The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
John Bradley (P119676)
1751-1824
Private Soldier in the American War for Independence
John Bradley was the first of three sons born to Ichem Bradley and his wife, McGee-Bradley. He was born 10 August 1751 in Cumberland County, Virginia.
In the fall of 1777, at the age of 26, John is believed to have volunteered to serve in the forces of the United States from Culpepper County, Virginia, joining a company in the regiment commanded by Colonel Pendleton. This unit was marched to various locations through Frederick, Maryland and into Pennsylvania, passing through Lancaster to join General Washington’s forces, who were then moving to oppose General Howe’s British troops occupying Philadelphia.
A short time later in February 1778, John volunteered to serve in another company, led by Captain John Roberts. This company became a part of the unit guarding the British prisoners of war composing what has been called the “Convention Army” or General Burgoyne’s captured British Army from The Battle of Saratoga. These prisoners had been marched from Saratoga, New York, by way of Boston, Massachusetts to Albemarle County, Virginia where they were held in barracks near Charlottesville, Virginia. They were later moved further down the Shenandoah Valley to Winchester, during Cornwallis’ invasion of Virginia shortly before General Washington’s victory over Lord Cornwallis’ British Army at The Battle of Yorktown.
Sometime around 1785 John Bradley married Miss Martha Mosbey of Cumberland County. Together they had a daughter named Nancy whose marriage to my 3rdgreat grandfather, Thomas Wilkerson spawned a Bradley-Wilkerson lineage providing me with two of my 4thgreat grandfathers—Turner Wilkerson (P320142) & John Bradley (P119676). John and Martha Bradley had eight other offspring in addition to their daughter Nancy; they were: Thomas, David, Ichem, Edward, Martha, Polly & Sally. Thomas and David both served in the Virginia Militia during the War of 1812.
Even though Virginia had been providing militia units and regiments to the Continental Line since the beginning of the Revolution in 1775, the war for American Independence did not physically come home to Virginia until early in 1781. Prior to his time in service and his subsequent marriage to Martha, John was most likely farming in Cumberland County as so many other families were doing. This area of Virginia in the 1770’s and 80’s was still pretty rural, as the great westward migration to Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio was only just beginning.
There is a moderate degree of confusion as to whether John’s death occurred sometime in the 1820’s in Cumberland County, Virginia or a decade later in Rutherford County, Tennessee—either way; his family knows him as a patriot, pioneer, part of the foundation of America and our grandfather.
Respectfully Submitted,
Turner Lee Wilkerson III
(SAR # 187468)
Send a biographical sketch of your patriot!
Patriot biographies must be the original work of the author, and work submitted must not belong to another person or group, in observance with copyright law. Patriot biographies are to be written in complete sentences, follow the established rules of grammar, syntax and punctuation, be free of typographical errors, and follow a narrative format. The narrative should unfold in a logical manner (e.g. the narrative does not jump from time period to time period) or have repeated digressions, or tell the history of the patriot's line from the patriot ancestor to the author. The thinking here is that this is a patriot biography, not a lineage report or a kinship determination project or other report published in a genealogy journal. The biography should discuss the qualifying service (military, patriotic, civil) of the patriot ancestor, where the service was rendered, whether this was a specific state or Continental service, as well as significant events (as determined by the author) of the patriot's life. This is the entire purpose of a patriot's biography.
Additional guidelines around the Biography writeup can be found here:
Send your submission1, in a Microsoft Word compatible format, to patriotbios@sar.org for inclusion in this space 1Upon submission of a patriot biography, the patriot biography becomes the property of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, and may be edited to conform to the patriot biography submission standards.