John Harding Bradley, 1828-1873

Eber Bradley married Elsea Rynearson October 30, 1827 in Hamilton, Butler County Ohio. The 1840 census taken in nearby Milford notes that Eber Bradley was the father of seven sons. The family history provides a list of their names ; Eber Jr., John, Frank, Fernando, Jacob, Abraham, Garrett, William and Stephen. Working backward from the few know dates of birth you would expect John to be born in 1828/1829. ---------- Census records track Eber to Huron/ Yellow Spring/ Benton, Iowa. At one time or another a single location went by those three names. The Iowa census records note that the Bradley family arrived in Iowa in 1843. A biographical note for William Bradley notes he moved to Iowa with his father in 1843. John does not appear in the Iowa census records with his father. Tracking him has proven to be a distinct challenge. Evidence for him is circumstantial. But the evidence never the less is quite compelling.--------- There is a rich trail for a John H Bradley in California. He appears in the 1870 census in Township-2 Santa Barbara, Ca. The census noted that he was 42 (1828 ) born in Ohio. That area would later become Ventura, Ventura County. John H Bradley became a well know citizen in venture. In 1871 he founded the Ventura Signal the area’s first newspaper. ---------- Probably due to his standing in the community his cemetery record is quite detailed; Born Oxford, Butler, Ohio, 16 March 1828. Died Ventura, California 11 September 1873. He is buried in the Cemetery Park in Ventura. Oxford and the Milford from the 1840 Ohio census for the family of Eber Bradley are subsets of the same location. There are bits and pieces of John’s history scattered on the various genealogical web sites. Most quote his grandchildren as the source of the material. Noted as John “H” Bradley in various historical references his grandchildren remember the “H” standing for Hardin/Hardon. In all likelihood the “H” stood for Harding his grandfather’s name. There is a line that is quoted from his obituary, “he removed to Iowa with his father in 1843” ---------- So he have a John H Bradley born in the same location as the son of Eber Bradley, in the year that we would have supposed, moving to Iowa with his father in the same year that history records Eber, arriving in Iowa, the bearer of a distinctive Bradley family name. What are the chances that John H Bradley is not the son of Eber and Elsey Bradley? ---------- John Bradley married Sarah Ellen (Nellie) Newby December 7, 1865 in Linden, San Joaquin, CA. --------- John / Eber / Harding / Stephen / Stephen / Stephen of Guilford, CT