Researching the BRADSHER surname has been a journey of more than 35 years. It is a particularly difficult name to pin down, because of its similarity to so many other well-known surnames--Bradshaw, Brasher, Brashear, Bratcher--to name a few.

In the past few years, however, I have come to believe that it is a unique surname originating in the British Isles. There are many instances of the BRADSHER name there up into the 1900s. I recently found a man in the census in Illinois in 1900 who was born in England and there was no mistaking the spelling for anything other than BRADSHER.

Our earliest traceable ancestor, John BRADSHER, came to what is now Person County, NC in the 1750s to take up a Granville land grant on the South Hyco River at present-day Bushy Fork, NC. He came from Maryland and there are several theories about who he was. The Dollarhide family came at the same time and other Bradsher families. They lived in Orange Co. just across the Person Co. line. These two other families showed up in the 1830 Person Co. census and then moved on possibly to South Carolina and then to Alabama.

Most Bradshers still live in North Carolina, but there are other concentrations in Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Michigan and other places. All the ones with whom I have had contact trace their lineage to Person County, N.C.

• Bradsher and Allied Families (2641 KB)
  Descendants and allied families of John Bradsher who died in 1808 in Person County, North Carolina.

• Jacob Thompson and Francis Stedman Bradsher (199 KB)
  J.T. Bradsher 1893-1983 and brother Francis 1899-1972.
• Annie Elizabeth Thompson McPherson (202 KB)
  Sister of my paternal grandmother Sallie Vale Thompson; daughters of Mary Frances Stedman and Joseph Thompson.
• James Sidney Bradsher 1870-1961 (131 KB)
  My maternal grandfather. He was born in Bushy Fork, Person Co., NC.
• Robert Sutton and Preston Bradsher (166 KB)
  Two of my father's younger brothers
• Sally Vale Thompson Bradsher 1870-1949 (107 KB)
  Wife of James Sidney Bradsher, Sr.
• Martin Scott (36 KB)
  John Martin Scott, Jr., son of J.M., Sr. and Jean Bradsher Scott.
• James Sidney Bradsher and his sons (110 KB)
  Back row: L to R:Francis Stedman Bradsher, James Sidney Bradsher,Jr., M.D., James Sidney Bradsher, Sr., Jacob Thompson Bradsher, Sr. Front row: L to R: Preston Bradsher, Robert Sutton (Bobby) Bradsher
• Sally Bradsher and her son Preston (479 KB)
  Preston Bradsher, 1911-1958, was the youngest child of James Sidney and Sally Vale Thompson Bradsher.
• Ronald S. Bradsher, Jr. (38 KB)
  Ronald Sutton Bradsher, Jr.
• Ella Clyde Ray Jones (276 KB)
  My maternal grandmother
• Bradsher family October 2004 (183 KB)
  Taken in front of Milton Presbyterian Church, Milton, NC
• Sid Bradsher family (110 KB)
  Sidney Preston Bradsher, Jr. family: L to R: Sid holding Holly, Bethany holding Benjamin and Preston standing.
• James Columbus Bradsher and wife Mattie Vowell (185 KB)
  James Columbus Bradsher was a son of Thomas Jefferson Bradsher and his wife Sarah Wisdom. He was a brother of John Albert Bradsher, also of Arkansas.
• Mary Frances Johnston Stedman 1814-1865 (60 KB)
  She died three weeks following the loss of her third and final son in the Civil War.
• Robert Spencer family (338 KB)
  Andy, Martha, Bob and Emily Spencer
• Ella Ray Bradsher Chacey (641 KB)
  My oldest sibling. Daughter of Jacob Thompson Bradsher and Mary Emily Jones.
• Children of J.T. and Emily Bradsher (313 KB)
  L to R: Ella Ray, Frank, Jean, and Jake.
• Frances Suzanne Bradsher (65 KB)
  Daughter of Sidney Preston and Frances Towler Bradsher
• Emily Spencer and Jessica Falk (77 KB)
  At Andy and Jessica's wedding, Wilmington, NC
• Maxine Adele Spencer (13 KB)
  The next to newest member of the Bradsher family.
• Suzanne and Sid Bradsher (65 KB)
  Children of Sidney Preston and Frances Towler Bradsher
• J. T. and Ella Ray Bradsher (Chacey) (339 KB)
  Jacob Thompson Bradsher and eldest daughter Ella Ray Bradsher Chacey.
• William Arch Bradsher 1816 - 1874 (77 KB)
  My great-grandfather
• Martha Spencer, 2003 (92 KB)
  This is my picture
• Jacob Thompson Bradsher and sister Katherine (70 KB)
  Jacob Thompson and Katherine Jones Bradsher, children of James Sidney and Sallie Vale Thompson Bradsher
• Sidney and Martha Ann Bradsher (70 KB)
  One of several horses my father kept over the years.
• Jake, Ella Ray and Jean Bradsher (39 KB)
  Jacob Thompson Bradsher, Jr., M.D., Ella Ray Bradsher Chacey, Jean Bradsher Scott, children of Jacob Thompson and Emily Jones Bradsher.
• Some Bradsher family (54 KB)
  L to R: Emily Jones Bradsher, Franklin Bradsher Chacey, Ella Ray Chacey, Martha Ann Bradsher, John Martin Scott, Jr.
• Spray, NC, 1875 (52 KB)
  My mother's maternal grandfather, John Hall Bullard came to Leaksville, NC from MA to set up and manage for a while, the cotton mill built by John Motley Morehead of Greensboro. The house at the top of the hill was the house occupied by the Bullard family
• Current generation of Bradshers (152 KB)
  Taken in Oxford, NC, 2002. The house is the one formerly owned by my father's parents. A cousin is the owner now.
• Frank and Ron Bradsher (55 KB)
  Children of Ronald Sutton and Nancy Bradner Moorefield Bradsher
• Archer Leath Bradsher 1872-1948 (362 KB)
  The son of William Arch Bradsher and Katherine Jones Thompson.
• Frank Bradsher (124 KB)
  James Franklin Bradsher, son of Jacob Thompson and Emily Jones Bradsher. Died in WWII.
• Jackson Bradsher Spencer, the newest family member (26 KB)
  Jackson is one week old in this photo
• Louisa and Caroline Irving (48 KB)
  Daughters of John Moore and Emily Scott Irving.
• Maxine Adele Spencer (47 KB)
  Maxine at her third birthday party.
• Bradsher brothers (664 KB)
  Front: Jacob Thompson Bradsher, Jr., M.D. Second row: Robert Sutton Bradsher, Mabel Tate Bradsher (wife of Francis Stedman Bradsher), James Sidney Bradsher, Jr., M.D., Jacob Thompson Bradsher, Sr., Francis Stedman Bradsher.
• Jacob Thompson (1042 KB)
  Son of Nicholas Thompson and Lucretia Van Hook, brother of my father's maternal grandfather. Senator from Mississippi, Secretary of the Interior in the cabinet of James Buchanan.
• J. T. and Emily Bradsher and children (467 KB)
  Back row L to R: Ronald Sutton Bradsher, J. T. Bradsher, Jr., M.D., Martha Ann Bradsher Spencer, Sidney Preston Bradsher Front row L to R: Ella Ray Bradsher Spencer, Emily Jones Bradsher, J. T. Bradsher, Sr., Jean Bradsher Scott
• Lillie Ann Bradsher & Joseph Idaho Kennedy (204 KB)
  Lillie Ann was the daughter of James Columbus Bradsher and his wife Martha A. Young. She was fifteen and a new bride in this picture. Lillie an Joseph were both born in 1869. Wedding took place in 1886.
• Franklin B. Jones (83 KB)
  Father of Mary Emily Jones Bradsher.
• Robert Andrew and Emily Jean Spencer (44 KB)
  Son and daughter of page owner
• Keener family (125 KB)
  John Bradsher Keener, Carolee Scott Keener, John Harbin Keener
• Martha Ann Bradsher (30 KB)
  First day of school
• Martha B. Spencer and Andy, November 1971 (8 KB)
  Christening day
• Martha B. Spencer holding Andy and Emily (200 KB)
  Sometime in 1973

Martha Bradsher Spencer
bookish42@earthlink.net

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