Bradbury, Thomas J.

THOMAS J. BRADBURY, retired, post-office Sheakleyville, Penn., is a son of David Bradbury, a native of Washington County, Penn. In 1828 he came to Mercer County, and settled in Sandy Creek Township. Our subject was born October 18, 1810, in Greene County, Penn. He came to Mercer County with his parents, and was brought up to a farmer’s life until 1831, when he began running a boat on the Ohio River from Lawrenceburgh to Cincinnati and New Orleans, which he continued until 1834, when he came home, married and settled on a farm until 1847, when he moved to the Mineral Ridge Furnace, and acted as engineer, and kept a boarding-house until 1851, when he moved to a farm until 1854, and then bought a saw-mill on Pine Run, near the little Shenango. This he operated for three years, and traded for pine land in Crawford County, Penn., which he sold to Thaddeus Simmons, and then went to Illinois, and after four years he returned to this county, and bought a saw-mill on Ball Run, in Otter Creek Township, which he afterward sold, and bought a farm, which he subsequently traded for a mercantile business in Sheakleyville, which he conducted for a number of years. He was married in 1835 to Miss Margaret, daughter of John McLean, of Mercer County, and by this marriage they have had four children: William, a member of the Thirty-eighth Pennsylvania Volunteers, who died at a Philadelphia hospital from wounds received at the battle before Petersburg; Hugh, a member of the One Hundred and Fortieth Pennsylvania Volunteers, now resides in Greenville; Sarah, wife of William Welker, of Erie County, Penn.; Lillie, wife of Joseph Baxter, of Greenville, Penn. Our subject was constable for six years. Mr. Bradbury is one of Sheakleyville’s oldest and most respected citizens. He is a prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and an ardent supporter of the Republican party.