This post is courtesy of my cousin Mary Bradshaw McNally. A while back, she offered to help out with family research, and I’m REALLY glad I took her up on it. Take it away Mary!
This is the story of my Great Aunt, Agnes Ellen Bradshaw. She was born in October, 1884 in Chateaugay New York, the 9th child of Johanna Sweeney Bradshaw and Patrick J. Bradshaw. Two more children were born in the family following her – Alice who died a week after birth in 1886, and Matthew who was born in 1889.
In 1900, Agnes was 15 living on the farm with her mother, father, and brothers: Patrick 18 (our grandfather), Richard, 17, and Matthew 11. The seven older siblings had moved on by then.
Four of 5 older sisters had taken up residence in New England; a path which Agnes soon followed. Sisters Alice and Mayme were settled in New Hampshire. Her sisters Anna and Margaret were in Providence, Rhode Island. In 1902, her sister Margaret had married Nicholas Shea, who appears to have been a barber (I find it hard to say anything definitively from information found on censuses, or other official documents, because they can sometimes be a stretch of the truth, or just examples of bad hearing by the census enumerator). Anna had married Arthur Stewart in 1903, who died a year later.
It is not clear exactly when Agnes made her way to Providence, but it seems she first moved in with her sister Margaret and Nick Shea at 61 Carpenter Street. She was 19 years old at that time. Interestingly, their sister Anna was also listed as living in this household in 1905 as a widow. We know from Pat Bradshaw’s story that soon afterwards, Anna was running a boarding house where she met her untimely death by accidental shooting (!). However, when Agnes moves on from Margaret’s home is not clear.
But we know that Agnes married James Herbert Boss who was born in Johnston, Rhode Island (as were his parents). My father’s family notes suggest that Agnes was married in 1907 but I cannot find a marriage registry for them in RI; and Massachusetts (where she eventually lived), does not have census information from that time. But we’ll go with 1907 for now because my father was usually right.
Despite the long distances that the siblings had moved from the farm in Chateaugay, they did seem to stay connected with each other, and once in a while made it back home to the farm for a visit. When the family was called home due to their mother Johanna’s poor health in October 1906, the Chatueagay Record does not mention Agnes making that trip, although the other 4 sisters did. However, the newspaper article mentions that her brother Richard Bradshaw and Miss Annie Bradshaw of Providence RI also made the trip home. So, likely that was Miss Agnes Bradshaw; and apparently brother Richard had joined the gang in Rhode Island by this time. Their mother Johanna died in October of 1908.
Somewhere before 1910, Agnes and James Boss moved to Boston. She and her husband James H. are listed as Lodgers at 576 Dorchester Ave Boston in the 1910 census. He is listed as an embalmer, employed by an Undertaker. If census notes can be trusted, they had been married about 1 year (I might still trust my father’s notes).
By 1917, they were living in Milton Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston, and their son James Herbert Boss Jr. was born Oct. 29th of that year at St. Margaret’s Hospital, Boston.
In 1920, Agnes’ family is listed as renting a house at 28 Gayland Street, Boston Mass. At this time the family includes: James Herbert (husband), Agnes, James H (son 2 1/2yrs), Matthew Bradshaw (her youngest brother, 30 yrs), and Thomas Shea – a Roomer, 16 years old, from Rhode Island. Thomas would be her nephew – Maggie’s (Margaret’s) son, as Maggie died the year before in 1919. However, Thomas’ father Nicholas, and his extended family (mother, father, brother, sister-in-law, and niece) were still living in Providence during this 1920 census. So, Thomas may have gone to Boston for better work prospects, or perhaps just to get away from home?
We know at some point that Agnes leaves her husband James Herbert, and he eventually returns to Rhode Island. His death certificate says he had lived at 315 Elmwood Ave in Providence for 20 years when he died in 1949 of coronary thrombosis with diabetes mellitus. He had been a salesman for New Haven Casket Company for 50 years and had apparently worked up to the day before he died (says this right on the death certificate). The document also lists Agnes as his wife.
A 1924 Chateaugay Record news story suggests that Agnes still lived in Boston when she and son James came home to the farm for a visit, along with her sister Mayme, and her brother John M. Bradshaw and his son from White Plains. The Record also states that she was from Boston when she returned home for her father’s funeral in November of 1926 (our great grandfather, Patrick William Bradshaw). It seems that she may have parted ways with her husband not too long after this because he ends up back in RI around 1929 and she and son James Herbert Jr. are living with sister Alice in New Hampshire at the Big House in 1930.
The detail of this 1930 Census entry is engaging reading: Alice is Head of household. The Father’s birthplace for both sisters is listed as England and their mother’s birthplace as Northern Ireland (all indications are that their mother Johanna was from Tipperary Ireland, and of course we know that Patrick was born in Chateaugay, NY). Perhaps the Rowley’s who Alice had worked for and had left her the house (and much more – see Pat Bradshaw’s story on Alice), were transformed into their parents for this census? It would be interesting to see where they were from. The house is valued at $20,000, which seems quite rich for this time. Other surrounding properties on the census range from $2500 – $8000. They answered “Yes” to having radio and answered “Yes” to “Does this family live on a farm?”. A farm with view and a radio!
Now the part comes where family lore varies about what really happened when my father, Gerald Bradshaw, went to Manchester to live with the relatives. Aunt Alice had agreed/offered?? to pay for his tuition at St. Anslem’s College in Manchester. Records show that he attended for one school year but did not return. Stories for the reason for not returning range from being bored/restricted by living at the “farm” while attending college, to some vague shenanigans gotten into by Gerald and his cousin James, and he was not invited to come back. My sister remembers dad saying that he got blamed for whatever the incident was (or incidences?), but James Herbert was not the innocent in this story. Perhaps Aunt Agnes blamed Gerald for whatever he and her son got up to, but not Aunt Alice, who ended up leaving him a good sum of money in her will.
In 1940, Agnes and James (now 22) are still living with Alice at 1053 River Road in Manchester NH. The census states that Agnes never attended school or college, but likely finished 4 years of Highschool. There is no information on work for Agnes or her son, but it states that both Agnes and Alice received more than $50 from other sources for the year 1939.
James Herbert Jr. enlisted in the Army Jun. 22, 1942 in Manchester NH for the duration of the war. He was listed as Single, with dependents. His Mother and Aunt, I suppose? It’s not clear when he returned from the Army, but he married a woman named Barbara who was the Informant on his death certificate. He died Dec. 18, 1952 in Manchester at 35 years of age from acute glomerulonephritis (kidney failure). At that time, he and his wife lived at 20 Stearns St. in Manchester and he was working in real estate. James is buried at St. Joseph’s cemetery Manchester, NH. The 1950 Census data is not available until 2022, so next year we may be able to get a few more details of the family!
Aunt Alice died 5 years later, 82 years old, in May of 1957 in Manchester. Agnes moved on after Alice’s death, and she herself died in January 1966 in Delmar, NY, near Albany. I wondered what brought her that way and found that her nephew Thomas Shay (or Shea from previous documents), who lived with her many years ago in Boston, also lived in Delmar, NY and had died there in 1971. Since Thomas inherited the larger share of Aunt Alice’s (dwindling) fortune, that may have seemed the likely place for Agnes to go. She certainly endured a lot of hardship and grief in her 80 years. I wonder what family was there at the funeral for her? She was one of the last of the 11 siblings to pass away – her youngest brother Matthew dying the same year. My father’s notes said she died in Delmar but was buried in Manchester. We are not sure where that grave is….yet.