Bradshaw

I wanted to post this link I came across. This is very good work on our Bradshaw line. It is fascinating to find another line in the family that goes back 300 years in our country. It would appear John Bradshaw came to Virginia as a "Headright", basically an indentured servant around 1690. I have positively confirmed our connection to Smith Bradshaw, Johns Great Grandson, through Smiths son Thomas. From there I will let the source of the work speak. I have begun an e-mail conversation with the sites owner, I have definitely found that collaboration is key in this work :)

Bradshaw Genealogy

Our Revolutionary War Captian

Short note tonight. GGG Grandfather Smith Bradshaw married a woman named Elizabeth Chrisman. Elizabeth was the Granddaughter of Captian George Chrisman of the Rockingham County Militia in the Revolutionary War. Pretty cool.

would love to visit this homestead some day

http://www.georgechrismanhouse.com/index.html

Hopkins Family

The Bradshaw line has a rich history. I have told you about Great Great Grandpa Thomas Bradshaw, and haven't even gotten into his father Smith Bradshaw. But they both married women of interesting lineages on their own. Thomas married Nancy Catherine Hopkins in 1865. I came across a book written in 1905 about our Hopkins line. I am slowly doing what I can to verify the information in it. It is called A chapter in Hopkins Genealogy 1735 - 1905. It tells the tale of the Scotch-Irish (I have the feeling our actual Campbell line is Scotch Irish as well) pg2. This is the tale of 3 brothers, John, William and Archibald, in Colonial America, settling new land, dealing with all the hardships and effort.

Here are some transcribed pages from the will of Archibald (our direct ancestor). I find it quite interesting.

p1 p2 p3 p4 p5 p6

Archibald had 5 children with his wife Jennet Love Hopkins, one of whom was a son Ephriam.
Ephriam had 7 children with his wife Nancy Shanklin Hopkins, one of whom was a son Archibald (this is a popular name in this family).
Archibald had 6 children with his wife Ruth Gordon including a daughter Sarah Ann,
Sarah Ann had 8 children with her husband Archibald Hopkins (a cousin) one of whom was Nancy Catherine whom married Thomas Bradshaw.

Judge Thomas Bradshaw

Thomas Bradshaw is my paternal Grandpa's maternal Grandpa. Got that ;) Thomas was born in Lewis County Mo. in 1843 to Smith Bradshaw and Elizabeth Chrisman Bradshaw. To elaborate on his connection, his daughter, Annie, married Marion Campbell, and their son was my Grandpa Charlie.

Cencus records would indicate Smith Bradshaw was farming in MO in the years Thomas grew up. He and Elizabeth had 11 children. Thomas was one of the youngest if not the youngest. When the civil war broke out, Thomas joined the Confederacy. He would have been only 18 years old.

I had heard we had a confederate in our family, and my cousin confirmed he was the one, so I started digging. The whole thing makes me kinda sad really, for all involved. I have very strong feelings about the confederacy and then the first records I found on Ancestry.com were POW records. The Confederates didn't keep alot of records, especially not the outfit he was part of I'd imagine. Let me elaborate. The POW records list his unit as Porters, in Marion County, MO. Now I feel pretty comfortable associating our Thomas with this regiment as Joseph C Porter , was actually Thomas' cousin. Porter was tasked with recruitment and bushwacking in Northern Mo where he lived. So it makes alot of sense. The records are less than perfect but it looks like Thomas was captured Oct 10, 1862 and looks to have been in custody till June of 1863, spending time in Gratiot Street Prison and Alton Prison, neither of which I would wish on anyone.

I don't really know what happened to him during the rest of the war. I do know he met and married Nancy Catherine Hopkins in Rockingham County Va (I have requested those records), in Oct 1865. They moved back to Mo. Together they had 8 children, 5 of whom survived to adulthood. They farmed. Later in life he became a Judge. He passed in 1910.

I am attaching a copy of a civil war POW record, his obituary, and his death certificate