The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1879-03-08
DEATH OF ANOTHER OLD CITIZEN.
The ID cease Of joseph T.. Bradbury.
A Tribute 10 the Memory OF a Pious and
Useful Woman.

Another of our oldest aud most respected
citizens Mr.. Joseph +. Bradbury. died o.
Friday night, the 2Sth ultimo, at his resi-
dence, in Mechanics Valley, near the Uniol
VI. T.. Church. The ,iecea ed was 4 nativ,
of Portland. Maine, and became 4 residen
Of Cecil county abaut thirty years ago
having purchased a farm near the | nior
Church. on which he resided for seveIa
years, subsequently removing from it Il
the Scotland Point farm, opposite French
town, from 'shIch. abou, twenty six year:
ago, he renewed 20 Elkton. In Portland
he had h.eR i promiueu; merchant. carry
Jag ON large wholesale grocery and ship
ping business owning vessels and shares it
coasters engaged in a lucrative trade. lie
began merchandising in the 90 old log cabin
in the " Hollow, an old building that stood
un the site of the store house now known
as the 4" Bee Hive, where our enterprising
merchant. Mr.. Il. q. Reese. now conducts
a thriving trade, and which old log cabin
was the rendezvous OF the Old Wings in
the Henry Clay and hard cider days, and
around which cluster very many interest
ing political "reminiscences, which we have
not the space now to rrrsn After several
years spent there in general merchandising,
Mr. bradbury engaged in the livery bust
ness 70! some time, and subsequently be-
gan the dry goods and grocery business at
the old "t;oitlsr" corner, at the juno; ION
IF Bow street. which store house after
wards, while III the occupancy Of John l..
Alexander n Bro was destroyed 10y fire,
ard the unbuilt foundation Of which still
disiigures so prominent i business corner
( III the town.
In 1868 Mr. bradbury, at the time i
widower. married Miss Harriet MafiJ Of
this county, very exemplary aud pious
woman, who still survives him. After his
secoud marriage, he again discontinued
business and removed to the Maiiit farm
where he resided until his death. The
only offices no held in the county were
those of justice of the peace and Judge Of
the oI phans' cont, to which he was elected
! by the tnion party in Cecil. In politics
] Nt Was tIN aHh w Aln- III
| Bradbury's family consisted of five persons
when he first came TO Cecil, Two sons and
a daughter. His eldest son. Joseph. still
we'll remembered as an amiable aud re
specied young man, died Of consumption
about eighteen years ago. Five years after
wards Mrs. bradbury died. She was a
/ lady of culture aud refinement. a great
, reader, aud who had received 4 fine cduca-
ton. her family having been ona OF the
leading families Of PortlaEd, Maine, their
connections to day embracing prominent
citizens of that city of the highest stand.
ing. In the Winter OF 1870, his only daugh
ter died, Mary bradbury, who married Rev
Lewis H. Jackson, at the lime ! member
and licensed exhorter IN the NJ. l.. ChuI CHI.
but subsequently promoted to the minis
/ try, which he afterwards left and became
a clergyman in the Protestant Episcopal
Church. Mar bradbury inherited from
her mother a decided literary taste and pas
sion for books Her intellect was acute,
her memory the best, and hsr love of kuoxl
thcu 'hC PUT hdtii al
to the best possible use, and although he,
father had not the means to procure hei
the best educational facilities, yet by per
seyering study aud application, she became
possibly the best informed young woman
Of her time in Elkton. Coming from the
extreme North, where she had been uuac.
customed to see SO much ignorance and
degradai ion among the colored people, her
mind was early impressed with 4 sense of
obligation devolving upon her to make
some effort TO aid in their intellectual and
religious elevation. Thus impressed, she
instituted 4 mission among them, taught
the children religious instruction, helped
the old aud gray haired TO comprehend
Bible iniunctIoBs. Ia her church. tn,
Methodist Episcopal, she was no less &c
tive and useful. She Ignored personal dec.
Grafton a. part of her individual creed. and
from the early age of ten years took un
usual interest III the welfare Of the church
At the Old - Uuicn,' in connection with
Miss Hannah Warburton. the daughter oil
:. Father WaIburton, highly respected,
exemplary and useful local preacher OF tn,
VI. f. Church, father Of William W@Ibur-
ton, and grandfather uf William I. War
burton, ESP, now lawyer III practice at
the Elaton bar, she was particularly zeal
Gus, aud was one of the first women in
Cecil whose voice was heard in the church
in public prayer and exhortation. In those
days participation in public service by
females was much less common than now
and We distinctly remember that Miss Mary
Bradbury vas the first woman we ever
heard pray in public.
After these many years We are glad to
have the opportunity to pay this deserved
tribute To her memory. She was a good
woman, thought by some TO bs peculiar IN
her ideas of religion, particularly 10y those
who did not comprshen nd her christian sin
certify, but none tho less the means of much
good among her fellow men and women.
Mary Bradbury suffered, like Others, some
social osiracism on account OF hsr work
among the lowly. In the personal ir.seres,
sho took in the spiritual welfare Of the
blacks, unpaid aud unrecngnized, she was
but pioneer in later christian missionary
work among people whose moral condi.
ton subsequently became the subiec, Of
organized church work. She was simply
in advance Of the times in the selection of
the held OF her christian enterprise, and
like all others, suffered at the time crit
cisn and social prescription.
Her death WAS fitting termination of
her life. She, like her brother, fell an
early victim to consumption. but the friends
/ who witnessed her dissolution testify that
she died most triumphant death, with a
smile on her face, and exhibiting tho ut
/ most christian confidence in the merits of
/ her Redeemer. There was force in her
death as in her life. She was humble and
unpretend;ug. looking for higher reward
above, which she has undoubtedly received.
OF the Bradbury family but one mt mbcr