Door County, Wisconsin - Chapter 39: The Giant of Gills Rock, 1917

At the extreme northern end of Door County a wide bay opens into the peninsula from the north. The eastern side of the bay is known as Gills Rock - so named after Elias Gill, who in the early '70s owned about one thousand three hundred acres of land in the vicinity with warehouse, fishing boats, pier, etc. The name of Gills Rock is a comparatively recent innovation. On old maps and among old settlers it is known as Hedgehog Harbor.

There was a man on Rock Island by the name of George Lovejoy. He had been a sergeant in the United States army and settled on Rock Island in 1836. Lovejoy was a famous hunter in many parts of Northeastern Wisconsin and had a remarkable faculty for almost anything he undertook. It was said he almost broke up the settlement on Rock Island by the bewitching, homesick melodies of old time songs he drew from his violin. He was also a master ventriloquist. Sometimes he would go out on the ice where an Indian was fishing and make the trout talk back to its captor in the most approved Chippewa dialect, to the poor Indian's terrorized amazement.

At an early date Lovejoy built a small sail vessel - said to be the first vessel built in Door County. One fall at the approach of winter his vessel was thrown on the beach near the present Gills Rock Pier. Next spring when he returned to launch her he found her so high above the water that he had to give it up. Later he returned with a companion by the name of Allen Bradley - a tremendously strong man - and with his help the boat was launched. During the spring and summer the porcupines had gnawed so many holes in her, however, that they had much difficulty in making her float.

When Lovejoy was ready to leave he offered to pay Bradley for his help. But Bradley would not accept anything. "I like this Hedgehog Harbor of yours so much," he said, "it is the pleasantest place I have found in the West, so I am going to build me a home here. Since you brought me here I will take nothing for my work." Allen Bradley then built a shanty just back of where the present pier stands, and in 1856 became the first settler in the vicinity of Hedgehog Harbor by which name it was afterward known.

Allen Bradley later became one of the epic characters of Door County. He was a good-natured, square dealing person, more than six feet tall but he was so broad that he rather looked stocky than tall. He measured more than four feet around the chest, he had hands as broad as shovels and was obliged to wear moceasins because no shoes could be bought that were big enough. All the old settlers in the northern part of the county speak of "Old Bradley, the timber chap, who lived like an Indian and could cut seven cords of body maple in a day." In those days crosscut saws had not yet come into use and the big maple trees were all felled and cut up into cordwood with axes only. Bradley had a homemade affair as heavy as a maul and with his strength behind it, chips a pound apiece would fly at every stroke.

Bradley did not spend much time cutting dyo, however. He was a leisurely fellow, hunting and fishing and tapping his maple trees. Money was not much needed except for the annual purchase of flour and knick knacks for the family. The deer that bounded through the timber gave him abundant food and the best of clothing. Maple sugar for his flap-jacks in the morning, a bear-steak for dinner, a whitefish for supper - furnished a menu that did not cost him 5 cents a day and which the choicest epicure of the metropolis could not surpass in quality. Life was easy.

This was before the days of keen eyed assessors, ready to fine every man who is foresighted enough to stack up a good woodpile in his back yard. It was before the state had inaugurated its present expensive system of making a public pet out of wild game - with game wardens prowling around in every thicket - for the purpose of providing an annual holiday for the leisure class. It was before county nurses were flying about with a flashlight seeking for a hollow tooth. Governmental interference had not yet become the public nuisance it now is. Life was simple.

Many stories are told of Allen Bradley's incredible strength. He had a twentyfour foot pound boat and he and his son were wont to pull this up on shore by taking hold one on each side. Once at Washington Harbor six men were vainly struggling to lift a big timber into place on the crib they were building. Bradley looked at them for a while and then when they sat down gasping after their ineffectual struggle, he lifted the log alone and placed it in position.

In Escanaba he and another strong man by the name of Call once took a job of stacking a cargo of salt barrels. The barrels weighed 300 pounds apiece and they were to be stacked in rows on the pier three tiers high. It was slow work to roll the barrels along and then together lift them up in place. The captain therefore, knowing what bears he had for longshoremen, arranged for a wager to see which of the two could keep it up longest to handle the barrels singly. Each man picked up his barrel by the chime, lifted it breast high and put it up. Call kept on till 3 o'clock when he quit the job but Bradley nonchalantly swung the barrels into place until the cargo was disposed of.

A schooner was once wrecked on Hanover Shoal. Allen Bradley took the job of salvaging the rigging. He cleaned her up alone from keel to truck including a 1,000 pound anchor which he loaded into his boat and carried ashore in Fish Creek.

Once, when living on Washington Island, he was in Ranney's store. W. P. Ranney to test his strength and provide some, entertainment for the crowd around the store told Bradley that he would give him a barrel of flour providing he could carry it home. Without a word Allen Bradley picked up the barrel weighing 415 pounds and carried it home three miles without resting, followed by a respectful and admiring crowd.

He had a long thick beard and it was common amusement for some of his friends to seize this and hang suspended, whereupon Bradley would walk around the room seemingly unmindful of the burden imposed upon his chin. As the accomplishment of this feat depended on the muscles of the jaw many doubted his ability to do this. In Green Bay a spirited wager was once made that he could not carry an ordinary man across the room in this manner. Bradley picked out Ransom Call, the heaviest man in the room, weighing 250 pounds, and asked him to grasp his beard. This was done and Bradley carried him with ease across the room, Call falling down exhausted at the end of the journey.

When the Civil war broke out he enlisted and carried his musket valiantly through many a battle. Once in a skirmish he became separated from the rest of his company and he was taken prisoner by the Confederates. His musket was taken from him and two soldiers were told off to conduct the prisoner to the rear, while the others were ordered off on another charge. No sooner did Bradley find himself alone with his two guards than he suddenly seized them by the neck with a grip of steel in either hand, swung them off their feet, and carried them like two squirming kittens back behind the Federal lines.

When the war was over and there was a general rush on the pension bureau, Allen Bradley did not join in the stampede. His strength was still intact and his sturdy independence as vigorous as ever. But after a dozen years or so old age came on, That red blood which had flowed so freely through his splendid body became chilled with his declining days and could no longer feed his massive frame. Those wonerful muscles, more tense than steel springs, became powerless and painful with rheumatism. Finally he became an object of charity and for five years. stayed at the home of Capt. John Noyes who gave him the best care. Captain Noyes on his own behalf applied for a pension but the lords of Washington have many preoccupations. Years went by and no pension came. Finally Joseph Harris and Senator Sawyer were interested in the matter and a wretched pittance of $4 per month was obtained. After interminable wire pullings this amount was. gradually increased.

Allen Bradley was born August 11, 1818. He came from Dunkirk, N. Y., to North Bay to cut cedar in 1855 but preferred to fish and hunt. He was almost impervious to cold, on the coldest days in winter wearing only a pair of trousers and one or two shirts. He was a striking example of the truth of the old proverb that "the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong." Although he had unusual opportunities and the wonderful strength more than necessary to develop them, he never held legal title to a foot of land and finally received a pauper's burial in the potters field. He died in Sturgeon Bay February 11, 1885.