Hudson Town (part 2 of 2)

The family line runs as follows : Robert Bernard married for his second wife Elizabeth Bailey, of Lancaster, and the result of this union was six children, among them a son by the name of Joel, who married Lucy Stevens, July 16, 1756. One of their children was Lavinia Bernard, who married Daniel Stevens as his third wife. Their daughter married William Trowbridge, December 11, 1814, and was the mother of the subject of this sketch. William Trowbridge was a son of Joseph Trowbridge and a machinist by trade, moving from one town to another, more or less frequently, as his business necessitated. It thus happened that Mr. Bradley was born in Worcester, Mass., May 20, 1823.

When three years of age he was taken to Marlborough to live, and at the age of seven came to live with an aunt, in the house now located near the entrance to the grounds of the late Captain Francis Brigham, that property having been a portion of his mother's estate. While living here he obtained what little schooling he ever enjoyed in the small schoolhouse then located on what is now Washington Street, which has been spoken of before in these pages. With the exception of the very short time devoted to acquiring a knowledge of the three " R's," Mr. Bradley's boyhood was passed in earning what he could to p^ for his living. Farther down the street was the factory of Lorenzo Stratton, and here, before he was twelve years of age, he learned to make a whole shoe. Later on he worked in Stephen Pope's tannery, splitting leather, and, for a diversion, driving the old white horse. Thus, without being aware of the immense value which this knowledge was to be to him in the future, he learned to know leather thoroughly, and became a practical shoemaker.

At sixteen he worked a while for Captain Francis Brigham, who at that time was manufacturing shoes in a brick shop on the site of Holden's grocery store, on the north side of Wood Square. At seventeen he was seized with a desire to see something of the world, and resolved to go to New Orleans. On reaching New York State, however, he learned that yellow fever was rampant in the South, and turned his steps northward, landing, as much by chance as anything, in Saratoga Springs, in the summer of 1841. Here a new world was opened before him ; for even at that time what was known as Congress Spring was discovered, and its water valued for its medicinal properties. During that summer about five thousand guests visited the place, bringing with them the stir and bustle of a pleasure resort. Mr. Bradley worked at his trade as a shoemaker upon the opposi'e side nf the street from where the present Grand Union Hotel stands. At that time there was a hotel there of the same name, but much smaller, which has since been destroyed by fire. During this summer he had the good fortune to hear Ole Bull, who was on his first visit to America, and was revealing to astonished and delighted Americans new realms in the musical world with his violin. While there, also, the first omnibus ever seen at the Springs was driven into town by a young man who is much better known to the present generation of readers by the name of the Rev. George S. Ball, at that time a driver in the employ of Massachusetts parties. The 'bus was all the "go," and Mr. Bradley recalls, with a good deal of pleasure, of riding from the lake back to the Springs in it, on one occasion, when ex-President Martin Van Buren was a fellow-passenger.

Mr. Bradley remained here from June to December, and these months must have been among the most memorable of his life. He went aa far north as the present city of Ottawa, and the River St. Lawrence freezing up the next day, he was obliged, much against his will, to remain there during that winter. After a decidedly dreary winter here he took the first boat back to the States in the spring. He tired, however, of a nomadic life, and returned to Feltonville, working at the shoemaking trade here, in Worcester, Woburn and other places until 1850.

On October 1st of that year he began business on his own account in company with Captain Francis Brigham and Mr. William F. Trowbridge, his brother, under the firm-name of " F. Brigham & Co." It will be remembered that the general outline of this firm's history has been given elsewhere. At the outset, however, all was not smooth sailing, and, as Mr. Bradley has stated, at the end of the first three years it could not be .said that the firm had made a dollar. Better days followed, and in 1858 the firm moved into the brick shop which has since been burned. Mr Trowbridge withdrew from the firm in 1866, and Messrs. W. F. and W. B. Brigham came in. This firm continued until April 1, 1880, when Mr. Bradley withdrew to enter into a co-partnership with Henry R. Say ward, of Cambridge, Mass. The firm-name is Bradley & Sayward, and occupies the F. S. Dawes factory in Hudson and a somewhat smaller one in Dover, New Hampshire. This firm is one of the strongest and most active concerns in Massachusetts. Their business averages half a million dollars annually, while the average output at the Hudson factory monthly is nine hundred and sixty-pair cases. The Dover factory has about one- half this capacity. No manufactory in Hudson runs more steadily or with less friction. The firm's goods are sold mostly in the South and Southwest, and their customers are found in twenty-eight States of the Union. From Portland to Galveston, and from Minnesota to Florida their shoes may be found.

Mr. Bradley's time has not been given entirely to his own business. Prior to the incorporation of the town he served upon several committees seeking to accomplish the desired change; was a member of the committee of five on the part of Hudson to make a final separation from Bolton. He was the first Representative sent to the House from Hudson in 1867, and during that year had the most important matter to handle that has ever been before the Legislature in which Hudson interests were solely concerned. In 1870 he was elected town treasurer, and served continuously in that position until the election in 1890, when he declined longer to hold the olfice. When he entered upon the duties of this office he found that the business had not been done in a systematic manner and used his best endeavors to have the town's finances put in proper shape. It had been the custom up to that time to borrow money in a hap-hazard manner of any one who had a hundred or a thousand dollars to lend and wished a safe investment at a high rate of interest. Mr. Bradley funded the debt then existing by means of longer time notes at a much less rate of interest. The town incurred large obligations in the purchase of Massachusetts Central Railroad stock, in building a town-house, new roads and schoolhouses, and it is a most fortunate thing that she had so skilled a financier in charge of this ottice for so many years. In 1877 he was elected a member of the Board of Selectmen, but declined a re-election the following year. He has always been connected with the banking institutions of the place, having declined an election as president of the National Bank, although a member of its directorate. He has been for many years a vice-president and one of the board of investment of Hudson Savings Bank, and in other organizations at home and abroad he has occupied prominent places. He has always been a believer in the Unitarian faith and a steady supporter of its church. He has long enjoyed a reputation for business ability and strict integrity. He is a lover of standard books and has not lost his liking for travel. The surviving members of his family are his wife and one daughter, the wife of Fred S. Dawes, of Hudson.

Daniel Wilbur Stratton

Daniel Wilbur Stratton, born April 24, 1848, is the eldest son of Daniel and Tryphena Rice (Holman) Stratton. He is of the fourth generation bearing the name Daniel. His great-grandfather was born at Weston, May 20, 1749. His grandfather was born April 22, 1777, and married Cally Smith, of Needham (born December 20, 1778), April 22, 1800. Cally Smith was the daughter of Captain Aaron Smith, who commanded a military company in the War of the Revolution. With his company he participated in the repulse of the British forces which advanced to Concord, April 19, 1775, and as a result of that day's engagement his command suflf'ered a loss of five men killed and two others wounded. Daniel Stratton, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born September 7, 1817, in the north part of the town of Marlborough (now Hudson). When about four years of age the family moved to the farm just across the line in Bolton, upon territory which became a part of Hudson by the annexation of 1868. Daniel Stratton grew to manhood and afterwards became the owner of his father's estate together with much additional property which he acquired by purchase. In 1805, when the movement was made to incorporate a new town from territory of the towns of Marlborough, Stow, Bolton and Berlin, Daniel Stratton was the leading petitioner from the Bolton territory, and was selected as the representative from that part of Bolton to serve on the standing committee of five to prosecute the movement for an incorporation. He entered on this enterprise with the zeal and determination which he exhibited in all the atl'airs which engaged his support. The undertaking was consummated, and the " Stratton Homestead'' was included within the new town of Hudson. When twenty-two years of age Daniel married, December 31, 1839, Tryphena Rice Holman, of Sterling, and this union continued fifty years and one day. A " Golden Wedding" was celebrated by this couple and their numerous friends December 31, 1889, and on the day following, soon after his retirement for the night, without hardly a premonition, the messenger of death summoned the head of this happy and prosperous household to that better land which is " fairer than day." Although a farmer his life long, lie was every whit a man. Intelligent, progressive, fearless for the right, independent in his opinions, the cause of religion, temperance, education, good citizenship had no stancher champion or firmer ally than Daniel Stratton. He held various town offices.

From such ancestry descends a worthy son. Daniel W. was reared on the farm under wholesome influences and amid surroundings the best fitted to develop the latent a.spirations of boyhood and youth. From the common school he was sent to the high school of the town,