|
Please take a moment
to help us with
a small donation toward site maintenance. The costs involved in
providing a site of this size are high. We can't do it alone. If you
leave it to someone else this resource will disappear. We need your
support to stay alive!!
|
Descendants
and
Ancesters of Captain John Braddick
The
following text as well as the information was provided by J. G. (Jerry) Braddock
Sr.
For any questions
concerning this database please email Jerry Directly.
This
presentation
is
the
collaborative result of research by a list of descendants of
John
Braddick of Long Island far too long to enumerate here.
For
those interested
in this family please visit Jerry's web site
and consider purchasing
his book on this family called "Wooden Ships
- Iron Men," on their exploits."
HOME
PAGE: http://www.woodenshipsironmen.com/Bradhome.htm
Capt.
John Braddick was a mariner in Southold in the mid-1600's. His daughter
Grace married into the Vail family of Southold and has many
descendants.
His son, also Capt. John Braddick, lived in Southold and operated
vessels
between other New England ports as well as far distant ones.
He was
made a '"freeman" in 1702 for his services in Queen Anne's War. He is
mentioned several times in the "Council Journal of the Colony of
Connecticut," in 1711 for providing bread for an expedition against
Canada and in 1721 in
connection with a pirate ship that ventured into waters between Long
Island and Connecticut. He was killed aboard ship in 1734 by an Indian.
His will, which is in the NY Historical Collections, reads:
"In the name of God,
Amen. I, JOHN BRADDICK, of Southold in Suffolk County, mariner,
being at this present time at Boston, in Massachusetts Bay, in good
bodily
health. I leave to my wife Mary 1/3 of all my estates during her
life.
I leave to my son John, all my lands and tenements. To my
daughter
Mary, £5. To Thomas Sandforth, of Southold, who is now my
partner,
£100. All the rest of my estate is to be sold by my
executors,
and the proceeds divided among my five youngest children, Alice,
Elizabeth,
David, Peter, and Abigail. I make my son John and Thomas
Sandforth,
executors. “I have hereto set my hand and seal at Boston.”
September
6, 1733. Witnesses, Stephen Boutineau, Gillam Phillips, John
Payne.
Proved before Brinely Silvester, Esq., September 6, 1734."
One of
his sons, still another Capt. John Braddick, married Lucretia
Christophers of Connecticut and has many descendants, some of
whom are on various web pages.
Another
son, David Cutler Braddock, my 5th great-grand-father, was first mate
on a rice ship captured by the Spanish of the Carolina coast in 1740.
He
escaped from their "fortress" at St. Augustine and made his way up the
coast to Georgia where the founder and leader of Georgia, James
Oglethorpe,
placed him in command of a military schooner. Braddock's vessel helped
repel
the Spanish attempted invasion of Georgia in 1742. He was then hired by
South Carolina to command one of their two new half-gallies to protect
the
colony from the Spanish. The southern tip of Hilton Head Island, where
his
galley was stationed, has been called Braddock Point ever since. In
1746,
he moved to Savannah where he received a large land grant and became a
member
of the governor's council. He commanded the colony's scout boat for a
while
and then became a highly active and successful privateer against
Spanish
shipping. When Georgia changed from a trusteeship to a royal province
in
1754, he was elected to the Lower House of Assembly, where he served
until
his death in 1759. His son, John Cutler Braddock, carried on the
mariner
tradition by commanding the Georgia Rebel galley "Lee." He was so
effective
the British named him on three of their lists of traitors. John Cutler
Braddock's
sons migrated to North Florida while it was still a Spanish possession
and
became progenitors of an extremely large number of descendants, as
several
genealogy web sites, devoted to them, can testify. My knowledge of
these
men is the result of five years of personal research which I have
concluded
with the creation of a 300 page book entitled, "Wooden
Ships - Iron Men," on their exploits."
NOTE From Jerry - July 2, 2001
I am happy to announce
that a reprint of "Wooden Ships - Iron Men" is in process and can now
be
ordered. The book, a 300 page chronology of the exploits of
Captains
David Cutler Braddock, John Cutler Braddock, William Lyford Sr., and
William
Lyford Jr., was first published in 1996 and was sold out within
two
and a half years with copies in 29 states and four foreign
countries.
The four heroes of the
book, all mariners of considerable note in Southeastern waters during
Colonial and Revolutionary times, were progenitors of a large
number of Braddocks and allied families now residing in Florida and
surrounding states.
The book can be ordered
directly from its publisher:
VJB Press
1710 Garden St.
Charleston, SC 29407
For $20 plus $5 Priority Mail shipping
and handling.
For further information, check out VJB
Press'
web
page: Wooden Ships
The Legacy of a Long
Island Born and Bred Mariner
The Legacy of David Cutler Braddock:
1717: Born
in Southold to Capt. John Braddick and Mary Cutler. David Cutler
Braddock grew up on Long Island, breeding ground in colonial days of
superb mariners. His father was a notable mariner in New England waters
as had been his grandfather, also Captain John Braddick. He did not
waste the maritime legacy he received from them nor the experience he
gained in apprenticeship upon the decks
of his father’s vessels:
11/1740:
Twenty-three, he served as first mate on rice ship Ancona when she was
captured by Spanish privateers and taken into St. Augustine.
1/31/1741 He made an
affidavit of his capture and escape to British Fort Frederica on St.
Simon’s Island in Georgia.
7/17/1741 Gen. James
Oglethorpe, leader of Georgia, sent him to Charles Town with orders to
purchase
a schooner capable of carrying 90 men, two nine-pounders, four six
pounders,
and swivel guns. The orders included instructions to recruit a crew for
the vessel, which he would command in defending the Georgia Coast.
3/6/1742 The South
Carolina Gazette reported that he returned from a mission to Florida
with a party of Indians to capture prisoners with three scalps and five
Spaniards.
6/1742 In command of the
schooner “Norfolk,” he helped repel a Spanish invasion of St. Simon’s
and was in the fleet that chased them back to St. Augustine where he
participated in the shelling of the Spanish fort Castillo de San Marcos.
9/1742 Because of the
abilities he showed against the invading Spanish fleet, he was given
command of the “Beaufort,” one of two of South Carolina’s recently
completed half-galleys.
11/7/1742 He married his
commander’s daughter, Mary Lyford.
12/1742 He and several
other captains successfully petitioned for monetary retribution for
slaves who served on their vessels during the Spanish attempted
invasion.
1742/1746 He made numerous
cruises along the Southern coast to keep an eye on Spanish activities.
Part of this time his vessel was stationed in a small cove at the
southern
point of Hilton Head Island. Today, the island is a famous resort, and
the
cove and point still bear his name.
1/28/1743 He and his
commander, Captain William Lyford Sr.--also his
father-in-law--successfully petitioned for better pay and rations for
the crewmen under them.
5/1745 He successfully
defended himself before the governor’s council against false charge
that he had conspired to trade with the Spanish of St. Augustine.
1/27/1747 He received a
grant in Georgia for 500 acres on the Ogeechee River outside Savannah
and became a privateer.
9/26/1747 Records in the
Bahamas archives show that he, as commander of the privateer “Viper,”
captured a Spanish vessel appraised at 12,500 pounds.
11/6/1747 The same records
show that, aboard the “Viper,” he captured another Spanish prize (enemy
vessel) valued at 1,050 pounds.
3/25/1748 The same records
show that, commanding the “Isabella,” he captured a Spanish prize
valued at 15,000 pounds.
1/10/1749 As a councilman
in Georgia’s Trustee government, he was one of many who signed a letter
to the king in England seeking approval for slavery, which had been
banned in Georgia since its founding in 1733.
1/1751 A letter to
Georgia’s secretary in England named Capt. David Cutler Braddock as the
man on whom the colony should rely to solve navigation problems of the
Savannah river.
8/17/1852 He was involved
in a variety of maritime ventures; one was commercial shipping. As
reported in the South Carolina Gazette, his vessel was captured by a
Spanish privateer while on a voyage to England and taken into Mexico.
1/1754 He acted as pilot
of British man-of-war “Shoreham” while she was on station in the
Caribbean.
1754/1756 BPRO (British
Public Records Office) shipping records show he was engaged in
commercial shipping between Caribbean islands and the mainland.
11/1/1756 With a new
privateer, “Cockspur,” he drew up a privateering contract with several
others
and immediately captured a French ship in the Savannah River.
12/1756 While in the area
on a privateering expedition, he made a chart of the Florida Keys,
which is now in the Library of Congress. In writing of Tampa Bay in a
book published in 1776, naturalist and explorer Barnard Romans stated,
“Captain Braddock was generally acknowledged as being the first
Englishman who explored this bay.”
5/12/1757 Even the best of
sea-fighters meet their match: The “South Carolina Gazette” reported,
“On Monday arrived Capt. Roberts from Providence, by whom we have the
following advices, viz. . . . That a Virginia Privateer had sent in
there,
a Rhode Island Vessel, laden with Horses, Provisions, &c. which she
took just entering a French Port: That this vessel had spoke with the
‘Cockspur’
Privateer, of Georgia, commanded by Capt. David Cutler Braddock, who
had
5 Hours Engagement with, and several Times boarded a French Privateer
Schooner,
of superior force, off Cape Francois, which killed 3 of his Men and
wounded
several more, and so terribly maul'd the ‘Cockspur,’ that while they
repaired
her Sails and Rigging, the Frenchman escaped, and got safe into the
Cape; Braddock soon after met with some New York Privateers, who
supplied him with everything he stood in need of.”
2/10/1758 Undaunted
and with a new privateer, “King of Prussia,” he was granted a
letter-of-marque by the Court of Vice Admiralty at Savannah.
11/20/1758 The “South
Carolina Gazette” reported that, “. . . a new Privateer Brigt.
(reckoned one of the best fitted in America) sailed on a cruize from
New Providence, mounting 18 carriage and 20 swivel guns, with 130
choice fellows
on board (the prime of all the Bahamas), called the ‘King of
Prussia,’ commanded by Capt. David Cutler Braddock.” The article
also mentioned that three French prizes were taken by the “King of
Prussia” and two other privateers.
12/23/1758 The “South
Carolina Gazette” reported that two more prizes he captured were taken
into New Providence.
8/1760 With the declining
privateering “industry,” he returned to commercial shipping and also to
command of the Georgia scout boat.
3/18/1763 The 14-gun
man-of-war “Epreuve” ran aground in the Savannah River and was given up
by all as lost.
7/14/1763 After the
four-months’ efforts of all others to salvage the “Epreuve,” the “South
Carolina Gazette” carried the following article echoing an
accolade
printed earlier in the “Georgia Gazette,” “The ‘Georgia Gazette’
of 14th of July, contains the following compliment to Capt. Braddock,
commander
of the king's scout-boat, to whose skill and uncommon perseverance is
said
to be principally owing the saving of his majesty's ship the
‘Epreuve,’
after it was thought by most people impossible.
‘It is with pleasure we acquaint the public,
that
the “Epreuve” has safely come to her moorings in this
harbour,
which adds great honour to the merit and assiduity of Capt. David
Cutler
Braddock, and plainly elucidates the experience and great abilities of
that
gentleman.’”
10/25/1764 He was elected
a representative to the colonial Georgia General Assembly. Holding this
office until his death, he served on numerous committees engaged in
activities to improve the young colony. Among matters with which
committees he served on were concerned were: regulating the provincial
militia, endowing of a
college, establishing ferries, inspecting conditions of the
Savannah
River, appointing tax examiners, corresponding with the colony’s agent
in
England, developing new roads, appointing collectors of duty, and
appointing
a new agent to represent the colony in England--Benjamin Franklin.
2/1769 The exact date of
his death is not known. It was reported in the February 8th issue of
the “Georgia Gazette.” The mariner legacy he received from his
father
and grandfather did not die with him. He handed it down to his son John
Cutler Braddock who used it quite capably to establish himself as a
mariner of
note and a man of service. But that’s another sea story.
J.
G.
Braddock Sr.
For further Information on
this family be sure to visit
Verna Mae (Braddock) Campbell's
Web Site at http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/c/a/m/Verna-M-Campbell/
The files contained on this site have been researched and
donated for public use by the visitors of Long Island Genealogy and its
expanding family. They are not to be reproduced for commercial purposes
but are freely offered for your personal use. Please verify all
information and use it
as a guide in your personal research not as an end goal. Although every
effort has been made to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the
information
on the Long Island Genealogy Website we are all subject to human error,
therefore researchers should, whenever possible, check the original
source
of any information.
Thank You for Visiting and
please come back soon!
|