I have been researching on Newspapers.com and I think I mentioned in my last post (I don't remember, it was quite awhile ago) that they now have Pottsville newspapers, including the Miners Journal, the Pottsville Republican and the Republican and Herald. They cover from about 1884 to present, so I have found quite a bit about my family in that area.
Tonight I am going to concentrate on my Great great grandfather James Bradley and a few of the articles that I found about him. I really don't know much about him, just that he was born in Ireland in about 1835, married Annie Pepper and had eight children (six girls and two boys - one of whom is my great grandmother). I am guessing he married Annie somewhere around the start of the Civil War in 1861 (no pun intended). He died sometime around the turn of the century in about 1900 or so. You may recall that I once posted a picture of his grave marker, and I'll show you again.
It just says; J BRADLEY, nothing fancy, no dates, not even a death date, I like it. This is a church graveyard and the parish used to be St. Vincent de Paul, but Catholic churches have been merging all over the country and the new parish is St. Michael the Archangel, just in case you want to look it up.
Anyway, it appears that J Bradley was just a working man taking care of his family. I could not even find any newspaper articles about his death, but I did find a couple of articles that were interesting.
The first one was in the Pottsville Republican, on the front page, on 20 Apr 1887. It talks about a Hungarian man living in a warehouse at the south end of the Palo Alto Bridge (I have no idea where that is, but it must be important) He had apparently rented a house in Minersville and hired a teamster to haul his household effects to that town, where he had gotten a job at the Marion furnace. He paid the teamster $1.50 to do the work (slightly less than the $15.00 / hour minimum wage they are working on passing today). The Huns ( that is what the newspaper called the Hungarian and his family) were upset when the teamster demanded an additonal $.50, and and argument and brawl ensued, with the teamster dumping the goods and keeping the money. The "Hun" went to the Squire to have the teamster arrested. In the second article, the next day, we find out that the teamster was none other that James Bradley. The newspaper describes Mr Bradley as an honest, hard working, upright citizen, and apparently the "Huns" were having some "adult beverages" at the time, and they were found at fault. The best part is that James Bradley is described as be about five feet high with a light complexion.
The last article is also from the Pottsville Republican from 3 Jun 1893 on page 4. This article describes how during the night someone entered the stable of James Bradley at the Delaware, near Minersville, and stole his horse. James was suspicious of a group of gypsies who had been "plying their trade" near Doudentown. James went off to find the gypsies and get his horse. He found their encampment near Pinegrove. The horse was surrendered and the case was dismissed.
Pretty good stuff, he sounds like a decent man trying to make a living and take care of his family. He was only five feet high, but apparently was not about to let anyone take advantage of him. Took care of the situation on his own. You gotta admire that in a man.
