- WILLIAM C. BRATLEY (deceased) was among the leading men of
the town of Cadiz, Green
- county, during his lifetime, and is remembered as a thoroughly
honorable and reliable character. Born in Lincolnshire, England,
Feb. 27, 1824, he went when a lad of sixteen years to sea from
his English home, with a worldly capital of one suit and two
shirts. Soon after entering upon the life of a sailor, he joined
an American sailing crew in New York, with whom he remained until
he reached the age of twenty-six years. Mr. BRATLEY was married
to Miss Mary C. KAIN Aug. 29, 1847, and to this marriage were
born the following children: Melissa, who married Isaac DENNEY,
a farmer of the town of Cadiz, and has the following children:
May, Charlie, Oscar, Elmer, Clara, Ivan, Lula, Edwin and Frank.
Silas H., who was born in Savannah, Ga., Feb. 10, 1857, and married
to Miss Emma ROBB, of Cadiz township, by whom he had two sons,
Ray and Lee. Mrs. Emma BRATLEY died and Silas married his second
wife, Caroline. They have six children, four of whom are now
living, Minnie, Lena, Grace and Atley. He remains on the old
BRATLEY homestead and has charge of the farm. In politics he
is a stanch Republican, and is an honorable citizen. Mary, who
married Thomas LYNCH, a farmer in the town of Cadiz, a sketch
of whom appears on another page. Joseph, who married Eva WRIGHT,
of Monroe, and has four children: Millie, Telsie, Blanche and
Nettie. Elizabeth, who is the wife of William ULLOM, a farmer
of the town of Cadiz, and is the mother of five children: Joseph,
Bertha, Minerva, Stanley and Julia. Belle, who married Archibald
BECHTOLD, of Cadiz township, and is the mother of two children,
Orrall and William. Edward, who married Mary FESSENDEN, and is
the father of five children: Glen, Loise, Maude, Alice and Mary.
Lena, wife of Harry MORRIS. Ruth, the youngest of the family.
- William C. BRATLEY crossed the Atlantic on the sailing vessel,
"Stretlam Castle." He reached
- New York in 1840, and leaving his ship, took a position as
seaman on board an American vessel. Continuing to follow the
sea until he had saved a fair sum of money, he bought a restaurant
in Savannah, Ga., and devoted himself to its development until
1854, after which he became engaged in farming in the State of
New York, but after three years went back to Savannah, where
he again entered the restaurant business. In the spring of 1859
he came with his family and bought 120 acres of land in Section
14, in the town of Cadiz.
- Mr. BRATLEY was a Republican in politics, and long a devoted
member of the Methodist
- church, for twenty years serving as class leader. In the
I.O.O.F. his name is not forgotten, for there also he was a hardworking
and faithful member. A successful farmer, he owed his accumulations
to unwearied industry and the utmost integrity. A man of wide
information, he had not only traveled much with observant vision,
but he was a reader of many books and the best literature. Twice
he sailed around the Horn in the 'forties' in a sailing vessel.
He came to Green county a poor man, but he left at his death
a well improved and exceedingly valuable farm property.
-
- Taken from "Commemorative Biographical Record of
the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin,"
(c)1901 Union Publishing; pp. 787-788.
-
- Courtesy of Carol.
|