Back to James Dickinson Bradley

Sometimes you just have to set the dead ends aside for awhile, and go back with "fresh eyes". So... we've been studying James again.

There are some things that we know for sure:

• From his tombstone, we know he was born Sept. 15, 1797.
• From the 1850 census, he reported being born in MA.
• We know he was married to Tirzah H. Lankton on June 5th, 1820 and they had 10 Children, at least 8 of whom were born in Whitestown, Oneida Co., N.Y.

Now here's a theory:

• James D. could have been born in West Springfield MA to Nathaniel Bradley. The repeat of names and locations make this logical to me.
• Nathaniel's parents were James and Jemima (Bishop) Bradley. I can't find anything about Nathaniel's marriage or children.
• There is a Nathaniel at West Springfield MA in 1800. Here's where it starts getting confusing. Also in West Springfield is Cornelius Woolcott, who married Jemima Bradley. This Jemima would be the right age to be a daughter of Nathaniel (and would be named for Nathaniel's mother).
• The next I find Nathaniel is 1820 in Whitestown, Oneida Co., NY, and within a few lines is Cornelius Woolcott.
• There is a Nathaniel Bradley, Whitestown, in the report of rejected Revolutionary War Pensions. He did not serve 6 mos. (in CT)
• No James D. Bradley in Whitestown in 1820 (more on that later)
• 1830, James D Bradley is in Whitestown, just a few lines from Nathaniel and Cornelius Woolcott.
• James D, Nathaniel and Cornelius and Jemima (Bradley) Woolcott still at Whitestown in 1840, all on the same census page.

One problem I have with this theory is that James didn't name any of his son's Nathaniel. However, he probably had older brothers (according to the 1800 census), so maybe it was already "taken". It would be so helpful if I found out who Nathanial was married to. It seems like there had to be the Dickinson name somewhere. Working on it though!

We found this info interesting from a Google Books search.

HISTORY OF INGHAM AND EATON COUNTIES MICHIGAN

By SAMUEL W. DURANT

Mr Day is spoken of by his friends and neighbors as a man whom to know is to 
honor and esteem; a man of integrity and solid worth. On the 2nd day of 
September, 1840, he was married to Lura Ann Woolcott, daughter of Cornelius 
and Jemima (Bradley) Woolcott. She was born Oneida Co. N.Y., July 17, 1818. 
There were born to them Climena A., Oct 29,1842; Cornelius A., Aug 14, 1844; 
Curtis A., Feb 14, 1846; and Clark, Feb 18, 1849, died March 5 1849. 
Mrs Day died Feb 22, 1849.

So it looks like they all went to Eaton County Michigan.

I couldn't find Nathaniel after 1840, though. He and his wife were both in their 90's

I'll add more on James' marriage and the Lankton's later. I'm confusing myself here so far...

Boxes and Boxes

It's hard for me to imagine genealogy research without the luxury of modern technology. Today, if I want to check new information on census records I just log in to Ancestry.com! I love to visit libraries but with online catalogs I know exactly what they have and what I'm looking for.

As my Mom and I were going through my Grandmother's boxes I realized the time and energy it took to collect that information. Letter writing and a lot of waiting for returns. I imagine it was exciting, though, after months of waiting for a reply, you would get something in the mailbox and can't wait to get to the house to read it! The anticipation must have been fun.

We are now in the process of scanning these old photos, documents and Correspondence. Some are very fragile and it's a slow process. When that is finished, we'll have organized electronic versions of everything.

Now for preserving the contents of these boxes? There is plenty of information out there on preserving old papers and most of it seems confusing. We don't want to hire a professional archivist, at least not at this point. Preservation and storage isn't something we really wanted to get into! I've found this article on "Old Paper" which makes it all seem more doable. I'll be off to the craft store to buy some acid free sleeves, which will hopefully protect what we have until we can do better.