Family of Samuel Bradley and Abigail Brownson of Essex, Vermont

Samuel Cornel Bradley and Abigail Brownson were married in Sunderland, Vermont February 28, 1780. Sunderland was a very young community less than 20 years old at the time of their marriage. In 1786/7 they moved to an even younger community Essex, Vermont. The issue for us as family historians is that it took awhile for these new civic entities to put in place a system for keeping records. At the turn of that century the churches were still the primary recorder of birth, marriages and deaths. Unfortunately the organization of church record keeping even lagged behind the towns. This set of circumstances has posed some problems in trying to create a compete picture of Samuel and Abigail’s family. We have several sources to draw on. The first is the oral tradition that has been passed down through their generations. That tradition usually describes a family consisting of Leity/Lucy, Sylvia, Theron, Samuel, Cynthia, a second Samuel and Abigail. Much of the support for this family description comes from the Essex Common Burial Ground in Essex. Buried in a family plot is our subjects Deacon Samuel Bradley and his wife Abigail Brownson. We also find the two young Samuels. The first has a death date of Feb, 23, 1792 at the age of 5 months. The second died Aug. 20, 1822 at the age of 26 years and 3 months. Also in the family plot is Cynthia who died Aug 10, 1846 at the age of 53. In a family plot with her husband Horace Halbert we find Abigail Bradley who died Oct 3, 1867 at the age of 68. Buried in a family plot with her husband Samuel Griffin and her family we find Sylvia Bradley who died Feb, 10, 1873 at the age of 90. Theron’s name is found scattered throughout the Essex town records. His death record identifies his parents as Samuel and Abigail Bradley. The main question for this family portrait is Leity/Lucy. There is no burial record or town records that tracks a child by that name. _____________ To help in our quest we can turn to the few records that have survived. All of the new frontier town shared one key essential element. That element was a set of ledgers used to record the land deeds. A town was born and maintained its legitimacy based on the charter and records kept in those ledgers. In almost every town they were also used to record early town business. The election of town leaders etc. In many of these ledgers we also find recorded a few births and marriages scattered throughout the early pages. In Volume-3 on page 6 of the town records that are scattered among the deed records (pages 6,7,8,9 of town records are followed by page 22 of deed records) in Sunderland we find just such a record for the Bradleys. ______________“Samuel C Bradley was married to Abigail Brownson February 28th 1780. Lecty Bradley was Born March 18th 1781. Silvey Bradley was Born February 28th 1783. Theron Bradley was Born May 7th 1785.” __________________ In the ledgers of the Congregational Society in Essex under baptisms we find listed under parentage “Samuel Bradley”. Under the heading, Christian names, “Samuel, Abigail.” The greatest chronicler of the Bradley family was Alvan Talcott who we usually associate with Connecticut. The Bradley family was one of the founding families of New Haven and Guilford. As such Dr. Talcott devoted a lot of effort into recording their family history. Even though Samuel Cornel Bradley left Guilford as a young man Dr. Talcott used his sources and connections to keep track of Samuel’s family. In his notes he records the marriage of Samuel and Abigail. He writes, “Lived in Vt.” Of their children he writes,” Electa, b. 1781; mar Thomas Goss. ___Sylvia, b 1783; mar Samuel Griffin. ____ Theron, b 1785 ; mar Jane Bowens. _____ Dorcus, b 1788; mar Dea. David Hamilton.____ Ruth, mar Warren Payson.____ Samuel, dy. ____Cynthia, died 1846; unmar. ____Samuel, d ae 24; unmar. ____ Abigail, mar Horace Halbert.” _____________ Given this collection of information we can form a more complete picture of the family of Samuel and Abigail. The Sunderland record clears up the Leity/Lucy question. Leity is derived from the Lecty born in 1781 in Sunderland. Lecty is a family name for Electa just as Silvey is a pet name for Sylvia. We also need to add to our traditional list the sisters Ruth and Dorcus who got lost in the years after the Sunderland document and before the baptismal record in Essex. ________ Electa 1781-1836_______Sylvia 1783-1873 ______Theron 1785-1867 _____ Dorcus 1787-1866 _____ Ruth 1789 ______ Samuel 1791-1792 ____ Cynthia 1793-1846 _____Samuel 1796-1822 ____ Abigail 1799-1867. _____________ Abigail married Horace Halbert September 15, 1822. The marriage is found in the Essex town records volume-1 page 281. Her death is also recorded October 3, 1867 at the age of 68 years, 4 months and 12 days. That suggests a date of birth on May 21, 1799. In a collection of Chittenden County biographies is a biography for Hon. Alfred B. ( Bradley) Halbert. His parents are listed as Horace Halbert and Abigail Bradley. It references his maternal grandfather, Samuel Bradley a pioneer of Essex._____ Electa Bradley married Thomas Goss of Barkhamsted, Litchfield, Connecticut. In 1810 the family is in Norfolk, Connecticut where their first 4 children were baptized. They named their oldest son Samuel Bradley Goss. After a brief sojourn in New York with his brothers the family moved to Essex. Census records indicate that some of their children were born in Connecticut, some in New York and some in Vermont. In the deed records we find a deed between Samuel and his daughter who he identifies as Electa Goss of Essex. The deed is dated March 14, 1831. We also have a deed dated October 2, 1837 that starts “Thomas Goss and the heirs of Electa Goss late of Essex.” There are any number of land transactions between the families of the sisters. In the Congregational records we have a death record that notes Electa Goss died in 1836. Electa named a daughter Dorcus, after her grandmother, and another Abigail, after her mother. Dorcus and Abigail in turn named daughters Electa. There is a burial in the Bradley plot in the Essex Common Burial Ground that puzzled me for a long time. “Goss, Vira, 1808, dau of Tho & Electa Goss, Ae 3 mo.” __________ Dorcus Bradley married David Hamilton September 20, 1807. The name Dorcus comes from her grandmother Dorcus Strong Brownson. Their marriage is found in the town records Vol. 1 page 119. David Hamilton, like his father in law, served as a Deacon in the Congregational Society. His name is prominent in Essex history. In the Vermont state records there is a card that notes her death. “Dorcus Bradley Hamilton age 79, Parents, Bradley, Husband Dea. David Hamilton. Date April 19, 1866, Burial Elmwood (Burlington).” There is a collection of letters that have survived written by Dorcus’s sister Sylvia’s (Silvey in the Sunderland record) children. Some of them written by Sylvia’s daughter Electa named after her sister. Sylvia had married Samuel Griffin. There are references in the letters to news concerning Aunt Dorcus and Deacon Hamilton and the Halberts. An excerpt "We heard a few days ago that cousin Almon Griffin died a few weeks ago, he lived in Minnesota. Uncle Dan is also dead, died over a year ago, he went with Almon. Dea. Hamilton is dead, Aunt is living. Uncle Theron is living, lives near the center. Uncle & Aunt Halbert are living at their old farm". The local school system was divided into neighborhood districts. We find David Hamilton, Thomas Goss and Ruth Payson living in the same neighborhood._________ The marriage of Ruth Bradley to Warren Payson is found in Vol. 1 of the town records page 155. The marriage record is dated December 30, 1813. “On the 30th day of Dec. AD 1813 Warren Payson & Ruth Bradley both of Essex were duly joined in marriage.” This is the only record for Warren. In the 1820 Census for Essex Ruth is listed as the head of the house with a daughter. In the 1830 census we find as part of her father Samuel’s household persons that are probable Ruth and her family. We find a number of land deeds filed under Ruth’s name the last one dated in June of 1841. We have a deed dated in November of 1831 between Thomas Goss and Ruth. In the Congregational records as part of Ruth’s church history is the notation “Dismissed 1836.” This indicates that she had moved to a different congregation. In the congregation where her father Samuel Bradley had served as Deacon she was referred to as “Ruth Bradley.”