Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

April 4, 1691, Hannah Heath, of Haver-
hill, and rose to prominence in the life
and affairs of the town toward the close
of the seventeenth century. The fifth
garrison was in his house and under his
command. The Bradley family was
among- those of early Haverhill who suf-
fered severely from the Indian raids. In
[697 Joseph, Martha and Sarah Bradley
were captured by the Indians. On April
17, 1701, Daniel Bradley was reported
missing. The wife of Joseph Bradley
was captured twice. The garrison at his
house was surprised, February 8, 1704,
and his wife taken for the second time and
carried away. An infant child, born to
her soon afterward, died of exposure and
want, or was killed, as the following an-
cient tradition states. Hannah Bradley
received no kindness from her captors.
subsisting on bits of skin, ground nuts,
bark of trees, wild onions and lily roots,
on the terrible journey to Canada, after
the birth of her child. The child was
sickly and annoyed the Indians with its
crying. They thrust embers from the fire
in its mouth, gashed its forehead with
their knives, and finally, during her temporary
absence from it, ended its life by
impaling it on a pike. She managed to
live through the journey and was sold
to the French in Canada for eighty livres.
She was kindly treated by her owners.
In March. 1705, her husband started for
Canada on foot, with a dog and small sled,
taking with him a bag of snuff to the Gov-
ernor of Canada from the Governor of
Massachusetts. He redeemed his wife
and set sail for Boston. We are told that
during one attack on the Bradley house
she poured hot soft soap on an Indian
and killed him, and that the torture of her
child was in retaliation. Joseph Bradley
died October 3. 1729; his widow Hannah,
November 2, 1761.
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
17
(II) Isaac Bradley, son of Joseph and
Hannah (Heath) Bradley, was horn in
Haverhill, Massachusetts, in 1680. During
an Indian raid, Isaac Bradley, aged
fifteen, and Joseph Whitakcr, aged eleven,
were taken captive while in the open fields
mar Joseph Bradley's house on Parson-
age road, near the north brook. Joseph
was, tradition tells us, a large, overgrown,
ami an exceedingly clumsy boy. On their
arrival at the [ndan camp at the lake, the
boys were placed in an Indian family
until the spring, when the Indians in-
tended to take them to Canada. Isaac
contracted a fever, and the kindness and
care of the squaw alone saved his life.
On his recovery he planned to escape,
managed to get away with his companion,
and continued to the southward all night.
The Indians pursued them the following
day, and their dogs found the boys. They
gave the meat they had taken for food to
the dogs, who knew them, and were saved
by concealing themselves with the animals
in a hollow log. Some days later
they came upon an Indian camp, but es-
caped without detection. They continued
almost without food or clothing for eight
days. On the morning of the eighth day.
Joseph sank down exhausted and Isaac
Bradley went on alone, shortly afterward
reaching a settler's camp, and returning
for young Whitaker, whom he left at
Saco, continuing on to Haverhill alone.
Isaac Bradley married, at Haverhill,
Massachusetts, intentions dated May 16,
1706, Elizabeth Clement.
(III) John Bradley, son of Isaac and
Elizabeth (Clement) Bradley, was born
at Haverhill, Massachusetts, April 10,
1709. He married, and resided in Haver-
hill all his life, a prosperous and well
known member of the community.
( IV)
Lieutenant Jonathan Bradley, son
of John Bradley, was born at Haverhill,