Note: If your time is limited, please at least read to “Challenge” at
the end of this post
Dragon Creek Run, public
domain photo by Brad Killian.
We have covered William Miller’s ancestry, as well Rebecca
Bradford’s father’s family, pretty thoroughly for the last several posts, and I
am now drawn back to Rebecca’s maternal grandfather, affectionately dubbed by
some of us as “Red Lion Sam”-- Samuel Bradford of New Castle County , Delaware
Let’s review the little we do know about him, with the sources
being his will, a couple of land records, and his son’s gravestone:
RED LION SAM
Born: Approx.
1690 (estimated from his approximate marriage year)
Married: Approx.
1720 (estimated from his son William’s birth year)
Died: April 20,
1767, Red Lyon Hundred, New Castle
County , Delaware
Spouse: Margret
(as spelled in the will)
Children:
William born 1729 (according to the
headstone d. October 3, 1795, age 66)
Sara (birth date unknown; this is
Rebecca Bradford Miller’s mother)
Martha [birth date unknown]
Land: Bought land
parcel called “Dragon Swamp ” (on Dragon Creek Run - see picture above) in New
Castle County , Delaware
Religion:
Unknown, but his son, William, and grandson, Samuel, were both buried in Old
Drawyer’s Church in Odessa , New Castle County , Delaware Ulster ),
it is a compelling clue.
Dragon
Run Wetlands May 29th, 2007, by Alex Zorach
This isn’t a bad start, but we have to ask, who are his
parents and siblings? Was he the immigrant ancestor? Where did the family come
from – Scotland , Ireland , England , or …?? Years of research
have proved fruitless in answering these questions.
While we have traced Rebecca’s paternal line of Bradford’s
to Northern Ireland (though
we have not been able to pin down a town or county), the Allen Family Record
says that these two Bradford lines are
completely unrelated, so no clues there.
I think immigration records are going to be a bust for us2,
and while you can find the name Bradford in various records of Northern Ireland3,
most of these are 19th century records and not pertinent to finding
our Samuel who lived 100 years earlier.
And of course earlier researchers seem to be as confused as
we are, as evidenced by this note by a wonderful, but stymied researcher named
Mrs. Layton:
"A genealogist who did Maryland research, named Mrs. Layton, gave all of her
research papers to the Maryland Historical Society4 and one of the
archivists copied this for me: "From Layton File G5077 Box 9 - Believe Bradford’s
in W. PA and MD before the line was settled; but not those in Cecil Co, MD, and
Delaware. Possibly those in Red Lion
arrived while Delaware
was part of PA. Looks like Delaware
Bradford’s were of William Bradford of the PA line, while the Cecil Co
Bradford’s were of the William Bradford line from Massachusetts . What happened to Samuel who
died in 1767, had a son William? Was Samuel who died 1782 the son of Samuel who
died in 1767? Or was he the son of William, the grandson of Samuel who died in
1767? Samuel of Red Lion, DE, might prove to be the son of William of Sussex -
Bradford Hall is not far from Reheboth-Angola, DE, where William lived." (If anyone can make sense of the preceding paragraph,
you are better than me – Donna)
Other researchers have spent untold hours trying to find
more information about Red Lion Sam, but to no avail. However, with more
genealogical records being made available all the time (especially through
Family Search and Ancestry), I have not lost hope. I invite all you great
members of the Miller-Bradford Genealogy group to join in the search for our
wonderful Red Lion Sam.
CHALLENGE
Here is the newest challenge that I think we might all
consider. Let’s trace the paternal lines forward
from Red Lion Sam in hopes of finding a current descendant who is willing to
participate in the Bradford DNA study (http://www.familytreedna.com/public/bradford/). In fact, if you know of a descendant of one
of Rebecca’s brothers, or in some other way think you know of, or are, a
descendant of Red Lion Sam, please let us
know!
I think the DNA kit costs somewhere between $100 and $200,
and I would imagine that if this person could be found, there are many of you
in this Miller-Bradford Group who would be willing to kick in a few bucks
towards paying for the test. I understand it is just requires an easy swab from
the inside of the mouth.
Due to the scarceness of colonial records, and the nearly
complete lack of records of Northern
Ireland during that era, this may be the
only way we will ever be able to trace this particular line. And who knows?
Perhaps this Samuel Bradford will finally be our link to the Governor! Let me
know what you all think!
Dragon Run Marsh is home to an amazing
variety of birds
such as this Common Yellowthroat
Footnotes:
2. http://www.hsd.org/gengd.htm: “Through much of the colonial period, New
Castle served as a major port of entry for ships from the British Isles.
Because Delaware was part of the British Empire , the journey was considered to be one of
internal migration, which did not require the same (or
apparently any!!) type of
record keeping as did immigration from a foreign country. Thus, few passenger
lists exist. Genealogists should not expect to find information in Delaware sources for ancestors who entered through New Castle but immediately
passed on to another colony.
Another complicating factor for the study of early Delaware ancestors
concerns boundary lines. The boundaries of Delaware
did not reach their present configuration until 1760, due primarily to the long
battle over control of much of this territory waged by the Penn family of Pennsylvania and the Calvert family of Maryland . It is always wise to check the
records of both these states plus Virginia
when researching Delaware families, for
although Delaware
is a small state it is part of a peninsula. Many families migrated more than
once within the Delmarva Peninsula . The small
size of Delaware
and its rich history provide genealogical researchers with special
opportunities (I think they mean that as a euphemism
for “ridiculous and uber-challenging research problems!). A significant
number of its early records have been published or microfilmed, while others
are easily accessible in the state's major genealogical collections.”
4. I am indebted to
Bradford researcher, Shirley Ramsey, for this
copy. After receiving it, I researched the rest of Mrs. Layton’s records held
at the Marilyn Historical Society, and they shed no further light on Red Lion
Sam, other than what we already know of him.
