I’m going to try and write about one more of the local Black families this evening: The Bradley Family. This is a very large, extended family that through marriage reaches into many other Black families in Wabaunsee County.

Robert Bradley, the father of Wabaunsee County’s Bradley families, was born in North Carolina in 1788 and died in White County, Tennessee in about 1870. I found him on the 1860 U. S. Census in White County, Tennessee living there with his wife Millie Bradley.

I have not been able to find them on the 1850 U. S. Census but we do known that they had at least three children who migrated West and settled in Wabaunsee County, Kansas.

They are: Albert Bradley; George Washington Bradley; and Andrew Bradley, all born in Tennesse. There is a conflict in their birthdates. According to records at the Newbury Cemetery, north of Paxico, Kansas Albert Bradley was born February 13, 1844 in Sparta, White County, Tennessee. According to those same records, his brother George Washington Bradley was born March 11, 1844. It is possible that they were twins and the month and day have just been confused. It is also possible that they were born a year or two apart and because of poor recording keeping and census information, they years were recorded incorrectly. Andrew Bradley’s birth date is recorded as 1850 on his tombstone.

The exact year of their migration from Tennessee to the Newbury/Paxico area of Wabaunsee County, Kansas has not been recorded to my knowledge. In obituaries there are vague statements which indicate that it may be been many years, or several decades, but nothing concrete.

There is no doubt in my mind, that the Bradley, Officer, Boydston and Johnson families were closely related by kinship. When looking at the Bradley children and where they lived and who was listed as nephew, niece or grand niece in their households, these four families were related.

Albert Bradley’s birth was recorded in White County, Tennessee. I am not able to find that he and his family stopped in any other state before appearing on Newbury Township, Wabaunsee County Census rolls in 1885. He was married to Emily Roberts, in White County, Tennessee in 1866. He and Emily (Roberts) Bradley were the parents of thirteen children, most of whom lived to adulthood. There are more than two dozen Bradley burials in the Newbury Cemetery north of Paxico.

If George Washington Bradley was ever married or fathered children, I have not been able to find records for verification. I did find that he was a landowner in Wabaunsee County, and in several of the U. S. Census reports for Newbury Township, he is shown with various neices, nephews, and grand nieces and nephews living with him. I was not able to find a record for his birth, but cemetery records list his birth as March 11, 1844 in White County, Tennessee. His death occurred on January 31, 1932 in Paxico, Wabaunsee County, Kansas and he is buried in the Newbury Cemetery, north of Paxico.

Andrew Bradley was born in White County, Tennessee in 1850 according to Newbury Cemetery records. He was married to Martha Elizabeth Johnson on April 13, 1873 at Newbury, Kansas. They were also land owners in Newbury Township, Wabaunsee County, Kansas and were the parents of thirteen children, most of whom lived to adulthood. Martha Elizabeth Johnson was born June 13, 1853 in Missouri and died in 1914. She is buried with her husband in the Newbury Cemetery north of Paxico, Kansas.

The Wabaunsee County Atlas lists the following family members as land owners: A. B. Bradley, 80 acre;, George Bradley, 80 acres; K. D. Officer, 140 acres; W. B. Officer, 74 acres. All of these pieces of land were contiguous and were located at the corner of present day Blue Bird and Warren Road in Newbury Township, Wabaunsee County, Kansas. That would put them about 2.5 miles northeast of Paxico, Kansas and about 3.5 miles west of Maple Hill, Kansas.

Several of the Bradley children married into Black families in the Maple Hill Community. Perhaps the best known is Doris K. (Bradley) Oliver, who married the youngest child of George and Neppie Oliver, Alfred S. Oliver. Alfred and Doris Oliver lived in Maple Hill, Kansas most of their married life. Doris was the daughter of Robert Montgomery and Leona V. (Foster) Bradley. She was the granddaughter of Andrew and Martha Elizabeth (Johnson) Oliver.

Alfred and Doris were the parents of Sharon Oliver, Andre Oliver, Patricia Oliver and Jacqueline Oliver, all of whom attended Maple Hill Schools. Sharon Oliver was a graduate of Maple Hill High School and was a classmate of mine in 1962.

The Bradley Families were mostly members of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Paxico, Kansas.