Cass-Van Buren County MI Archives Obituaries.....Bradford, Calvin Palmer April 19, 1916 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/mi/mifiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Melissa Zagrzebski mdzag3@yahoo.com April 19, 2012, 10:31 pm Marcellus Calvin Palmer Bradford was born at Akron, Ohio on December 10th 1843 and died at Marcellus, Michigan April 19th 1916. He was of Scotch and English ancestry, was a direct descendent of Wm. Bradford, who came over on the Mayflower, and who was the first governor of Massachusetts. Calvin’s father died when he was six years old. He was partly reared by Rev. Hayden, one of the organizers of the Christian church. Rev. Hayden’s son was a room-mate of James A. Garfield while they were students at Hiram College. Calvin remembers Garfield coming home with Walter Hayden to spend the weekends. While Mr. Bradford was still a small boy, Rev. Hayden moved to Lawton, Michigan. He accompanied him there and went to school as much as he could be spared from the home work until he was seventeen years of age when he enlisted in the army of Uncle Sam to go and fight for his country. He was assigned to Company E 9th Michigan Volunteer Cavalry and was with the regiment continually from organization until honorably discharged after the war was over, serving two years and nine months. This famous regiment received great distinction during the war, being the regiment that captured the famous John Morgan’s men in Ohio in the early history of the regiment. The regiment was part of General Killpatrick’s famous cavalry which went through with Sherman “from Atlanta to the sea”. After the war, he returned to Michigan and was married October 21, 1866 to Elizabeth Holden. To this union were born two sons, one dying in infancy and the other Willis E. Bradford of Kalamazoo. Calvin’s wife died June 26, 1870. On March 30th, 1873 he married Francena Bartlett, to which union were born one daughter and four sons Mrs. M.R. Hoyt of Porter, VanBuren County, Vern of Schoolcraft, L.G. of Edwardsburg, Harry and Clarence of Kalamazoo. In the month of September, 1878, the family moved to southern Kansas and spent eighteen years on the western frontier. He was one of the leaders in the politics of the county. In 1895, he moved back to Michigan and lived on a farm near here until two years ago when he and his wife moved to Marcellus to spend a peaceful sunset until death called “God’s will be done”. He was a life long Christian and a man of high moral standards, always giving more than he wanted to take out of life. His was a welcome home to the children that they reverence as only one can reverence a father. He always looked on the bright side of life and had a cheerful and pleasant disposition. His children never heard him use profanity or tell falsehoods, nor did they ever see him use tobacco or liquor in any form. They say of him, “If there is a heaven, father is there-God bless him”. At the time of his death, he was a member of the C.B. church of Pleasant Valley and G.A.R. No. 57 of Marcellus. H e leaves to mourn their loss a devoted wife, one daughter, five sons, nine grandchildren, two sisters, two half-brothers, and a host of other relatives and friends. The funeral services were held from the M.E. Church Friday, April 21st at 2pm by the Rev. H.A. Spitler. The remains were interred in the Bly Cemetary Additional Comments: I have a poor copy of this obit. It was retyped. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mi/cass/obits/b/bradford17650nob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/mifiles/ File size: 3.8 Kb