Joshua BRADFORD

1710 - 1758  (47 years)

• Name	Joshua BRADFORD
  Born	23 Jun 1710	Kingston, Plymouth, Massachusetts
  Gender	Male
  Alden-Mullins descendant?	Y
  Cause of Death	Killed by Indians
  Died	22 May 1758	Meduncook [Friendship], Knox, Maine
  Buried	Garrison Island Cemetery, E Friendship, Knox, Maine   [1]
  Person ID	I40539	Main
  Last Modified	30 Oct 2023

  
  

  Father	Israel BRADFORD,   b. 1677, Kingston, Plymouth, Massachusetts ,   d. 26 Mar 1760, Kingston, Plymouth, Massachusetts  (Age 83 years)
  Mother	Sarah BARTLETT,   b. Abt 1681, Duxbury, Plymouth, Massachusetts ,   d. 3 Apr 1761, Kingston, Plymouth, Massachusetts  (Age ~ 80 years)
  Married	27 Nov 1701	Plympton, Plymouth, Massachusetts   [2]
  Family ID	F28437	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Hannah BRADFORD,   b. 10 Apr 1719, Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts ,   d. 22 May 1758, Meduncook [Friendship], Knox, Maine  (Age 39 years)
  Married	17 Feb 1736	Kingston, Plymouth, Massachusetts   [2]
  Notes	Husband and wife were 2nd cousins
  Children	+ 1. Capt Cornelius BRADFORD,   b. 10 Dec 1737, Kingston, Plymouth, Massachusetts ,   d. 10 Feb 1790, Grand Manan, New Brunswick, Canada  (Age 52 years)   2. Winslow BRADFORD,   b. 1757, Kingston, Plymouth, Massachusetts ,   d. 22 May 1758, Friendship, Knox, Maine  (Age 1 years)   3. Sarah BRADFORD,   b. 16 Oct 1739, Kingston, Plymouth, Massachusetts ,   d. 5 Nov 1797, Meduncook [Friendship], Knox, Maine  (Age 58 years)   4. Rachel BRADFORD,   b. 28 Jan 1741, Kingston, Plymouth, Massachusetts ,   d. 28 Apr 1823, Meduncook [Friendship], Knox, Maine  (Age 82 years)   5. Mary BRADFORD,   b. 16 Mar 1744, Kingston, Plymouth, Massachusetts ,   d. 22 Jun 1792, Cornwall, Litchfield, Connecticut  (Age 48 years)   6. Meltiah BRADFORD,   b. 16 Mar 1744, Kingston, Plymouth, Massachusetts ,   d. 15 Aug 1826, Chittenden, Rutland, Vermont  (Age 82 years)   7. Joshua BRADFORD,   b. 3 Apr 1746, Kingston, Plymouth, Massachusetts ,   d. 9 May 1827, Meduncook [Friendship], Knox, Maine  (Age 81 years)   8. Hannah BRADFORD,   b. 9 Mar 1748, Kingston, Plymouth, Massachusetts ,   d. 1777, Nelson, Portage, Ohio  (Age 28 years)   9. Joseph BRADFORD,   b. 19 Mar 1751, Kingston, Plymouth, Massachusetts ,   d. Nov 1811, Farmington, Franklin, Maine  (Age 60 years)   10. Benjamin BRADFORD,   b. 28 May 1753, Kingston, Plymouth, Massachusetts ,   d. 1832, Charlotte, New Brunswick, Canada  (Age 78 years)   11. Elisha BRADFORD,   b. 15 Oct 1755, Kingston, Plymouth, Massachusetts ,   d. 23 Sep 1835, W Plattsburgh, Clinton, New Yrok  (Age 79 years)
  Last Modified	13 Sep 2021
  Family ID	F28436	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Event Map		Born - 23 Jun 1710 - Kingston, Plymouth, Massachusetts Married - 17 Feb 1736 - Kingston, Plymouth, Massachusetts Died - 22 May 1758 - Meduncook [Friendship], Knox, Maine Buried - - Garrison Island Cemetery, E Friendship, Knox, Maine  = Link to Google Earth
  Pin Legend	: Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  
  

• Headstones

  Joshua Bradford JOSHUA BRADFORD - 1710 / HIS WIFE / HANNAH BRADFORD - 1719 / MASSACRED BY INDIANS / MAY 22 1758

  
  

• Notes

  When a group of Indians attacked Friendship in May 1758, while pounding corn, the Bradfords missed hearing the garrison's alarm shots from a nearby garrison. Joshua, Hannah, and their infant son Winslow were killed. Two boys were taken to Canada by the Indians but eventually escaped and returned to Meduncook [Friendship]. The other 5 children escaped. ——- "The Boston News Letter" of June 1, 1758, quotes from a letter dated May 22, 1758, to wit: "They (the Indians) killed and scalped Mr. Bradford, his wife and Mr. Mills' wife and killed her children. Two of Mr Bradford's boys they carried off prisoners, wounded one of his daughters and a boy of Mills dangerously." Joshua Bradford was grinding corn outside that morning and did not hear the warning shots. Since he had earlier that winter saved the life of the the Chief when he was drowning, Joshua did not fear the local Indians. Sarah hid with one of her younger siblings, but two of her brothers were taken captive and brought into Canada. It is said that many years later the two boys returned to the family, but did not like living with them and returned to the Indian Villages that they had been raised in. It is also said that their daughter Melatiah had hid under the bed with her brother, Elisha. when Elisha cried, she crept out and dashed toward the fort. The Indians saw her as they were leaving and started in pursuit. One gave her an ugly wound which was supposed to have severed two lower ribs from the spine. A soldier from the fort where the other children had taken refuge, succeeded in rescuing her. —— According to the family legend from the Bradford Family of Charlotte Co. (New Brunswick) and Washington Co. (Maine), there was a terrible event that occurred at Friendship, Maine in the late 1750s. The area was then called "Meduncook" but was later changed to "Friendship" because of the horrible association the former name had with the Native people of Maine. "Friendship" signified a new beginning to the people of Maine and gave closure on this unfortunate event. The story, according to oral legend, is that Joshua Bradford, a great-grandson of Gov. William Bradford of Plymouth, Massachusetts, was brutally murdered at the hands of Indians while living at Friendship. A few years prior to this event, Joshua, along with his wife Hannah, settled the area after leaving the area of Plymouth. Sometime in a winter, during these earlier years, Joshua saved a man who had fallen through the ice, that man was actually a local Penobscot Indian chief. The two men formed a friendship. During the settlement of Friendship, the British erected a garrison on a small island in the harbor, just off the point from where the Bradford family had their homestead. The island was accessible to the mainland by foot when the tide was low. Early in the morning of May 22, 1758, a group of Indians, not from the area, proceeded to Friendship. On route to attack the garrison via the point, they came across the homestead of Joshua Bradford. Seeing the approaching Indians and believing that they were of the same tribe as the Chief that he befriended, Joshua did not take heed of the alarm shots coming from the British Garrison. Most settlers in that area were living safely at the Garrison for some time. The Indians attacked Joshua, killing him and his wife Hannah. Some suggest that they were brutally scalped! One of the Bradford children, an infant son (Winslow), was also killed as was another local woman (Mrs. Mill) and her child. The other Bradford children hid in the homestead. One daughter (Melatiah Lydia) hid under the bed with a younger brother (Elisha). When the young child cried, she took him and made a dash for the Garrison. The Indians gave chase and succeeded in striking her in the back with a tomahawk. She managed to continue to the Garrison where she and the younger child were escorted to safety. She survived her wounds. Witnessing these events, the men of the Garrison took up arms and went out to rescue to the Bradford family. Before fleeing, the Indians took two of the Bradford boys (Joshua, Jr and Benjamin) with them. The surviving Bradford children were recovered and taken to the Garrison. The Indians took the two Bradford boys and continued to move north. Some say that they boys were taken as far north into what is now the Canadian border area of St. Croix and Downeast Maine. The boys were given little to eat by their captors and left to gather their own food. On one occasion, the boys were caught stealing bread from a settler's homestead. After convincing the settlers that they were prisoners of Indians, they were given a map to get them back to Meduncook and so they fled back along the coastline of Maine, eventually returning after being held by the Indians for some time. The wounded daughter (Lydia) eventually married and raised a large family in Vermont. The two boys that were taken captive also went on to raise large families. Joshua Jr. married and raised his family in the area of Friendship. Benjamin moved to Canada with the British Loyalist in the 1780s. He settled outside of the town of St. Andrews, Charlotte Co., New Brunswick and had at least eight children. The younger Bradford children were sent to family in Plymouth Co., Massachusetts. Those that were killed at this event were buried on the island. With the passage of time, their headstones were lost (likely used as ballast in a ship). As well, the remnants of the Garrison slowly vanished. For decades, local Indians refused to travel to the area. Garrison Island is now privately owned by the Carlson family. http://www.heritagecharlotte.com/bradford/massacreatfriendship.html —— Joshua Bradford, s/o Israel, born June 23, 1710, married Hannah, daughter of Elisha Bradford and his wife Hannah (Cole), and who was half-sister to the mother of the famous “Deb (Bradford) Sampson” who under the feigned name, Robert Shurtleff, served three years as a private soldier in the army of the Revolution, and was badly wounded in the skirmish at Tarrytown, carrying in her body the bullet through life. Joshua Bradford removed from Kingston to what later became Friendship, Maine, and was there killed by the Indians May 27, 1756, and their children carried to Canada, where they remained in captivity until Quebec was taken by General Wolfe; they then returned to the Maine home. [3]

  
  

• Sources

  [S96] Find a Grave, database and images, 46295610. [S162] BRADFORD, Descendants of Gov. William Bradford-to the family of Martin Bryne Bradford of Charlotte County,-New Brunswick, Canada. [S164] Massachusetts, Representative Men and Old Families of Southeastern, J. H. Beers & Co., (Chicago, 1912).