Eli and Amanda Bradley of Lee, Massachusetts, first cousins of Henry Martin Bradley and Nathan Ball Bradley, had seven children.  Three of their sons were officers in the Civil War.

The oldest was Thomas Scott Bradley, born in 1825 who served as a Captain of a company of sharpshooters that he raised in and around New Lebanon, New York where he had been preaching as a pastor.  He “died in the service” at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on June 28, 1863 at the age of 38, leaving a wife and two sons.  This probably meant that he died from disease as so many soldiers did in the Civil War.

His brother Luther Bradley, born in 1838, also served as an officer in the Civil War.  He married Louise Glover and died in 1879.

The youngest brother was John Stone Bradley, born in 1842.  He is pictured below with his first wife Lucy Jane Sturges.  They had five children, only three of whom survived childhood. In 1862 he enlisted in the 37th Massachusetts Volunteers.  He served for three years and distinguished himself at the battles of Petersburg and Little Sailor’s Creek and was a Captain.  At Little Sailor’s Creek he received a wound in his thigh when he advanced to accept the surrender of a body of Confederate soldiers which had flown a white flag.

John Bradley lived in Lee, Massachusetts, Newark, Ohio and Portland, Oregon where he was in the lumber business.  After his first wife’s death he married his brother Luther’s widow, Louise Glover Bradley.  He lived to be 83 years old and died in 1925.

Return to Home Page