Descendants of Richard Bradford

Generation No. 1

RICHARD¹ BRADFORD was born 1636, in London, England. He married FRANCES TAYLOR, daughter to RICHARD TAYLOR and SARAH BARKER. She was born in 1645 in London Middlesex, England.

Children of RICHARD BRADFORD and FRANCES TAYLOR are:

i. RICHARD²BRADFORD, b. 1660, London, Middlesex, England; d. 1724, Westover Parish, Charles County, VA; m. ANNA ROLES.

ii. RALPH BRADFORD, b. 1685, Charles City County, VA; d. July 14, 1716.

iii. JOHN BRADFORD, b. 1704, Charles City County, VA; d. November 6, 1735; m. REBECCA PACE, b. 1706 in Jamestown, James City County, Virginia Formed in 1607.

I consider 1653 the approximate year of Richard I's immigration since a record in the Virginia land patent office reports that a man was "headrighted" 600 acres of land in Virginia on December 31, 1653, for transporting "Richd. Bradford" and eleven other men to the Virginia Colony. Based on what I have learned about the system of "headrighting," that record tells us quite a bit about Richard I. The most common method of obtaining land during the 17th and early 18th century was the "headright." The system was designed so as to encourage emigration. Each individual who paid for the transportation costs of an emmigrant recieved 50 acres of land. For someone to recieve a patent through the headright system they would have to petition the county court for a "certificate of importation." The certificates were then recorded in the county court minute books. These certificates establish relationships,approximate arrival time in the Colony and the locality in which the emmigrant settled in. Once the individual had obtained the certificate of importation he took it to the Secretary of the Colony who then issued a "right" of50 acres per headright. The "right" was then taken to a county surveyor where a plat and map was drawn along with the measurements. Once the survey was completed, the papers were returned to the Secretary of the Colony and a patent was issued. The issuance of the patent however was conditional. Condition 1: annual payment to the Crown of 1 shilling for each 50 acres owned Condition 2: within a three year period a house to be built and stock to be kept or the cultivation of at least 1 acre of land
Cit. http://members.home.net/kylawyer
George McSwain notes: In his father's will dated 1716, John Bradford received half of the family "Bellaire Plantation" on the James River in Charles City County VA, along with his brother Ralph. This was 698 acres of land between Fishing Run and Seller Run (now Courthouse Creek). Shortly thereafter, these two brothers sold their shares and moved south to Prince George County, Virginia John moved to the southern part of the county which became Brunswick County in 1703, near the North Carolina line. On 12 July 1718, his father-in-law Richard Pace assigned him 285 acres of land in Prince George , Virginia In 1721 he acquired another 191 acres on the Great Creek of the Meherrin River which he subsequently sold on 27 Dec. 1732. There is more on his land transactions in McSwain's notes. The first evidence of a Bradford in North Carolina is John Bradford's of Brunswick County, VA buying 500 acres on Beaver Dam Swamp 9 Oct. 1731. John Bradford's will was probated Nov. 6, 1735 (29 V 507) in Brunswick County Virginia.
Cit. http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jmljr&id=I7428

Generation No. 2

RICHARD² BRADFORD (RICHARD¹BRADFORD) was born 1660, in London, Middlesex, England. He married ANNA ROLES. She was born in 1665 in London Middlesex, England, and died 1726 in Westover Parish, Charles City County, VA.

Children of RICHARD BRADFORD and ANNE ROLES are:

i. RICHARD BRADFORD, b. 1693, Westover Parish, Charles City County, VA; d. January 13, 1728/29, Granville County, NC.

ii. RALPH BRADFORD, b. 1695, Charles City County, VA; d. unknown.

iii. THOMAS BRADFORD, b. 1699, Charles City County, VA; d. before 1762, North Hampton, NC; m. (1) MARY MOORE (2) ELIZABETH SMITH.

iv. PHILEMON³BRADFORD, b. 1695, Charles City County, VA; d. 1770, Granville County, NC; m. MARY BYRD.

v. JOHN BRADFORD, b. 1704, Charles City County, VA; d. November 6, 1735; m. REBECCA PACE.

Generation No. 3

PHILEMON³ BRADFORD RICHARD², RICHARD¹, BRADFORD) was born 1703, in Charles City County, VA, and died 1770, in Granville County, NC. He married MARY BYRD. She was born in 1715 in Edgecomb, NC, and died 1769 in Granville, NC.

Children of PHILEMON BRADFORD and MARY BYRD are:

i. ELIZABETH BRADFORD, b. 1730, Granville County, NC; d. 1802, Surry, NC; m. GILES HUDSPETH.

ii. THOMAS⁴BRADFORD, B. 1731, Westover, Charles City, VA; d. 1786, Granville, NC; m. MARY WHITE HOLMES.

iii. G. RICHARD BRADFORD, b. 1732, Westover, Charles City VA; d. 1786.

iv. PHILEMON BRADFORD, JR., b. 1733, Westover, Charles City, VA; d. June 23, 1800, Granville County, NC; m. ELIZABETH BOOKER.

v. MARY BRADFORD, b. 1736, Westover Charles City, VA; d. 1772, Granville, NC; m. JONATHAN WHITE.

vi. RICHARD BRADFORD, b. 1738.

vii. JOHN BRADFORD, b. 1751, Granville County, NC; d. 1829, Ganville County, NC; m. JUDITH MANN.

viii. DAVID BRADFORD, b. 1754, Granville County, NC; d. May 1800, Granville County, NC.

Philemon was born about 1703 in Charles City County, Virginia, where five generations of his ancestors had lived. He lived on the family plantation until adulthood; but, after both parents died in 1724, the brothers sold the family property and went their separate ways. Philemon's portion of the land was 470 acres, which he sold in 1726. He remained in Charles City County at least until 1737, when he was reportedly fined five pounds for not attending church. After leaving Charles City County Philemon may have joined hisbrother Richard in Caroline County, Virginia, or, more likely, his brother Thomas in Edgecombe, North Carolina.

The next record I have found for Philemon is in 1742/43, when he acquired land in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, in the portion that later became Granville County. He spent the rest of his life there as a farmer and a land speculator. Land records that I have seen show that in a twenty-year period Philemon acquired more than 6,000 acres and sold more than 2,500 (some of it to hissons).

Philemon's farming, in addition to feeding his family, may have produced cash crops of corn and wheat. Tobacco, in that time and place, was usually grown for the payment of county and parish taxes. Philemon did have at least one fruit orchard. Tax lists show that he had slaves; he passed eleven slaves to his wife and children in his will.

Philemon may have been married more than once; some researchers say three times. Mary, who was named in his will, survived him for at least twelve years. It seems possible that she may have been the mother of John and David, but not of the other five children; there is a thirteen-year span of time between child numbers 5 and 6. David T. Bradford suggests that Philemon was married in Virginia to a woman named BIRD or BYRD. He further says that other researchers believe that the second wife was Mary PARKER, daughter of Johathan and Ann (COPELAND) PARKER. Providing possible support for that thesis is the fact that two of the witnesses to Philemon's will were Joseph and Mary PARKER.

An abstract of Philemon's will:
Dated 25 Aug 1769 and proven Jan 1770 in Granville Co., NC court:

"After debts and funeral expenses, Philemon left five pounds each to his daughters Elizabeth HUDSPETH and Mary WHITE, and to his sons Thomas and Richard. To his wife, Mary, he left the plantation where I live, four male and three female slaves, and all stock and household goods until she either died or remarried. To his son John he left all that track of land I purchased of my son Thomas on each side of Fort Creek containing fore hundred acres more or less as well as, at his mother's death, three named slaves, all cattle he was keeping at William Parnals, three cows and calves, six sows and pigs, two beds and furniture -- all of which was to be divided among Philemon's other children if John died childless. Philemon's son David was to inherit, on his mother's death, the 400 acres whereon I live, which was described as being on Poplar Branch, and another thirty acres Philemon had purchased from his son Thomas , along with four slaves, six cows and calves, two beds and furniture -- all of which was to be divided among David's siblings if that son died childless."

Witnesses: Joseph and Mary PARKER, James HEFLIN, and Christopher PARNAL.

Proven in open court upon the oaths of Joseph PARKER and James HEFLIN, with wife Mary as executrix and his son Thomas as executor.

Note that the two youngest sons, who were about 18 and 15 years old were to receive the bulk of the estate. Four of the olderchildren received token legacies, and son Philemon, Jr. is not mentioned at all, even though he was living in Granville county at the time.
CIT. THE BRADFORDs OF CHARLES CITY COUNTY, VIRGINIA, 1994, David T. Bradford
PHILEMON BRADFORD DOCUMENTATION, 1994, LaVere Peters (ANCESTOR.BRAD-PH1.WPS)
PHILEMON BRADFORD CHILDREN, 1994, LaVere Peters (ANCESTOR.AUNTUNCL.BRAD-CH.WPS)

Generation No. 4

THOMAS⁴ BRADFORD (PHILEMON³, RICHARD², RICHARD¹, BRADFORD) was born 1731, in Westover, Charles City County, VA, and died March 22, 1785, in Granville County, NC. He married MARY WHITE HOLMES.

Children of THOMAS BRADFORD and MARY WHITE HOLMES are:

i. ELIZABETH BRADFORD, b. 1752, Granville County, NC; d. 1789, Granville County, NC.

ii. MARY BRADFORD, b. 1754, Granville, County, NC; d. unknown; m. JONES FULLER, b. 1735, Granville County, NC.

iii. PHILEMON BRADFORD, b. April 17, 1757, Granville County, NC; d. June 17, 1824, Granville County, NC; m. SUZANNA CLOPTON, b. June 22, 1761, in Franklin County, NC.

iv. DAVID BRADFORD, b. 1758, Granville County, NC; d. 1800, Granville County, NC; m. MARY KEARNY, b. ABT 1764.

v. THOMAS BRADFORD, b. 1761, Granville County, NC; d. 1849, White County, TN; m. POLLY HARGRAVES (1782), MARTHA GARRISON (1804).

vi. BENJAMIN⁵BRADFORD, b. 1763, Granville County, NC; d. 1826, Granville County, NC; m. POLLY SMITH.

vii. EPHRAIM BRADFORD, b. 1765, Granville County, NC; d. unknown.

viii. SARAH BRADFORD, b. 1767, Granville County, NC; d. 1800.

ix. SEALY BRADFORD, b. 1769, Granville County, NC; d. unknown.

Granville County North Carolina Tax List of 1753

	Whites	Blacks	Total
Thomas Bradford negro Hanner	1	1	2

Source: Granville County, North Carolina, Tax Lists, CR044.701, State of North Carolina Library and Archives, Raleigh, NC

Col. William Eaton's Militia Regiment
Granville Co., NC
- roll taken 8 Oct 1754
William Eaton, Colonel
William Person, Lieut. Colonel
James Paine, Major

Capt. John SALLIS' Company
(90 men)
George MORRIS, Lieut. James MITCHEL, Ensign

11. Thomas BRADFORD
Cit. This muster roll [found in Vol. 22 of the North Carolina State Records] is generally considered to be the first true accounting of all able-bodied men in Granville County. Those men in this regiment are believed to range in ages from young (teens) to much older (perhaps even some grandfathers!)

The Will of Thomas Bradford

Granville County, NC
March 22, 1785
NOTES: Words and phrases identified like this? in my transcription below signify my best guess

In the Name of God Amen I Thomas Bradford of Granvil County of the State of North Carolina being weakin Body but of perfect mind & Memory do make appoint & Ordain this my last will & Testament that is to say first & principally give & Recommend my Soul into the hand of Almighty God who at first gave it me & my body to the Earth to be buried at the Discretion of my Executor here after named & as for such worldly Estate wherewith it hath pleased God to bless me with in this life my just debt & funeral charges being first paid I Give & Dispose of in manner & form following - Item I Lend to my Daughter Elisabeth Prewit an Negro Girl named Betty During her Natural life & after her Death She & her Increase to be Equally Divided amongst all her Children Also one cow & calf to them & their heirs forever Item I give to my Daughter Mary Lovet fifty pounds ? ? to her & her heirs forever Item I give to my Son Phillemon Bradford one Negro Man Named Bass likewise two parts out? of sale? of a Negro woman named Han one part being given me & the other bought of Phillemon While which he is to have after the Death of Sarah Pruett? Also half my Mill & the other half to my Son David Bradford to be halved? Between them to him & his heirs forever Item I Lend to my Beloved & Lawfull Wife Mary Bradford one hundred & Seventy Eight Acres of Land be the Same? more Or less Being the Land that formerly belonged to James & Charles Heflen? During her Natural life Also one Negro Girl Named Jenny three Cows & Calves one featherbed & furniture one Iron pot Six plates & my Chest & my black Mare Two Dishes & one bason & two Sows & Thirteen Shotes that ? ? on Quicksand Item I give to my Son Thomas Bradford one Negro boy Named Demps? & one hundred & Seventy Eight Acres of Land that I lent to my Wife after her Death to him & his heirs foreverItem I give to my Son David Bradford one Negro Girl named Jenny after the Death of his Mother likewise four hundred Fifty acres of Land Including the plantation Where in I now ? ? To the East Side for Compliment Adjoining David Bradford & John Bradford & joining his Brother Phillemon Bradford's home to Include his Compliment Two Cows & Calves Two Sows & pigs five head of Sheep one featherbed & furniture one Iron pot to him & his heirs forever. Item I give to my son Ephraim Bradford four hundred & Eighteen acres of Land Joining My Son Phillemon Bradford & my Brother Richard Bradford ? ? for Compliment Likewise four hundred acres of Land I purchased of Edward More on the South Side of the Adkin & Lying on Rials? Creek three head of Cattle five head of sheep one featherbed & furniture one Iron pot Two Sows & piggs & one Negro Woman named Aggy & her Increase to him & his heirs forever Item I give to my Son Benjamin four hundred & fifty acres of Land being the place where he formerly Lived including the Chappal adjoining Lewis? Taylors line & Jeremiah Blalocks & Joining Quicksand Creek for Compliment one Negro Boy Named Peter to him & his heirs forever Item I give to my Daughter Sealey? Bradford one featherbed & furniture one Iron pot one Negro Girl Named Milley five Cattle & one bay horse I lately purchased of Edward More & my Chest after the death of her Mother to her & heirs forever Item I Give to my Daughter Sarah Bradford one Negro Girl named Anne one featherbed & furniture five head of Cattle four head of Sheep one Desk one Iron pot After the Death of her mother Likewise one Sorrel ? ? to her & her heirs forever my Will & Desire is that the Remainder of my Estate not given Be Sold & Equally Divided amongst all my Children my will & Desire is that if Any of my Children should die with it? Lawfull Issue their part of my Estate to be Equally Divided amongst my surviving children I appoint my Beloved & Lawfull Wife Mary Bradford & my Son Phillimon Bradford whole Executor & Executrix of this my Last Will & Testament hereby Revoking & Disanulling all other Will, heretofore made appoint this only to be ? ? my last will Inwitness hereunto I have Set my hand & Seal this Twenty Second? Day of March one thousand seven hundred & Eighty Five Test Simon Clement? ? ? Thos Bradford {seal} (JuratMary ? ? ? ?M Clement?) Benjamin Morgan Jurat

Source: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~larsonmorgan/index.html

Generation No. 5

BENJAMIN⁵ BRADFORD (THOMAS⁴, PHILEMON³, RICHARD², RICHARD¹, BRADFORD) was born about 1763, in Montgomery, Granville County, NC. and died about 1825, in Montgomery, Granville County, NC. He married POLLY SMITH.

Children of BENJAMIN BRADFORD and POLLY SMITH are:

i. GREEN HILL⁶ BRADFORD, b. December 22, 1783, NC; d. 1840, St. Helena Parish, LA; m. ELIZABETH ROBERTSON.

ii. ALSEY HIGH BRADFORD, b. December 14, 1785, Knox County, NC; CHRISTIAN HAMLET, b. 1789, Knox County, NC.

iii. NANCY BRADFORD, b. November 8, 1788.

iv. HIRAM BRADFORD, b. January 2, 1797, Montgomery County, NC; EMILY ALLEN, b. December 16,1797, Kentucky.

v. TOBITHA BRADFORD, b. October 16, 1799, Montgomery County, NC.

vi. LEONORA BRADFORD, b. June 23, 1802, Montgomery County, NC.

vii. MILES HARPER BRADFORD, b. May 10, 1809, Stewart County, TN; MARY ANN W. CHEATHAM, b. 1810, Robertson, TN.

1820 United States Census

State: Louisiana

Page: 59

Location: Jackson, Feliciana Parish

Microfilm: M33 ROLL #31

Probable age assignments, head of household Benjamin Bradford:

male		age range	female
.	0	less than 10	0	.
Miles Harper Bradford ~11 son	1	10-16	0	.
.	0	16-18	0	.
.	0	16-26	1	Lenora Bradford ~18 daughter
.	0	26-45	0	.
Benjamin Bradford ~57	1	over 45	0	.

Source: Genealogy Depository for the Larson / Morgan Conglomeration

The following is the genealogy of Hiram Bradford:

(first page)

Transcribed by Inez Bradford, wife of a Miles H. Bradford, a descendant of Hiram. This Miles H. Bradford died in 1976 and Inez died in 1986. Inez made the copy Jan. 1944, 110 years after the original was written.

Thomas' son, also named Thomas, was somehow left out of the list of sons at the bottom of the page.
Inez Bradford transcription (first page)
This is a copy of a family record in the handwriting of Hiram Bradford, who died on his estate about four miles west of Brownsville, Tennessee on August 27, 1892.

Ages

My father, Benjamin Bradford, was born in North Carolina (perhaps Wake County), I suppose about the year 1763. My mother, Polly Bradford, was also born in North Carolina (perhaps in the same county) about the year 1764.

Green Hill Bradford, son of Benjamin and Polly Bradford, was born in North Carolina, December 22, 1783.

Alsey High Bradford, son of Benj. and Polly Bradford, was born in Knox County, North Carolina, Dec. 14th, 1785.

Nancy Bradford, daughter of Benj. and Polly Bradford, was born November the 8th., 1788.

Hiram Bradford, son of Benj. and Polly Bradford, was born in Montgomery County, North Carolina, Jan. 2nd., 1797.

Tobitha Bradford, daughter of Benj. and Polly Bradford, was born in Montgomery County, North Carolina, Oct. 16th., 1799.

Leonora Bradford, daughter of Benj. and Polly Bradford, was born in Montgomery County, North Carolina, June 23rd., 1802

Miles Harper Bradford, son of Benj. and Polly Bradford, was born in Stewart County, Tennessee, May 10th., 1809.

I have no record of the age of my father and mother, but having always understood that he was one year older than my mother, and that he was about 20 years of age when my brother Green, was born, I therefore suppose that they were born as above indicated in the year 1763 and 1764.

My sister Nancy I never saw, she having died very young.

GENEALOGY

I know but very little about the genealogy of my people, having been very negligent in that particular.

My grandfather Bradford's name was Thomas, who resided in North Carolina, He had four sons; David, Ephraim, Philip, or Philemon, (we called him Uncle Phil), and my father, Benjamin.

Generation No. 6

GREEN HILL⁶ BRADFORD (BENJAMIN⁵, THOMAS⁴, PHILEMON³, RICHARD², RICHARD¹, BRADFORD) was born December 22, 1783 in North Carolina. He died about 1840, in St. Helena Parish, LA. He married ELIZABETH ROBERTSON, b. 1787 in LA.

Children of GREEN HILL BRADFORD and ELIZABETH ROBERTSON are:

i. JAMES AXLEY⁷ BRADFORD, SR., b. February 18, 1818, Haywood County, TN; d. November 19, 1900, Georgetown, LA; m. AMANDA JANE (MANDY) COTTON.

ii. DAVID FIELDING BRADFORD, b. February 7, 1823.

iii. WILLIAM KENNON BRADFORD, b. September 25, 1828.

iv. MARY JANE BRADFORD, b. 1832.

v. MARTIN VAN BUREN BRADFORD, b. November 4, 1835.

vi. CAROLINE BRADFORD

vii. HIRAM BRADFORD

viii. MATILDA BRADFORD

ix. ROENA BRADFORD

x. THOMAS BRADFORD

Resided before 1818 in Stewart County, Tennessee.