881 by Mr. Prather. It is now owned by Floyd Seigworth of Fryburg and rented by a family named Bish. There were also three barns on the place, two of which burned in later years.

J. J. Bradley was a medium sized individual, 5 feet, 10 inches in height with a weight of probably 150 pounds. He always wore a mustache, but not the customary beard of that time. He had dark hair, even at the time of his death. At times he could be a rather droll person, or “a dry wit.” An old story is told about a traveler stopping at this Bradleytown home during his earlier years. The traveler asked J.J. what kind of weather they had there. He replied: “Well, we have three frosts, then a couple of rains, then maybe a day or two it might be sunny weather, then rain!”

J.J. was a great person to gather herbs and prepare them for medicines. He always had boneset, catnip and other herbs drying in the attic. During one winter night his youngest daughter, Grace, became quite ill. He got the lantern and an axe and went out to the spring run, cut through the ice and reached into the cold water to jerk up a vine of wallink to give to Grace.

He was a Republican, politically, and he took a great interest in the Cherrytree Township affairs, particularly the roads. He was a member of Cherrytree Grange No. 284 at Breedtown. It is said that he had also belonged to a very early grange in either Bradleytown or Sunville.

On his 70th birthday, Oct. 12, 1897, the family had a birthday party for him. He happened to be husking corn when the surprise gathering took place. On Jan. 13, 1899 he suffered a stroke of paralysis and he died in his home on Jan. 22. The funeral was conducted in the home on Jan. 24 with Rev. S.M. Clark, pastor of the Cooperstown Methodist Church, preaching the sermon. The weather was very cold and the snow very deep then. The procession journeyed in sleds to the Wallaceville Cemetery where he was laid to rest beside his second wife.

His wife, Mary McDill Bradley, had attended the Fairview Methodist Church during her stay on the farm. She eventually moved to Franklin where she attended the First Church of God. She died of infirmities of old age at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Hummel, On Sept. 13, 1926 and was buried in the Greendale Cemetery, Meadville.

Transcribed by Penny Kulbacki Minnick
minnick862@verizon.net

Disclaimer:there may be errors due to transcription of information from both early and late (current contributors) work.