Delia Elizabeth Shockley (1888 - 1977)

Born 1 Jan 1888 in Brownfield, Laclede, Missouri, United States

Ancestors

Wife of George Newton Bradford — married 25 Oct 1903 in Laclede, Missouri, United States

Descendants

Died 21 Jul 1977 at age 89 in Springfield, Greene, Missouri, United States

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Biography

Delia Elizabeth (Shockley) Bradford was born, lived and buried in Missouri.

From the book "Bradford Descendants", Vance Arthur Bradford, M.D., 1985, page 600: Note from Juanita Ann Fellows 6 Nov 1982, Now a few words about my grandmother, Delia Elizabeth Shockley Bradford. She married very young and lived her life in the same part of Missouri. One place she lived was the "Old Coon Place' practically inaccessible, a few miles from Nebo, MO. She loved people and would stop whatever she was doing to see how you were and sit down and talk awhile. Being rather isolated did not keep her from being keenly interested in what was going on in the world. For many years the St. Louis Post-Dispatch was subscribed and read when it arrived. No medical facilities were close so she did most of the doctoring for family and animals. She set a number of broken bones and treated ached and sprains with Dr. Sloane's Linament. She loved plants. She regularly received numerous seed catalogues and had trees and plants all over the place: in the yard, several orchards, several gardens, and plants in the house, both downstairs and upstairs. Like so many others, she planted huge gardens, canned it all, and gave much of it away. She used to say that she could not get to church very often, so she grew beautiful things as her way of worshiping. We always knew when spring arrived from the aroma of sassafras tea brewing. She gathered the rootsfrom the woods near her home. She also gathered greens in the spring: Polk, dock, lamb's nettle and dandelion. She had her own favorite combination she cooked up and served with chopped green onion and fresh butter and hot cornbread and milk. They farmed and had chickens, turkeys, geese, guinea, chickens, pigs, cattle and horses. They supplemented their diet with rabbits and squirrels and occasional possum. She baked their bread, biscuits for breakfast and cornbread for supper. She had a large pan in which she kept flour to make biscuits. Each morning she clabbored milk and other makings, and worked just enough flour in to make a ball of dough. I never knew how she did it, but those were the best biscuits I've ever eaten. She sang a lot. I learned "Further Along" "Coming in on a Wing and a Prayer", and "You are my Sunshine" from her. The last time I saw her was 1974, she was still throwing bales of hay out of the barn loft to feed cattle. And she will woke up in the moring with "Get out of bed. It's 9 o'clock in the morning and the day's half done." She lived a very long and useful life, always devoted to her family.

Obituary: Funeral services for Delia Bradford, 89, were held July 23 at Colonial Funeral Chapel. Burial was in Lebanon Cemetery. Delores Shadel sang, "The Beautiful Garden of Praye" and "The Old Rugged Cross". Escorts were Finis Dougan, Jr., Elmer Handley, Bert Nipper, Steve Bradford, Willie Matthews and Lynn Hamilton. Honorary escorts were Ashely Reed and Gene Boston. Mrs. Bradford, daughter of Tom and Laura Laxton Shockley was born Jan. 1, 1888 in LaClede Co. and died July 21 in St. John's Hospital. On October of 1903 she was married to George N. Bradford who preceded her in death July 14, 1974: also by two children. Early in life she united with the Nebo Christian Church. Survivors include four daughers, Mrs. Bernice Dougan, Falcon, MO, Mrs. Hazel Whitehouse, Tampa, FL, Mrs. Ruth McKlendin, Allerton, Iowa, and Mrs. Lila Bates, Edna, Minn.; three sons, Ferrell of Potomac, Ill., Harold. Rossville, Ill., Gayle of Tampa, FL,; 19 grandchildren and a number of great and great great grandchildren.

Sources

• 1. "Bradford Descendants", Vance Arthur Bradford MD, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 1985, page 600.
• 2. Findagrave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/19830742
• 3. Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014: https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=3693&h=6328100&ssrc=pt&tid=108738345&pid=310068400381&usePUB=true