1316–1317. William Bradley was born in Bingley (Minden-Bradley?), Yorkshire, England, on Saturday, September 4, 1619, and died on May 29, 1691. Alice Prichard of New Haven, Connecticut was born about 1624, and died in 1692. They were married in Springfield, Massachusetts, on Tuesday, February 18, 1645. She took the name Alice Bradley. He is the son of William, (Sir) and Joanna (Waddington) Bradley. She is the daughter of Roger and Frances (_____) Prichard. They had eight children:
| i. | Joseph Bradley was baptized in New Haven Colony on January 4, 1645, and died in 1705. He married Silence Brockett on 25 Oct 1667. | |
| ii. | Martha Bradley was born in New Haven Colony in October, 1648, and died in 1692-3. She married Samuel Munson on 26 Oct 1665; her second marriage was to Eliasaph Preston; her third marriage was to Daniel Sherman, widower of Abiah Street. Very much more information on the Munson family is available in The Munson Record; A Genealogical and Biographical Account of Captain Thomas Munson and His Descendants, by Myron A. Munson, M.A., 1895 | |
| iii. | Abraham Bradley was born in New Haven Colony on October 24, 1650, and died on October 19, 1718. He married Hannah Thompson on 25 Dec 1673. | |
| iv. | Mary Bradley was born in New Haven Colony on April 30, 1653, and died on September 26, 1724. She married Samuel Todd, son of Christopher and Grace (Middlebrook) Todd [#1332/3], on November 26, 1668. Among their children was Abigail who married John Gilbert. (Read about the early New Haven Gilbert family which is separate and distinct from the main Gilbert line of this genealogy.) | |
| v. | Benjamin Bradley was born in New Haven Colony on April 8, 1657, and died in 1728. He married Elizabeth Thompson on October 29, 1677. She was the daughter of John and Ellen (Harrison) Thompson, born June 3, 1657, in New Haven and died on November 3, 1718, in New Haven. He married a total of three times. His second wife was Mary Sackett, daughter of John and Agnes (Tinkham) Sackett, another line in this genealogy. | |
| vi. | Hester Bradley was born in New Haven Colony on September 29, 1659. She died young. | |
| vii. | Nathanial Bradley [#658]: He was born in New Haven Colony on February 26, 1660/1, and died on August 17, 1743. | |
| viii. | Sarah Bradley was born in New Haven, Connecticut Colony, on June 21, 1665. She married Samuel Brockett on 23 (or 21) May 1682. |
William Bradley was unmarried when his mother died. He joined Theophilus Eaton, William Davenport, and a dedicated group who sailed to Boston Harbor in 1638. They were supported by the Warwick Patent:
In June, 1638, the Company of Lords and Gentlemen all grantors of the Warwick Patent made John Winthrop, Jr., governor for them of the jurisdiction of Connecticut and sent him with a large amount of money and a great army of carpenters, masons, gardeners, and experienced engineers to found a settlement at the mouth of the Connecticut River with proper accommodations for themselves, but more especially to construct such houses as might be fit to receive gentlemen of quality presently come from England.
The construction of the settlement took three years. In 1641, Eaton, Davenport, Rev. Peter Prudden, the young William Bradley, and others finally reached New Haven. Bradley took the oath of fidelity on August 5, 1644.
Some interesting reading on the Warwick Patent and the history of the settlement of the mouth of the Connecticut River is available at the Old Saybrook Web site.
Note: This genealogy originally included Isaac Bradley as a son between
Joseph and Martha. However, the author has removed that entry until its
correctness can be established.