JOSEPH E. BRADLEY. Industriously engaged in the prosecution of a calling upon which the wealth and prosperity of our nation largely depend, Joseph E. Bradley, a well-known farmer of Madison County, has owned and occupied his present farm since 1900, and in its management has met with signal success, He was born August 19, 1851, in Brown County, Ohio, a son of William Bradley, Jr. He is of English ancestry on the paternal side, his grandfather, William Bradley, Sr., having emigrated from London, England, to the United States, settling in Ohio.
William Bradley, Jr., was born and reared in Brown County, Ohio. Early in life he migrated to Missouri, taking his family with him, hoping there to find a more favorable opportunity for advancing his financial condition, Not satisfied with the change, he subsequently returned East, locating in Indiana, where both he and his faithful wife spent the closing years of their lives, He married Susan Sells, and to them eleven children were born, as follows: Harvey, deceased; Joseph E., the subject of this brief sketch; Susan, deceased; Harzella; William; John; Addie; Samuel; Martha; Lincoln; and Cora, deceased.
Obtaining the rudiments of his education in the district schools of Ohio, Joseph E. Bradley subsequently attended school in Missouri for awhile, later completing his studies in Indiana. In March, 1901, he took up his residence in Madison County, and has since been numbered among its citizens of worth, A farmer from choice, he rented land a number of years, but in 1900 bought from William Davis his present farm of eighty acres, located just at the edge of the city of Summitville, on the Bradley Gravel road, and as an agriculturist is meeting with gratifying results, each year reaping abundant harvests of the crops common to this part of tbe state.
Mr. Bradley married, in 1882, Martha Wilson, who died in 1909, her body being buried in Eden Cemetery, in Hancock County, Indiana, Three children were born of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Bradley: William E., who was graduated from the Summitville High School, and was just at the point of entering the law school when his untimely death occurred July 11, 1902.
The following excerpt is taken from the eulogy dedicated to his son at the time of his demise: “Into the peace and happiness of a bright and sunny day burst the gathering storm, It passes quickly, but ere ’tis gone it scatters sorrow and gloom to its unhappy victims. Young Mr. Bradley departed this life at his home, aged nineteen years, just in the flower of young manhood with all the promises of tender and mature manhood, He graduated from the common schools of Center Township in Madison County in 1898 and at the Marion High School, also at the Summitville High School in 1902, He would have entered Indiana University in the fall of 1902 ,had he lived, He united with the United Brethren church in 1898, In his school work he was ever faithful and was loved by both- teachers and pupils, He spent most of his life in Madison County. He came of the best of parentage and his young life was a model for other young men to pattern after, His loss is sadly felt in the community of Summitville, Indiana, and had he lived, no doubt he would have written his name high in the scroll of honor,”
Margaret, wife of Dr. A. L. Thurston; and Minnie, living with her father, are the living children of Mr. and Mrs. Bradley, Fraternally Mr. Bradley is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons, No, 691, and of the Knights of Pythias, Gas Belt Lodge, No, 361, Religiously he belongs to the United Brethren Church, while his daughters are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.