Interview with Herbert Bradley, Hiram Bradley’s great grandson.
Herbert Bradley shares that his great-grandfather, Hiram Bradley (1814-1881), was the first Black person to arrive in Bethlehem in 1860, from Powhattan County, Virginia. He was an indentured servant to Tinsley Jeter, one of South Bethlehem’s leading entrepreneurs.
He wed Rachel Emma Walsh on June 25, 1862, at a Presbyterian Church on the outskirts of Lehigh, Pennsylvania. They had eight children all who were baptized at the Pro Cathedral Church of the Nativity. In fact, Alfred Tinsley and Mary Jeter, the Bradley’s first children, were the fourth and fifth persons baptized in the newly consecrated Church of the Nativity, in 1865.
Hiram was himself baptized in 1877, with Tinsley Jeter standing as sponsor. Many of the children of these early Black families of Nativity later left Bethlehem to follow education and work in other places; others were instrumental in the founding of St. John African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, at 718 Pawnee Street, Bethlehem, PA, where they could worship and exercise leadership uninhibited; others, such as the descendants of Abram and Clara Lane, are now multi-generational parishioners of the Cathedral. Hiram also worked for Bethlehem Steel.
Herbert Bradley’s father’s name is Herbert Frank Bradley and worked at Bethlehem Steel and the Bethlehem Hotel. His mother’s name is Leila, from Easton, Pa.
The Bradley Children:
Alfred Tinsley Bradley – b. 1863 – d. 1929 -Stableman
Mary Jeter Bradley – b. 1864
Harry Bradley – b. 1866 – Driver
Hiram Bradley, Jr. – b. 1868
Elizabeth Bradley – b. 1871
Emma Theresa – b. 1874 – d. 1885
Frank Herbert Bradley- b. 1878 – d. 1965 Steelworker
Robert Bradley – b. 1878 Coachman/Steelworker
Joseph Montgomery Bradley – b. 1884 – d.1885