Dear Group, I received a query through snail mail and I thought my reply to her would be of some interest to you. She was inquiring about her early Bradley family here and was hoping that we could tell her "who they were, how they came to NY, and anything that you may be able to tell me. Stories of their lives, etc." As much as I really wanted to make her day, I couldn't. However, I hope that what I'll be sending her tomorrow in the mail will give her some idea of what the area was probably like when her family eventually arrived. And for that same reason, I'm sharing my response with our group. Dear Janet, Your recent query about your Bradley family was received by the Ransomville Librarian. She, in turn, gave it to Millie (Bradley) Hillman of Ransomville. Millie couldn't answer any of your questions and so she sent it to me. For the past 10 years I have been researching our local Town of Porter (Ransomville/Youngstown) families and I have gathered a file on the local Bradley families. However, your Nathan and Elizabeth and their son Lemuel don't show up in it at all. I have copies of all our local cemetery records and they don't show up there either. I'm wondering if they are actually buried in the Town of Wilson Cemetery (Greenwood). Your Wait and Harden families don't show up in any of our early records, either. The different Bradley families that are still around here generally descend from Town of Wilson families and they're not necessarily all related. Neither Millie nor I know of anyone around here who has done any particular research on the local Bradleys. Regarding your family living here during the Revolutionary War era, it's very doubtful. The only inhabitants here at that time were soldiers and their families who lived at Fort Niagara. Also included in the area surrounding the fort were fur traders and Indians. Land here wasn't up for sale to settlers until the very early 1800s when the Holland Land Company surveyed Western New York and put the land on the market. The entire area was one vast virgin forest. If your family was here during the War of 1812, their log cabin was probably destroyed when the British and Indians burned all of the settlements in the area all the way from the mouth of the Niagara River up to Buffalo. They had to flee east for safety and then when it was safe, some of them returned to rebuild. Generally speaking, the reason your family came to this area was probably because fertile land was for sale. They generally purchased it sight unseen and even if they actually checked out the property personally, all that they would have seen was one dense forest. I'm certain that they all knew full well that settling here meant that they would have to first chop down some trees to build a log cabin to live in. And then they would have to continue to clear off more trees in order to plant crops to exist on. Wild game was plentiful and except for the British during the War of 1812, they weren't in any particular danger of being killed by man. Wild animals and "swamp fever" were another thing. When you eventually get on the Internet, I suggest you check out the Niagara County genealogy/history web site at www.rootsweb.com/~nyniagar. In addition, I suggest you subscribe to the Niagara County genealogy mailing list. The web site will give you instructions how to do that. Welcome to our area and good luck in your research. Vee L. Housman Youngstown, NY

Vee, you do my heart good!! I so enjoy reading your messages to this list. They bring a big smile to me every time I read one!! I am SO glad you are back at the keyboard again. We have sorely missed your rays of sunshine around here!! Welcome back to our "family"!! We love you a LOT!! Janice Danielson