Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1845-1858 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
18pp
Context area
Archival history
Kerby A. Miller created his transcripts of the Michael and Sarah Brady letters from copies provided by William T. Brady, Beverly Hills, California.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Transcripts of five letters sent by and to Michael and Sarah Brady in Illinois between 1845 and 1860, along with Kerby A. Miller’s biographical notes on the Bradys.
Per Miller, ‘Michael Brady appears to have been an Irish emigrant, perhaps from Co. Cavan. He was born in 1803, and by 1837 was residing in Virginia. In that year he married Sarah Henley, a protestant who converted at the time of her marriage. In 1838 Brady and his wife settled in Illinois, where he was a contractor in the building of the Illinois Central railroad. When the railroad building scheme collapsed in 1837, Brady maintained a livelihood by cultivating his 40-acre farm. Not satisfied with his prospects as a farmer, Brady departed for California in 1849, leaving his wife behind, with, apparently, enough money to manage. In California he was able to accumulate 33000 from his mining operations, and when work was resumed on the Illinois Central in 1852, he rejoined his wife in Illinois. Besides contracting for the railroad, he engaged in farming (having bought a larger farm on returning from California) and milling. He died in 1861 or 1862, and was survived by his wife and two of their ten children.’