Map of Chateaugay, NY in 1858 [Click to Enlarge]I found this map on the Library of Congress Website. It’s a section of a very large image showing Franklin County. The original file is too big for my little website to handle, so I just clipped out the Chateaugay section here.
I practically had to re-insert my eyeballs the first time I took a look at this map. It’s a treasure trove of information from pre-civil war Chateaugay, barely 60 years after the first settlers arrived. I’m sure that many experts on Chateaugay’s history have seen it, but I had no idea it was out there.
Like the 1876 map from a previous post, it shows residents names. A quick look at the Northeast Corner of town, where Earlville meets the Quaker Settlement revealed some really exciting facts. Well – exciting for me, as I make it no secret that I’m a Bradshaw/Chateaugay, NY/History/Map nerd. Your mileage may vary.
Anyways
The map shows “W. Bradshaw” living at the North end of town. That would be my Great-Great Grandfather William Bradshaw. U.S. Census records show that he was living in Chateaugay as early as 1840, and this map seems to confirm family oral history that they lived just south of the McCormick road, possibly in the house occupied by John Dwyer in the 1970’s.
There is ANOTHER Bradshaw family living just North of the McCormick Road. “J. Bradshaw” is probably John Bradshaw. He shows up in some census records, and a couple of records from Saint Patrick’s church. It appears that he was older than William, but not old enough to be his father. Possibly an older brother or cousin. He’s a mystery – disappearing from the records in Chateaugay in the 1860’s or 70’s. I’ll do a post about him sometime.
Neither of these families is living on the farm that I and my father (and maybe my Grandfather) grew up on. It looks like “J.T. Hanley” is living on that property. I believe I have an old deed somewhere that says the Bradshaws purchased the farm in the 1870’s.
If you scan to the right down the McCormick Road to Earlville, you’ll see that there is a “J.W. Gibson” shown. If you believe the this linkJ.W. Gibson was the father of Orville Gibson. Orville was born in 1856 and went on to found what would be the Gibson Guitar Company.
It’s a good thing i have a full time job, otherwise I would be up all night staring at this thing. But I DO have a full time job, so I have to wrap this up.
So – please let me know if you have any comments or questions.
Pat and Henrietta Bradshaw’s Wedding Day 1926 (Click to Enlarge)
Here’s a picture from my Grandparents’ wedding day in 1926. My Grandfather, Patrick Bradshaw married my Grandmother, Henrietta Cassidy on Wednesday, September 1st, at (yikes) 7:00 in the morning. Grandpa must have gotten someone else to milk the cows that day.
This photo is the first photo on the first page of a very old photo album that has found its way into my possession. I assume that Grandma put it together.
Written above the photo are the words “Guests at the home of Mrs. C. Cassidy. Can you spot the bride and Groom?”
Patrick is 45 here and Henrietta 31. It was Grandpa’s second marriage. His first wife, Rosetta had passed away in 1922, leaving him with two young sons (Uncle John and Uncle Gerald), they would have been around 5 or 6.
Most of the people in this photo will remain anonymous forever, but I do recognize a few. Will Dwyer and Clare Cassidy (soon to be Dwyer) are there. They were best man and maid of honor. I see Aunt Leona Cassidy (McCormick) laughing. I’m reasonably sure that the white haired lady at the back is Clarinda Patenaude Cassidy – Henrietta’s mother.
I’m very curious about the man standing next to Grandpa. He seems to resemble Pat,. He seems older , so I first thought that he might be Pat’s father (also named Pat – when we find a name we like, we keep using it). He certainly seems to resemble the man in this picture. But Great-Grandpa Bradshaw would have been in his early eighties, and this fellow seems younger than that. I’m wondering if it’s Grandpa’s brother Billy (William).
The people on the right are laughing, and seem to be having a good time. Even Great-grandma Cassidy (who by most accounts was not a lot of yuks). The people on the left don’t seem to be having as much fun. A lot of the folks on the right are Cassidys. It would seem logical (although I have no idea) that those on the right are Bradshaws.
Grandma and Grandpa seem to underscore this division between the laughing, boisterous guests on the right, and the grim pair directly to the left. Grandma is smiling, genuinely happy. I’m not sure what to make of Grandpa’s expression and stance.
So – there’s lots more to write about Pat and Henrietta and their life together. I just thought some of the readers of this blog – all 15 of you 😉 – would be interested to see something about Grandpa and Grandma, since I’ve spent most of the words in this blog talking about Grandpa’s siblings. I have certainly spent a lot of time staring at this photo, hoping for some revelation or insight about these people.
So PLEASE DO let me know if you recognize anyone in this photo.
Quaker Settlement and Earlville – Detail From Map of Chateaugay, NY /D.G. Beers’ Atlas of Franklin County, NY 1876
Google Maps Screenshot of Earlville and Quaker Settlement 09/10/2018
It has been far too long between since I put anything up here. I got overwhelmed by all the research required to do the next few posts about the great aunts, uncles, and grandparents. So, while I do a deep dive into aunt Mayme’s probate records, here’s a brief observation.
If you waded through my post about the data from the US census, then you know that I love digging into obscure data to see what it can say about people’s lives and stories. (You did read it, right? Here’s a link if your eyes glazed over the first time.) And if there’s one thing that I love more than annual crop yield statistics, it’s maps. My God do I love maps. Old maps. New maps. Google Earth, Middle Earth, the AAA TripTik from my 1984 drive from Florida to New Hampshire. Maps are it, man.
As I spent time poring over the map of Chateaugay from 1876, I was struck by all the houses in Earlville (or Slab City as we locals call it). Its a spot on a map with a handful houses now but, my dad talked about how the little hamlet (that’s what Wikipedia calls it) at the intersection of the McCormick Road and the Earlville Road had once been it’s own community. But holy cow – the map below shows more than 20 residences, (most packed tightly together), a starch factory, a cheese factory, a butter factory, and a school. It was a hopping place!
Since families were pretty large back then, I would guess that the population of Earlville must have approached 100. With all the people, and three businesses right there, this neighborhood must have it’s own sense of place. It was a little village tucked into the Northeast corner of town.
A few more observations
The old church on the Earlville Road doesn’t appear on the map. It’s still there today. It must have been built after 1876.
I don’t see any mention of the Gibson family. Orville Gibson the founder of Gibson Guitars was born in Earlville in the 1850’s.
In 1876, the Graham road extended North all the way up to the Shee Wood’s road. Now it’s a dead end.
There are lots of people who know a lot more about the history of Earlville than I do. I just thought I’d make a few observations based on what this jaw-droppingly detailed old map shows.
As the screen shot from Google maps shows, many of those houses are gone. It’s a pleasant drive in the country, but you’d never be able to tell that there was a village here with its own businesses, school and church.
If this sounds like I’m bemoaning the decline of Chateaugay and Earlville, that’s not my intent. I’m more interested in remembering and celebrating our history. It’s just a reminder that our history is all around us – some places grow, and some shrink. Our collective memory is short. A lot gets lost in a generation. Sometimes it takes a quick look at a moldy old map to help us remember.
This post about my great-uncle Richard Bradshaw has been a lot of fun to write, not only because of its gregarious subject, but also because his grandson Jerry Juracich was gracious enough to collaborate with me. Jerry knew Richard (or “Brad” as he was known to his contemporaries), and shared some personal recollections.
Richard Martin Bradshaw was born in Chateaugay, NY on November 11, 1882.
In 1890 he was living in Chateaugay, NY at the age of 8 with this Parents, (Patrick and Johanna) and Brothers Patrick (born 1881), Agnes (born 1884), and Matthew (born 1889). He was the closest in age to my grandfather Patrick.
We don’t know much about his early years as a young adult, but he certainly moved around a lot.
By 1902, at the age of about 20, he had moved to New England. Various articles in the “Chateaugay Record and Franklin County Democrat” indicate that he lived in Providence Rhode Island in 1902, Boston, MA in 1906, and Worcester, MA in 1909.
The May 14th 1909 edition of the Chateaugay Record stated that “Richard Bradshaw, Son of Patrick Bradshaw left on Monday for Seattle, Wash. , here he expects to locate.”. It would seem that he didn’t quite hit his target, since the 1910 Federal Census shows him living in Portland, Oregon. His occupation is listed as Hardware Salesman.
He married Myrtle Chase in 1916. Their Daughter Eileen Evelyn Bradshaw was born April 22nd, 1918 in Alamosa, CO.
His 1918 draft card showed him living in Alamosa, CO married to Myrtle. The occupation listed was “Traveling Salesman for the W.C. Nevin Candy Company”.
Sometime later, Richard and Myrtle Divorced. Richard lost contact with Myrtle and Eileen.
Richard stayed in contact with his brother William (Billy), who lived in Nevada, Colorado, and finally San Francisco, CA. Richard is the only one of Billy’s siblings mentioned in his1927 obituary.
The 1930 Federal Census shows Richard living in San Francisco, CA. By that time he was Married to Edna (Cresswell) . He was working as a Sales Manager in the Ice Cream business.
In 1933, the Oakland, CA City Directory shows Richard and Edna living at 4801 Melrose Avenue. His occupation is listed as Manager at the Samarkand Ice Cream Company.
In August, 1938, he attended a family reunion in Chateaugay NY. He brought Edna, and his niece Leona Bradshaw Cannon (daughter of his brother Billy). Click here for a link to the article in the August 19th , 1938 edition of the Chateaugay Record.
Bradshaw Family Reunion 1938
This picture was taken on the front porch of the family farm during the reunion. Richard is in the front, third from the left. They’re a grim-looking bunch for the most part. My dad (age ten or so, first boy on the right) is probably scowling because he and this brothers and father had to sleep in the hayloft. Getting hay in your knickers is no fun. Richard, squinting at the camera is the only one displaying even the slightest bit of amusement.
His 1942 draft registration card shows him living with Edna at 1700 Fremont Way, Oakland. He was running two taverns in Oakland, both named Brad’s. One was at 4900 Bond St. The other was at 2045 Hopkins Place (now in Berkeley). The Bond St. Brad’s was at the intersection with Bancroft Ave. which formed a small triangular wedge of land and the tavern occupied the entire wedge. Richard once advertised by buying an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records stating that Brad’s was the only tavern in the world occupying an entire city block. The Hopkins Place Brad’s was also on a small triangular wedge of land, but it was a little bigger and had some parking.
In 1992 I corresponded with Richard (Brad’s) daughter Eileen Bradshaw Juracich. According to Eileen, her father…
“Had a wonderful Irish sense of humor. Loved to be with people. In one of his taverns, named “Brad’s”, the baseball legend Billy Martin was a frequent visitor. Edna and Dad sponsored a Sunday bus to the Oakland baseball games. In their other tavern, movies of their guests were taken Wednesday night and shown to standing room only audiences on Saturday nights. They had a Summer Cottage in Almaden, CA where he was the unofficial “Mayor” on Almaden day.”
Description from Jerry Juracich: My grandfather front and center at Almaden Days, stogie in his hand as typical. He is uncharacteristically serious because he is running the show. For several years he was chairman of the New Almaden Improvement Committee; it was the governing body of the town so he was the de-facto mayor. On Almaden Day the men had to have a beard and were expected to carry a whiskey bottle around – if you didn’t, you were thrown in jail – tongue-in-cheek.
I recently had the opportunity to talk to Jerry Juracich, Eileen’s son and Richard’s grandson. He sent along the following recollections:
“Grandpa kept a trailer house in our back yard in Mountain View. Sometimes he’d hook up the trailer and go on trips. He told me Mercy Hot Springs was a fun place. This is about 100 miles from us, so I visited it once in about 1995. Not much there other than some geyser springs – Oh well. He told me about going to New Orleans and Havana, Cuba. I’ve been to New Orleans a few times and it is fun! I’ve never been to Havana.
We lived on an apricot and cherry ranch with a long gravel driveway and we often had 3 mean dogs. The dogs would kick up a fuss if a stranger came up to the house. For some reason, when Grandpa Bradshaw visited, the dogs didn’t challenge him. He’d tell them to stop smelling and licking and he’d smack them with his tobacco pouch. He’d fallen asleep in his chair in our living room once and I walked in and one of the dogs was sitting beside him licking his arm. He’d smack me with his tobacco pouch too.
I remember yelling “Grandpa’s here.” Living on an apricot and cherry ranch was pretty boring, so when Grandpa showed up it was a big deal. He’d bring candy and gifts and a bottle for my dad and him. Plus, I think my mom was a little easier on us when he was there.
In the winter of 1955/56 we had severe flooding. The phones to Almaden were out and my mom was worried about how her dad was doing. He lived in a summer cottage named “La Casita Escondido” that backed up to a creek. My mom and I drove out to ‘rescue’ grandpa. Near Almaden, the water completely covered the road. It was a great adventure for a 12 year boy. Grandpa lived on the other side of the creek from the main road. There were 2 bridges that could be used to get to Grandpa’s house. The first one was a wooden single track that had already washed out by the time we got there. The second was a cement bridge which is still there, even today. We drove to Grandpa’s house, but he wasn’t there. Then by a stroke of genius or something, mom checked the neighborhood bar/restaurant. Many of the old guys, including Grandpa were there, smoking and drinking and watching the creek rise from the bar’s back window and generally having a grand time. Grandpa did not want to be rescued, but mom insisted, and he came back with us to Mountain View.
Grandpa Bradshaw and I shared a room in my parent’s house in Mountain View, CA where he eventually died. I think he had survived 3 or 4 heart attacks, but not this one. He was buried at the catholic cemetery in Santa Clara, CA on Winchester Blvd.”
Thanks again to Jerry for calling me out of the blue and sharing his memories with me. As I’ve said many times in this blog, the Chateaugay branch of the Bradshaws has been out of contact with the rest of Patrick and Johanna’s descendants for many decades. It was a real treat to hear from a long-lost cousin and get his personal recollections. It made this post much different from those about older siblings Katherine and William. Those posts were more like archaeological research – trying to build a story by digging up fragments of historical data. This post about Richard feels more like biography than anthropology.
Genealogical research aside, it’s been great to connect with Jerry (and also his sister Kate who I found through Ancestry DNA). Thanks, cousins!
As always – I comments are welcome. Let me know what you think!
On July 26th, 1889, Patrick Bradshaw sold the family farm in Chateaugay, NY to his wife Johanna for the sum of “Four hundred dollars, love and affection, and other good and valuable consideration.” That’s about the same time that their son William (Billy) left home to travel west. Family oral history says that when Billy Went west, his father Patrick went with him. Billy found work in the mines of Nevada and Colorado and stayed for the rest his life. Patrick ultimately returned. The US census shows him back by 1900.
Johanna retained ownership of the farm until 1905 when she sold it to their son Patrick Joseph.
So did Pat transfer the farm to Jo because he knew he would be out of the picture for an extended time? Was the $400 his seed money for making his fortune out west? Why on Earth would he embark on such an endeavor at the age of 45, leaving behind his wife and 11 children, ages 3 months through 20 years? Was the farm failing?
Of course we will never know the answer to most of these questions. I got the story of Patrick leaving to go west from my Uncle John, and it’s an interesting coincidence that he sold Johanna the farm about the same time.
Whatever the reason for the sale, something fishy was going on at the Bradshaw farm.
P.S. The terms from the deed (“Love and affection and other good and valuable consideration”) appear at first to be a touching addition to an otherwise dry legal document. However, they’re real legal terms that are still in use today. So much for my initial impression that my whiskey-loving great-grandfather Patrick had a bit of a soft spot.
This is one of a few pictures that I have with infuriatingly little information to go along with it. “Bradshaws” is written on the back in pencil. No date. No first names.
There are four people in this posed photograph, taken at the studio of A.E. Holmes, in Chateaugay, NY. Three boys and a girl. The boy on the left is wearing a lacy shirt and is holding a straw hat. The others are older, the boys wearing suits, and the girl wearing a dress with a lace collar. At first, the dress clothes, the stiff poses and unsmiling expressions make the older three appear to be almost young adults. On closer inspection they appear to be much younger – probably in their early teens at the oldest.
My dad looked at this picture a number of years ago, and was reasonably certain that this photo depicts his father and some siblings.
So here’s my guess:
Left to right: Matthew Bradshaw (1889-1996), Richard Bradshaw (1882-1957), Patrick Bradshaw (1881-1959), Agnes Bradshaw (Boss) (1884-1966).
Here’s my reasoning.
These four were the youngest of Patrick and Johanna Bradshaw’s children.
The 1900 federal census shows them as the only children living with Patrick and Johanna.
The picture was taken by A.E. Holmes, who was in business in Chateaugay, NY from 1886 until 1899.
The youngest boy (who appears to be none too thrilled about his attire) is about 7 – so if that’s Matt then this was taken about 1896. In that case Richard would be about 14, Pat 15 and Agnes 12.
Based on pictures I have seen from a 1938 family reunion, the three boys look like Matt, Richard and Pat. I don’t have a picture of Agnes, but she was the youngest daughter.
I could be wrong about who’s who, and it’s even possible that they’re not Patrick and Johanna Bradshaw’s children. Patrick’s brother Richard lived nearby also, and had plenty of kids of his own. In any case, I’m confident that they’re family.
I have a couple of requests for the blog’s dedicated readers:
1) If there are any Bradshaw cousins out there who recognize an ancestor, let me know.
2) If anyone can help identify the year more closely (through clothing, the logo at the bottom or some other feature), I would be very grateful.
One Horse
One Milch Cow (yes that’s the correct spelling)
Eleven Sheep
Three Pigs
That’s it. That’s all the livestock the Bradshaws of Chateaugay, NY owned in 1870.
The 1870 Federal census includes a “Non-Population Schedule” that describes the property, crops and animal products sold by farmers. It’s a fascinating read… Well actually it’s fascinating if you are an engineer and a bit of a nerd, who likes to stare at spreadsheets full of data (guilty). But before you give up on this post and go back to Facebook or Twitter, or Netflix…
Almost everything about these people is a mystery. All that we have are a few stories, a couple of photographs, and some headstones at Saint Patrick’s Cemetery in Chateaugay, NY. Any concrete piece of data, even mundane enumerations of livestock and crop production is worth wringing for any conclusion we can draw. We don’t know how my great-grandparents met, or whether my great-grandmother Johanna retained an Irish brogue. But we do know that in 1870, they had 50 acres of land, 1 horse, 1 milk cow, 11 sheep, and 3 pigs. They produced 40 bushels of wheat, 75 bushels of oats, 20 pounds of wool, 100 bushels of potatoes, 300 pounds of butter, and 6 tons of hay.
So what does that mean?
First of all they were probably living a fairly meagre existence, even by the standards of the day, if they only had 1 horse, and 1 milk cow. Also, their potato crop was a mere 100 bushels. By comparison, next-door neighbors, and perennial friends of the Bradshaws, the Dwyer family had 3 horses and 9 cows and produced 500 bushels of potatoes. Maybe that was enough for a small family. At the time there were only four adults and 1 small child living on the farm. But still, it sure seems like they were one horse and one cow away from disaster.
Unlike their 20th century descendants, they weren’t dairy farmers. Based on the entries for other farms in the area,there was probably no such thing as a dairy farm, i.e. a farm that made its income solely on what came out of a cow’s udder. Granted, some people sold a lot of butter, but they also sold oats, wheat, corn, and potatoes (lots of potatoes – James Dwyer produced 500 bushels that year).
Wool production seemed common in the 19th century. In the second half of the twentieth century, when I lived there, sheep were a novelty in Chateaugay, and I suspect most of Franklin County. I came across a set of sheep shears when I was a kid, and had no idea what they were for, until my dad told me. I’m curious about when that changed.
So that’s all I’ve got for now. A few meagre observations on some dry facts, but it seems like that’s how it works. You dredge up some facts here, and some third hand family stories there, and hope that a story emerges.
So what I missing? Are there any other revelations or observations that I failed to notice?
William Francis Bradshaw (my great uncle) was born on the family farm in 1871, the second child of Patrick and Johanna Bradshaw. Besides showing up in state and federal census reports, he left no trace before leaving home around 1890, with his father, Patrick to head west. Patrick soon returned home to the family in Chateaugay , but William stayed out west.
He spent most of his short life working in the gold and silver mines of Colorado and Nevada. He married Annie McBreen, a girl from Colorado, and had one daughter. The family later moved to San Francisco where he died in 1927 at the age of 56.
My dad knew that uncle Will was a miner and lived out west, but he died young, and seldom if ever returned home for a visit. Our local paper “The Chateaugay Record and Franklin County Democrat” devoted several pages of every issue to the minutiae of family visits, dinners and trips to the county fair. There were lots of other records of other Bradshaw sons and daughters returning home from New York City or New England to visit the family farm but I found no mention of William Bradshaw, (known as “Billy” to his friends in Nevada) ever returning home for a visit.
A brief obituary shows up in the November, 11 1927 issue of the Record, It gives the basic facts, and contains the usual bland statements like “Many old time friends will learn of his death with regret.” Statements like that make my amateur historian/genealogist blood boil. What the hell does that mean? I want details, dammit. What was he like? Why did he leave? Why Colorado?
And then I stumbled onto the January 6, 1928 Edition Of The Chateaugay Record and hit the motherlode (mining reference very much intended). It was a re-print of an article from a newspaper in Tonopah Nevada (name unknown). It gave an account of his life that was as warm and detailed as the original obit was bland and perfunctory.
It’s a thoroughly wonderful account that tells the story of Billy Bradshaw, “The most popular foreman to ever check a shift in the mines of Nevada.” It describes his constant smile and hearty grip, his warm personality and the fact that his men would do more for him than any other boss on the property.
The details and the genuine affection make this piece is a genealogist’s dream. It’s a welcome ray of sunshine after researching the what must have been the grim, sad life of his older sister Catherine.
I won’t list all the details here – there’s a link to a timeline at the bottom of the page – but here are a few more facts:
By 1910, the family had moved to Goldfield, NV, about 26 miles south of Tonopah, where Billy was working in the Clermont Mine.
In 1918, William was living in Tonopah, NV, working as a mine foreman for the Tonopah Belmont Mining Company. Two years later the Federal census of 1920 showed that the family were still in Tonopah
Billy and family left for San Francisco, CA sometime after 1920, possibly due to declining health. The family story was that he suffered from a mining related disease.
He died in San Francisco on October 18th, 1927. He is buried in Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Colma CA.
His only child Leona had a daughter, Patty. She attended a family reunion in Chateaugay in 1938 or 39. I’m still hoping to find her descendants, and I think I have found some leads on Facebook (I guess it’s good for something).
As usual, there are inconsistencies and unanswered questions, but I think there’s enough here to go to press (or at least click the “publish’ button).
P.S. The rest of the articles in the page containing the obituary are a real treat. There’s an ad for a Hoot Gibson movie. I remember the name from the Beverly Hillbillies, but never realized he was a real actor . And the ads for shoes with those newfangled fasteners (zippers) are – dare I say it? – a real hoot. (sorry).
I came across this Historical Map of Chateaugay, NY from an 1876 Atlas of Franklin County, NY It’s got a lot of incredible information in it, largely because it shows the names of businesses and property owners. In District 13 at the top of the page, you can see the name “P. Bradshaw” right underneath the 13. There’s a fair amount to unpack here.
First – how cool is it that our farm was in District 13? Sounds sort of post-apocalyptic.
Second – This map was published in 1876, so it proves that we were living on the family farm as early as 1876. Also there are two dots associated with P. Bradshaw, one near the schoolhouse (SH) on the corner, and one farther East. The dots appear to be buildings or dwellings. The dot near the schoolhouse is definitely the main farm. The dot on the right (East) is right where “The Other Place” was. The building(s) are north of the brook, which puts them right about where dad showed me a low spot in on of the pastures that he thought was a cellar hole.
So – I guess it’s time to rent some ground-penetrating radar equipment and look for the old homestead.
Third – South of “P. Bradshaw” but still in District 13 is “R. Bradshaw”. That would have been Richard Bradshaw, Pat’s brother. There is an anecdote that Pat and Richard’s families would get together every Sunday, and Pat and Richard would go up the hay loft in the barn and polish off an imperial quart of Canadian Whiskey. I can still hear Uncle John telling me that one.
Anyways, this map has enough info for lots more posts.
“Patrick Bradshaw and Wife” that’s what’s written on the back of this photograph in pencil. Someone in Chateaugay found it and gave it to my sister Angie. I am 95% sure that this is my Great Grandparents Patrick and Johanna (Sweeney) Bradshaw. We can’t be 100% sure, since church records indicate that there was another Patrick Bradshaw in town for a while.
He has my dad’s eyes, and she has his mouth, so I choose to believe these are my great grandparents. In any case, they’re certainly family.
The logo of A.E. Holmes is on the back of the photo. Holmes’s photography studio was located in Chateaugay, so we know this is a local picture.
I would guess that they’re in their early forties which would date the photo to the mid 1880’s.
If I were somehow able to meet these two, I would have many questions, and many things to say, the first of which would be:
