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Archiver > BRADFORD > 2003-09 > 1064455321


From: Adam Bradford <>
Subject: Re: [BRADFORD-L] SAMUEL BRADFORD/SARAH FITZGERALD
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2003 19:02:12 -0700 (PDT)
In-Reply-To: <2d.343239ad.2ca20fa1@aol.com>


The very helpful and gracious Ms. Brewster did a
lookup for me on this info about Sarah Fitzgerald
hailing from County Cork, Ireland. The following is
from the Phelps County Missouri Heritage Book, Vol. I,
pages 63/64:

"Adam Bradford descended from one of the earliest
colonial families in America. He was born at Snow
Hill, Maryland on the Pocomoke River, in 1775, the son
of Samuel Bradford and Sarah (Fitzgerald) Bradford.
Sarah was born in County Cork, Ireland. Samuel
Bradford's birthplace is not known, but he was a
soldier of the American Revolution, serving as a
private in Captain William Purnell's Co., Sinepuxen
Battalion, during 1780 in Worcester County, Maryland.
The will of Samuel Bradford, who died in 1810, is on
file in Worcester County. It gives the names of his
children. Two of Samuel's sons, William Bradford and
James Bradford, might have served with their father in
the Colonial Army. Samuel's second wife was Tabitha
Fitzgerald, a sister to Sarah."

This and the rest of the information on Adam's
descendants that follows it was contributed to the
Phelps County Heritage Book by Vivian (Fuller)
Bradford, a contributor to "Bradford Descendants" by
Vance A. Bradford. Vance praised her in the book,
saying "Vivian is one of the important contributors to
this section of the family record and continues to dig
up and send in missing information." Vance was
referring to the section in the book on Peter
Bradford, son of Adam.

I'm wary of using the Phelps County Heritage book as
the final word. It appears that the Phelps book is a
compendium of individual submissions that may or may
not be accurate in all their parts.

For instance, Vivian says that Samuel's second wife
was Tabitha Fitzgerald, and that she was a sister of
Samuel's first wife Sarah. I doubt this is correct,
but I think if it's an error it's bred of honest
confusion about Samuel's wives and their last names.

It's worthwhile to look at what the primary source for
the name Fitzgerald is. It comes from a letter written
by Samuel Hancock, son of Samuel Bradford's daughter
Sarah. In this letter, written in 1888, Samuel Hancock
asserts, "my grandmother was a Fitzgarel. I don't know
her first name." Vance Bradford uses this letter as
evidence in his chapter on Samuel, where he lists
Sarah's surname as unknown, but writes that Samuel's
second wife Tabitha was said to have been a
Fitzgerald.

From this it appears that Vance Bradford was assuming
that Samuel Hancock was referring not to his natural
grandmother, Sarah, but rather to his foster
grandmother, Tabitha. It seems to me that's open to
interpretation. Most people (myself included) assume
Samuel Hancock was referring to his actual
grandmother, Sarah - and therefore most people call
her a Fitzgerald and leave Tabitha's surname unknown.

Even aside from that, I think Vance Bradford must have
viewed with some suspicion the information contained
in Samuel Hancock's letter since he refrained from
asserting in the book with certainty that he knew
either of Samuel's wives last names. Again, he wrote
only that Tabitha "may have been a Fitzgerald" I think
this might have been due to the fact that Samuel
Hancock was very old when he wrote the letter, not to
mention that he wrote it almost 80 years after
Samuel's death.

All of this leads me to look warily upon the statement
that Sarah was from County Cork, Ireland. Whatever
Vivian's source was for this information, I'm viewing
it as potential clue rather than an established fact.


--- wrote:
> In the Phelps County, MO Heritage book it says that
> the parents of Adam
> Bradford are Samuel Bradford and Sarah Fitzgerald,
> and thatSarah was born in
> County Cork,
> Ireland.
>
> Tabitha Bradford is mentioned as a daughter of John
> Tarr, Sr. in his will on
> ocmuseum.org. Also, the second wife of James
> Bradford (son of Samuel) was
> Sarah Holland Tarr.
>
>
>
>


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