My Genealogy Hound

JOHN J. BRADLEY.
Thirty-three years have come and gone since John J. Bradley has been numbered among the residents of Union county. His home is now on section 7, Grant township, where he owns a good farm. He was but five years of age at the time of his arrival in this county, his birth having occurred in Johnson county, Iowa, July 16, 1870. His father, James H. Bradley, was a native of Ireland, and in his boyhood days was brought to America by his parents who settled in Pennsylvania, where he was reared and educated. He became a stock-broker and followed that business in the east for many years. Eventually he removed to Johnson county, Iowa, where he opened up a good farm, upon which he made his home until his arrival in Union county in 1875. He was married in Pennsylvania to Miss Henrietta Will, a native of that state and they cast in their lot with the pioneer settlers of Union county, becoming well known among the early residents and winning the respect and regard of all who knew them. James H. Bradley opened up a farm comprising three hundred and twenty acres of land which he converted into productive fields and as the years passed gathered good crops as a reward for the care and labor which he bestowed upon his place. His last days were spent in Creston in honorable retirement from labor, where he died January 12, 1902, at the age of seventy-two years. His widow still survives at the age of seventy-one years and makes her home with a daughter in Omaha, Nebraska.

John J. Bradley was the youngest in a family of seven children, five of whom are yet living, and was reared upon the home farm, no event of special importance occurring to vary the routine of farm life for him in his boyhood days. He attended the public schools and also St. Benedict’s College, at Atchison, Kansas, and when not busy with his text-books his time was largely occupied with the labors of the fields. Since his father’s death he has purchased the interest of the other heirs in one hundred and sixty acres of the old homestead and now has an excellent farm which is well improved in accordance with modern ideas of progressive agriculture. In the midst stands a comfortable and commodious residence, while in the rear are fine substantial barns and sheds and in the pastures are seen good grades of stock. He makes a specialty of raising shorthorn cattle and Duroc Jersey hogs and this branch of his business is proving quite profitable. He possesses a strong purpose and carries forward to successful completion whatever he undertakes.

On the 31st of October, 1892, Mr. Bradley was married to Miss Mary O’Hara, a native of Ohio, and a daughter of Mike O’Hara. Their family now numbers three sons and four daughters: Edward, Catherine, Mary, Ellen, Theresa, John and Vincent.

The parents are communicants of St. Malachy’s Catholic church at Creston. In politics Mr. Bradley has been a lifelong democrat but votes somewhat independently at local elections. He has, however, been a delegate to several county conventions, and is somewhat prominent locally in the ranks of his party. For five years he has been president of the school board and is deeply interested in the cause of education and its advancement. He has already attained creditable success for one of his years and his diligence and enterprise, his salient characteristics, argue well for a successful future.