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| Glancing Back |With btephen SmalleyAuctioned to the h ighest bidder J unua r\ It. l «H»tWhen Mrs Glenn J Westmeyer, the former Nelle Hawkins, gave me this photo of the William Bradbury home, which no longer exists, she said it was the home of her grandfather To me, that was interesting because I already knew that her other grandfather had built the beautiful home which is now the Rectory at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church on Beechmont Avenue The Bradbury home was on Bradbury Road at Locust Corner but when William built his house he built it at Pleasant Hill and the Post Office there was called Locust Comer. At the time she gave me the photograph I was not aware of the chain of tragedy which began at this home. Shortly after this I read the most fascinating and lengthy and detailed diarv of Lora Behymer who kept it through the years 1896 1909. In this diary I read of the chain of tragedy but was not aware of the fact that the first link of the tragedy was this house Emerick Bradbury had a copy of the diary and he still Jives at I/cust Corner In fact the tragedy involved four members of his family About this time Mr and Mrs Robert J Smith of Forest Road brought a box of interesting papers which they had found scattered all over the vandalized home they had purchased - the William Bradbury home, which they had hoped to restore but couldn’t. Old newspapers, Bradbury tax receipts and letters and photographs were in the box and this was the straw that broke the camel’s back, my curiosity was aroused. So I got in touch with Emerick Bradbury’s brother Houlton Bradbury, because Emerick and his sisters, Thelma (Mrs Carl Wolff) and Garcia (Mrs. Albert M. Wolfer) said Houlton had the Bradbury story down in black and white. This was true and five of the pieces of black and white were so interesting that they make up the balance of this sketch First, he had a deed, an original handwritten, yellowed with age deed dated April 5, 1808. It was for seventy-seven acres of land in Pierce Township. Clermont County and the above pictured house was built on this acreage The land was sold by Michael Lower to Jesse Swem for $85.00.He also had another deed for the same seventy-seven acres which were sold November 19. 1827 by Jesse Swem to Houlton s great-grandfather Ichabod Bradbury but the value had risen in those twenty vears to $400.00 because Swem had built on it ~ one building was a log houseThe original Bradbury home on the north side of Bradbury HoadIchabod Bradbury had two sons, Thomas and William These sons inherited the seventy-seven acres and on a part of it William built the house which begins this sketch. These boys were both born in this log house long before ^holographs were being made The above photo was taken many years later vhen the house was no longer being used as a place of habitation The young ady standing in the doorway is Garcia Bradbury who is now Mrs. Albert M Wolfer. sister of Houlton, Emerick and Thelma and great granddaughter of Ichabod Bradbury.AN ood plough used by IchabodIchabod began housekeeping with this plough The handles have long since been lost but the wood moldboard is there This plough was one of the favorite souvenirs and heirlooms kept by Ichabod's descendants and when the family left Locust Corner Houlton took it with him. He has si neb given it to the Her mont County Historical Society .In 1848 Ichabod built a fine brick home just opposite the log house* This became the home of his son Thomas and here Thomas' six children were born One was a son, Bert Byron Bradbury who was living with his widowed mother when he married His first child was born in the brick house but he purchased {^e an(* around it and in the log house were born four more children. Houlton was one of these as was Emerick and two girls Margretta and Doris Early in this century Bert purchased the hr iek house and moved in Here his last two children were bomThe brick home built in 1848 still stands on the south side of Hradbur\ HoadIt was in 1908 that the chain of tragedy struck in both of these homes. William’s and Bert Byron’s On November 19 that year, Aaron, son of William, died of typhoid fever and as the custom was then, the funeral took place in the home. This was the frame home pictured at the beginning of this column Bert’s oldest daughter, thirteen year old Alberta, played the organ at the funeral which took place at 10 a.m. Sunday. November 22, 1908. Soon after the service she and her brothers and sisters and grandmother went dow*n the road a short distance to the brick house, their home They were to prepare the dinner for those who attended the burial at Mt Moriah Cemetery • An accident caused a container of coal oil to ignite and explode Flaming kerosene struck a stocking of the youngest child, three year old Thelma and her nine year old sister Margretta was trying to extinguish the flames when Alberta ran past these two in an effort to escape the holocaust in the kitchen Alberta who had been drenched with the flaming oil was a human torch and inadvertantly set the clothing of Margretta on fire. Alberta was taken up to the frame house and died a few hours later In the very room where earlier she had played the organ for her cousin’s funeral Margretta lingered on for six weeks when she died.My curiosity was not yet satisfied so we went up to 839 Bradbury Road and met the young couple who are presently living in the brick house. Mr and Mrs C. G. Roetting.They very graciously gave us the fifty dollar tour of the historical old home, both downstairs and up, even into the fruit cellar. The house was exactly as I had ekpected it to be My curiosity was satisfied and that's the end of this story. Stephen B. Smalley
Newspaper Details
Forest Hills Journal
Cincinnati, Ohio, US
Tue, Jun 10, 1975
Page 16
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 18 Jan 2025
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