Lucinda (Sellars) Bradley (1828 - 1909)

Born Aug 1828 in Georgia

Wife of James Bradley — married [date unknown] in Mississippi

Descendants

Died 1909 at about age 80 in Vernon, Louisiana

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Biography

She moved to Mississippi in 1846 with her parents and probably married here, although no record was found. When John and Lucinda Sellars moved to Louisiana in 1859, Lucinda and her husband remained in Mississippi. James Bradley was serving in the Confederate Army when he was reported to have been killed during the Civil War. Lucinda suddenly found herself with a small baby, hundreds of miles away from her family, and the country completely torn apart by strife. Thus Lucinda began a remarkable journey, walking the entire distance from Central Mississippi where she lived to Rapides Parish, Louisiana, where her parents and sister were residing. This journey was heroic, as the South was full of Carpetbaggers from the North who were streaming into the state to take advantage of the situation; slaves had been freed but were unable to take care of themselves and were roaming the countryside; and just about everyone had very little to eat. Lucinda told her family later that the only food she had to eat on that trip was what she picked off bushes or potatoes dug out of old deserted fields. The only water she had to drink was scooped out of oxen tracks when there were no streams available. Once she came upon a farm house and was given some milk for the baby, Johnette. She soaked some bread to give him more sustenance. "Cin" told how she was afraid to be alone on the road, so she walked at night, and hid out in the fields in the daytime. Once she got a ride with a farmer for a few miles, but that was the only ride she had the entire trip. Travelling with a small baby was difficult; having no disposable diapers, Cin made her own. She tore up old rags and lined them with moss from the trees. When the moss became soiled, it was discarded for new moss; and the rags lasted much longer this way. Whenever Cin would come upon a steam, she would bathe herself and the baby. She crossed the Mississippi River on a raft and continued her trip by foot until she reached Rapides Parish. The distance traveled today would be approximately 300 miles. When she reached Catherine's house, she lay on the porch and cried. Family members told stories of Cin's trip for many, many years.

Lucinda Bradley continued to live with her mother until Lucinda Sellars died sometime after 1880, then she moved in with her son, John, and his wife. Apparently John's wife did not get along with her mother-in-law, and Lucinda was considered a burden, even then. When she died in 1909, only a small brick marked her resting place in Laurel Hill Cemetery ,Hicks, Vernon Parish Louisiana, not much testimony to one who had gone through so much.

Sources

"United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MDX2-LKV : accessed 27 August 2015), Lucretia Bradley in household of Lucretia Sellers, 5th And 6th Ward, Vernon, Louisiana, United States; citing enumeration district 48, sheet 128A, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 0473; FHL microfilm 1,254,473.

"United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MSPF-M5P : accessed 27 August 2015), L? Bradley, Ward 6, Township 1, Vernon, Louisiana, United States; citing sheet 3B, family 51, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,240,585.