1. Nathaniel Bradford of Accomack County, Virginia - Lower ...

Appendix B: Suggestions for Research into Nathaniel’s Origins
The identity of Nathaniel’s parents is not known, nor is it known whether Nathaniel was born on the eastern
shore or elsewhere in Virginia, or if he was born in England or some other colony. There is no record of his
being transported to Virginia and no record of any other Bradfords on the eastern shore previous to
Nathaniel’s first appearance in the records of Northampton County in 1654. What is more, a cursory search
of some of the published abstracts of the records of other Virginia counties in the period before 1660 turns
up no mentions of a Nathaniel Bradford.
Researching individuals in the first half of the 17 th century and before can be daunting due to the scarcity of
records, especially in the southern colonies. However, several prospects for research have been revealed by
the evidence. It’s worth exploring these in some detail.
1) Oath of the Commonwealth
In terms of determining Nathaniel’s whereabouts before 1654, it is probably significant that he was not a
subscriber to the Oath to the Commonwealth, which was demanded of the citizens of the eastern shore in
1652. This could indicates either that Nathaniel was not on the eastern shore at this time, or that he was on
the shore and too young to be a subscriber, or that only landowners or heads of household were required to
take the oath.
2) Henry Bradford from Accomack Records
Nathaniel might have been related to the Henry Bradford who appears twice in the 17 th century court
records of Accomack County. These two appearances contain no evidence of any relation with Nathaniel,
but the suspicion of a connection arises due to the coincidence of their surnames and the fact that they did
business. The tone of brusque familiarity used by Henry when speaking of Nathaniel (“give him his ear”)
suggests that the two were more than passing acquaintances. For the sake of argument, I have assumed that
the Henry Bradfords mentioned in the two records are the same person.
1) Henry’s first appearance in Accomack court came on 18 April 1672, when the court
received a note from him asserting that he had received 2 hogsheads of tobacco from
John Reyny for the use of Thomas Smith by the appointment of Mr. Browne on 26
February of the same year.
2) Henry’s other appearance came on 18 July 1676, when the Accomack County court
heard a deposition from Joseph Thorne in the matter of the petition of Jno. Reeves for his
freedom from Nathaniel Bradford. Nathaniel had purchased Reeves as an indentured
servant from a Henry Bradford, and in this record Reeves claimed that his term of service
was four years, not the five Nathaniel claimed. In his deposition Thorne related that,
while at the house of Robt. Hutchinson on 25 March of that year, he heard Henry
Bradford say to Reeves: “[I] brought [you] in for the term of four years and no more and
had sold [you] but for four years and no longer should serve, and if Nath. Bradford had
an assignment from [me] for any longer time, [I] will give him his ear.”
Henry Bradford was probably not a resident of Accomack, since someone who was in the business of
securing cargo for merchants and transporting servants would have had some wealth and therefore would
have shown up more in court had he been a resident. This conclusion is strengthened by the fact that his
presence in the 18 April 1672 court is in the form of a note rather than a personal appearance, and he is
only referenced indirectly in the deposition of Joseph Thorne. Perhaps he lived in another Virginia county,
in which case we might expect to find him cropping up fairly often in the records of that county, assuming
such records survived. He could have lived in England or Barbados or anywhere else in the English
speaking world, so records from those places ought also to be searched for clues. The Thomas Smith
mentioned in Henry’s note from 1672 may be Capt. Thomas Smith of London, who sold John Reyny
property on Pocomoke river and who appears to have been a merchant who carried cargo frequently
between Virginia and England. Perhaps Henry was connected in some way with Capt. Smith’s business in
Virginia. Further research into the activities of Smith, Reyny and Browne may yield clues.
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