Thursday Throwback – Joseph Berry Bradford

Joseph Berry Bradford, my great-grandfather. A very small picture cropped from a group shot of a man who I know little about. First I’ll have to be honest, my great-grandmother was his mistress and later his wife. The group shot is of them with their children.

I don’t know much about him, other than he too was a child of a mistress. He died alone in North Carolina of heart disease with no listed relatives despite his children still living at the time. I found his death certificate a few years back. I’ve not heard many tales of him more about how he was gone than there. My grandmother was more raised by her Uncle Brown than her mother or father from what I gather. He was a cobbler and a very nice man. I remember meeting him and liking him immediately. Now looking at it with adult eyes I’m glad my grandmother had him in her life.