In the Phelps County, MO Heritage book it says that the parents of Adam Bradford are Samuel Bradford and Sarah Fitzgerald, and that Sarah was born in County Cork, Ireland. Tabitha Bradford is mentioned as a daughter of John Tarr, Sr. in his will on ocmuseum.org. Also, the second wife of James Bradford (son of Samuel) was Sarah Holland Tarr.

I've never seen a birthplace listed for Sarah Fitzgerald before. Does the Phelps Co. Heritage book list a source? --- wrote: > In the Phelps County, MO Heritage book it says that > the parents of Adam > Bradford are Samuel Bradford and Sarah Fitzgerald, > and that�Sarah was born in > County Cork, > Ireland. > > Tabitha Bradford is mentioned as a daughter of John > Tarr, Sr. in his will on > ocmuseum.org. Also, the second wife of James > Bradford (son of Samuel) was > Sarah Holland Tarr. > > > > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com

The very helpful and gracious Ms. Brewster did a lookup for me on this info about Sarah Fitzgerald hailing from County Cork, Ireland. The following is from the Phelps County Missouri Heritage Book, Vol. I, pages 63/64: "Adam Bradford descended from one of the earliest colonial families in America. He was born at Snow Hill, Maryland on the Pocomoke River, in 1775, the son of Samuel Bradford and Sarah (Fitzgerald) Bradford. Sarah was born in County Cork, Ireland. Samuel Bradford's birthplace is not known, but he was a soldier of the American Revolution, serving as a private in Captain William Purnell's Co., Sinepuxen Battalion, during 1780 in Worcester County, Maryland. The will of Samuel Bradford, who died in 1810, is on file in Worcester County. It gives the names of his children. Two of Samuel's sons, William Bradford and James Bradford, might have served with their father in the Colonial Army. Samuel's second wife was Tabitha Fitzgerald, a sister to Sarah." This and the rest of the information on Adam's descendants that follows it was contributed to the Phelps County Heritage Book by Vivian (Fuller) Bradford, a contributor to "Bradford Descendants" by Vance A. Bradford. Vance praised her in the book, saying "Vivian is one of the important contributors to this section of the family record and continues to dig up and send in missing information." Vance was referring to the section in the book on Peter Bradford, son of Adam. I'm wary of using the Phelps County Heritage book as the final word. It appears that the Phelps book is a compendium of individual submissions that may or may not be accurate in all their parts. For instance, Vivian says that Samuel's second wife was Tabitha Fitzgerald, and that she was a sister of Samuel's first wife Sarah. I doubt this is correct, but I think if it's an error it's bred of honest confusion about Samuel's wives and their last names. It's worthwhile to look at what the primary source for the name Fitzgerald is. It comes from a letter written by Samuel Hancock, son of Samuel Bradford's daughter Sarah. In this letter, written in 1888, Samuel Hancock asserts, "my grandmother was a Fitzgarel. I don't know her first name." Vance Bradford uses this letter as evidence in his chapter on Samuel, where he lists Sarah's surname as unknown, but writes that Samuel's second wife Tabitha was said to have been a Fitzgerald. From this it appears that Vance Bradford was assuming that Samuel Hancock was referring not to his natural grandmother, Sarah, but rather to his foster grandmother, Tabitha. It seems to me that's open to interpretation. Most people (myself included) assume Samuel Hancock was referring to his actual grandmother, Sarah - and therefore most people call her a Fitzgerald and leave Tabitha's surname unknown. Even aside from that, I think Vance Bradford must have viewed with some suspicion the information contained in Samuel Hancock's letter since he refrained from asserting in the book with certainty that he knew either of Samuel's wives last names. Again, he wrote only that Tabitha "may have been a Fitzgerald" I think this might have been due to the fact that Samuel Hancock was very old when he wrote the letter, not to mention that he wrote it almost 80 years after Samuel's death. All of this leads me to look warily upon the statement that Sarah was from County Cork, Ireland. Whatever Vivian's source was for this information, I'm viewing it as potential clue rather than an established fact. --- JALEX4954@aol.com wrote: > In the Phelps County, MO Heritage book it says that > the parents of Adam > Bradford are Samuel Bradford and Sarah Fitzgerald, > and that�Sarah was born in > County Cork, > Ireland. > > Tabitha Bradford is mentioned as a daughter of John > Tarr, Sr. in his will on > ocmuseum.org. Also, the second wife of James > Bradford (son of Samuel) was > Sarah Holland Tarr. > > > > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com