More about my Bradley family from Minersville

 I recently received a message through Newspapers.com from a second cousin in my Bradley line.  She let me know that I had a photo posted in my blog, who was not who I thought it was.  After messaging back and forth several times, I finally got it right.  Then we kept messaging back and forth, and I learned more about my family - not dates and places, but stories.  They make you feel like part of the family.

James Bradley was my great great grandfather, married Ann Pepper and together they had 8 children, including my great grandmother Madge (Marcella).  Most news clippings that I found about him say that he was “of the Delaware” near Minersville.  I never knew what that meant, was it the Delaware River? The Delaware Indians? I had no idea, until I asked my new found cousin.  Apparently it is a little area near Minersville, where the Irish lived. Probably an unincorporated area, possibly in Cass Township.

I found an obit for James that I had never seen before and it illustrates the whole “of the Delaware” thing:

now I know what they are talking about.  But this little article tells me that he was a pioneer of the area, and that he died in Pottsville Hospital.  The other thing about his death is the cross on his grave.  I had posted a picture of it before.  

Here it is again,  just metal pipes with a small plaque with J Bradley on it.  I now know that James’ two sons, Joseph and James, were both blacksmiths and they made this cross for their father’s grave.

One more thing and I’ll call it a night.  I also found a small snippet in the Pottsville Republican”, it tells me that James became a U.S. citizen in December 1889:

I thought this was great.  Next time I go through Pottsville, I’m going to stop at the courthouse and see if I can get his citizenship papers.