The first appearance of James’ father Thomas Bready is in the 1861 British census.  He is living in Bentham, Yorkshire, England with three of his siblings and with Sarah McComb, his future wife.  From this census we learn that he and Sarah are both 21 years old, so they were born around 1839.  James, his younger brother is just 18 years old.  Jane, his older sister, is 23, and Mary, the youngest is only 14 years old.  All were born in Ireland.  I have not been able to locate birth records for any of them, nor marriage or death records for Jane or Mary.  And I have not found Jane or Mary on any other census under the name Bready or Brady, so assume they either married, died, or returned to Ireland.  Thomas and Sarah were married later that year, on September 7, 1861 in Bentham, West Yorkshire, and their first child was born the following month.  On their marriage record, I discovered that Thomas Bready’s father was Joseph Bready and that Sarah’s father was Stuart McComb.   Fortunately, Thomas’ brother James married in Scotland, where they record the names of both parents.  James married Matilda Hayes on December 29, 1865 in Barrmill, Beith, Ayrshire, Scotland, and from this record I learned that not only was his father Joseph Bready, but his mother was Mary Johnstone.  His mother is listed as deceased, but not his father, who is said to be an agricultural labourer, though I found no further record of his life or death.

James’ was the only line to retain the original spelling of B-R-E-A-D-Y, though several of his children anglicized it to Bradie or Brady.  James and Matilda had ten children.  The firstborn was their daughter Mary.  Mary was born on April 27, 1867 in Beith, Ayrshire, Scotland.  She was not in the 1871 Scotland census (or any other census) with her parents, so must have died in infancy, if not shortly after birth.  Their next child, another daughter, also died young.  Ann Bready was born on January 17, 1870 in Beith and died on March 7 of the same year.

The third child, yet another daughter, lived and thrived.  Jane Bready was born on April 12, 1871 in Beith.  She married John William Douglas in Beith on December 31, 1891.  They had seven children together.  James Douglas, born in Beith on February 13, 1893, married Sarah Ann Dawson on June 27, 1913 in Kilburnie, Ayrshire.  They had children, including a son John, who signed his father’s death certificate on October 23, 1953 in Cadder, Lanarkshire, Scotland.  Matilda Douglas was born in Beith on April 13, 1895.  She married Andrew Boyd in Beith on December 31, 1914 and had at least one child, a daughter named Matilda who died in Cadder on March 19, 1931 at the age of 1 year.  Matilda Douglas Boyd died in Paisley, Renfrew, Scotland on July 24, 1956.  Mary Douglas, born in Beith on April 17, 1898, married Thomas Meharry on April 27, 1918 in Blythswood, Glasgow, Scotland.  Mary died on November 5, 1949 in Cadder.  They had at least one child, a son named William who died in Cadder on April 12, 1922 at 8-1/2 months old.  William Douglas was born in Beith on December 6, 1899, and married Annie Meharry (Thomas Meharry’s sister) in Lochore, Fife on July 17, 1925.  They had at least one child, Jane Brady Douglas born about 1928, who died on February 19, 1947 in Cadder.  William died in Bishopbriggs, Dunbartonshire, Scotland in 1992.   His wife Annie died there in 1983.  The fifth child was Jane Douglas.  She was born in Beith on December 3, 1902.  Her sister Janet was born in Beith on August 2, 1904.  I have no marriage or death information for Jane, and Janet died in Beith on January 26, 1907.  As Jane is the diminutive of Janet, I suspect Jane may have died at birth or shortly afterwards, but have no records to substantiate my supposition.  The last child born was Sarah Douglas.  She was born in Beith on February 18, 1906.  Sarah married William Thomson on December 28, 1923 in Possilpark, Lanark, Scotland.  I have no records of their children, but Sarah died in 1972 in Bishopbriggs, East Dunbartonshire.  The Douglas’ seem to have remained in Beith until after the death of John William in 1916.  After this date his wife Jane and the four oldest children can be found in Cadder.  I can only suppose work was easier to find in Lanark than in Beith.  John William had been a stone cutter, so presumably was fortunate to make a good living, but after his death it must have been difficult for his widow Jane.

I’d like to say just a word about which children I’ve chosen to identify.  I’ve decided to only identify by name those children who can be found in publically available records.  Each country or state has privacy laws, and they differ from place to place.  If an identifying record is available online, then individuals on that record are included in this book.  That is why some children born within the last 100 years in Scotland are included, while others are not.  Those children who were born within the term of local privacy laws and are identified by name here either signed a death certificate that is publically available, witnessed a marriage that is publically available, or themselves died and their death certificate is publically available.  If it’s necessary to send for an extract from the public records office in order to conclusively determine an individual’s parentage, whose birth is covered by privacy laws, I have not identified that person by name here.  For instance, if a child was born with one of the family names as a middle name, in an area where I know family lived, I could be fairly certain that child was born to that relative, but I’d have to send for the extract to be certain, as the birth occurred within the last 100 years in Scotland.  Having received the extract I would know it to be a fact, but still would not name that child here, because of that person’s right to privacy and the fact that he/she showed up on no other identifying public record since his/her birth.  If the birth was outside the date set by local privacy laws and I haven’t named them, it’s because I just didn’t know about that individual.

The fourth child of James and Matilda Bready was William Bready.  William was born on August 16, 1873 in Beith, Ayrshire.  He married Jane Muir on May 20, 1895 in Blythswood, Glasgow.  I don’t believe they ever had any children, and William died in Beith on November 13, 1943.  His wife died just over a year later on January 17, 1945 in Stewarton, Ayrshire.

Next was James Bready.  He was born on February 15, 1877 in Beith, and married Jane Watt King in Beith on December 28, 1905.  I don’t know if they had any children, but James died in 1956 in Paisley, Renfrew.  His wife Jane died two years later in 1958, also in Paisley, Renfrew.

On February 22, 1879, Thomas Bready was born in Beith.  He died just over a year later on Jun 22, 1880.  Another son, also named Thomas, was born in Beith on May 27, 1881.  This Thomas died as well, on February 15, 1883.

Arthur was Matilda and James’ eighth child.  He was born on March 2, 1884 in Beith.  Arthur married Jane Walker in Beith on July 15, 1910.  He died in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire on May 7, 1947.   I have no record of their children – his brother John signed his death certificate.

John Bready was born in Beith on September 11, 1886.  He married twice.  His first wife was Janet White.  They married in Beith on August 16, 1912 and had a son James in 1914.  James died on August 12, 1917 in Beith at about two years old.  Janet died on Mar 7, 1921 in Beith.  John then married his first wife’s sister Mary White in Beith on September 19, 1924.  John died at the age of 70 on June 5, 1957 in Beith.  His son John signed his death certificate.

The last child of James and Matilda Bready was a daughter named Matilda.  She was born in Beith on September 27, 1890.  She married John Graham in Blythswood, Glasgow on August 15, 1913, and she died on October 22, 1948 in Hillhead, Glasgow.   Matilda had an adopted daughter named Elizabeth who signed her death certificate, but I have no idea when or to whom she was born, or how Matilda came to adopt her.

© Deborah Ray and archivecookie.com, 2010.