As you folks all know, I've spent the last couple of years deeply involved in researching the Jenny Lind Disaster of 1853 which killed my great-great-great-grandfather John Bradbury and left my grandmother Mary a widow with a newborn daughter. I've long lamented the fact that we seemed to have no personal possessions that belonged to John and Mary. The photo we have of them is a late 19th century copy of the original (whereabouts unknown). The family bible I retrieved from Illinois was John's brother's and Although it surely would have passed through Mary's hands, it never belonged to her.
Well, a few days ago, my mother asked me to look though an unsorted box of silver pieces that had come from my grandfather's estate. We were going through them, making notes and talking when I picked up a silver spoon, and my jaw dropped. It was inscribed "Mary". There has only been one Mary in our family, Mary Bolles Bradbury. Researching the hallmarks gave me the confirmation I hoped for. It was inscribed with the hallmark of an early 19th century silversmith working in New York, where Mary and John were both born and lived. It was marked "pure coin" a term used to describe silver pieces that had been made by melting down from actual coins, a practice common the US prior to 1860. This all fit perfectly with Mary's geographic location and her lifespan from 1823-1860.
Never give up hope!
John and Mary in 1849
