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Author: oldie62
Surnames: Bardsley, Cofroff, Barrickman, Marshall, Brelsford, Bowman, Buzzard, Blake,
Smith,
Classification: obituary
Message Board URL:
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Message Board Post:
The Warren Tribune, Friday, April 29, 1904
Joseph Bardsley.
Sketch of Man's Life Who Was Useful to his Fellows.
Was Born in England
Came to America to Fight in Mexican War.
The death of Joseph Bardsley, brief mention of which was made in our last issue, was due
to an attack of senile pneumonia, from which he had been suffering eight days. While the
friends of the deceased were aware that he had been in feeble health for a long time his
sudden death came as a great shock to them.
The funeral was held from the Christian church Sunday at eleven o'clock. Rev. J.E.
Etter delivered the funeral sermon and the services were in charge of the I.O.O.F. lodge.
Considering the inclemency of the weather the obsequies were witnessed by an unusually
large number of the friends and brethren of the aged man.
Joseph Bardsley was born in Lancshire near Oldham, England, Oct. 16, 1826.
When a little boy nine years of age he commenced work in a nearby cotton mill, and by
persistent effort and strict application to his duties and an aptitude for mechanics he
rose by rapid strides and at fourteen he was foreman of the twiners' room. At
eighteen he was foreman of an entire department.
In the meantime he attended night school and at twenty he was considered an expert in the
manipulation and adjustment of the machines in his department.
At this time he became interested in America's struggle with Mexico and wishing to
change his life of drudgery and confinement for one of active hostilities he sailed from
Liverpool Feb. 7, 1848, with the expressed purpose of joining the American army.
After a rough and stormy journey of fifty-four days in a sail boat he arrived in New York,
where he learned the clash of arms had ceased.
Finding no chance to follow his military ambitions he took himself to the country and
labored upon a farm, vowing never again to enter a dark and dusty factory.
He worked at various occupations until the middle of the summer, when he met a young
English machinist by the name of Herman Cofroff who persuaded him to go with him to Fort
Ann, Vt, on the shore of Lake Champlain where he had been employed in a large cotton mill
there John J. Holloway & Co., had just completed a new factory and Mr. Cofroff was
employed as superintendent to set up and adjust the new machinery, with Mr. Bardsley as
assistant. Before they had completed their job, however, Mr. Cofroff took sick with fever
and the responsible job fell upon the shoulders of Mr. Bardsley. He, however, after two
months of patient effort had the factory in operation.
He was offered a working interest in this factory to stay and operate it but declined,
having decided to push on into the west where some relatives had previously settled in
Franklin county, Indiana.
Mode of travel at that time was not as rapid as it is today. He went by canal to Buffalo,
thence across Lake Erie to Cleveland, then across the state of Ohio by canal to a little
town of Beaver, thence down the Ohio river to Cincinnati. He arrived with his relatives
in Franklin county in the early winter of 1848.
On Jan. 1, 1857, he was married to Jane E. Barrickman whose parents were of German origin,
having emigrated to this country in the early part of the century. From this union were
born nine children, one having died in infancy. James T., William E., Mrs. James
Marshall, Mrs. H.O. Brelsford, Mrs. D.S. Bowman are all residents of this county; Mrs.
Henry Buzzard, of Wells county; Mrs. H.M. Blake, of Payne, Ohio, and Mrs. J.H. Smith, of
Watsonville, Cal., the latter being unable to attend the funeral. Besides these there is
a family of twenty-four grandchildren.
In October 1866 he moved with his family to Huntington county and settled upon the farm of
130 acres where he died.
The country was new, heavily timbered and covered with water. It seemed almost impossible
to make a home in this wilderness, but setting about with the same progressive spirit
which characterized his youth he cleared and ditched until he had one of the finest farms
in the county.
Something over a year ago he moved form the large farm residence to a cottage on one side
of the farm, to leave the arduous tasks of looking after the farm and stock to younger
hands.
In 1872 he with B.F. Webb, S.C. Smith, Hiram Brown and J.W. Alexander organized and
received the charter for Salamonie Lodge No. 392 I.O.O.F. From that time until his death
he was a devoted member of that order.
His religious belief was in the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. He was a
faithful and loving husband, a kind and indulgent father, and had the welfare of his
family and friends always at heart.
To his praise may it be said that all who knew him respected him for his honesty,
integrity and true morality.
In the great economy of the universe it has not been vouchsafed to mankind to read the
riddle of his own existence, but his aim was to discharge every duty that devolved upon
him.
He had a well cultured mind and took great pleasure in the correct investigation of Truth,
and believed in the omnipotent God of Love. He was happily free from the blight of
superstition. He only believed what reason approved. He sought to know the truth and the
right and believed in the universal salvation of mankind. The fearless are the free and
the free have no foreboding.
Armed by a fortitude founded upon love and justice, on reason and rectitude, sustained by
a sense of duty done and the consciousness of truth and integrity and pure intent, they
who have lived an unspotted life in which they have meant well, will know no dread of
death. Those who know how to live will know how to die. The grave will have no terror
and death no sting.
He loved to tell his children of his early adventures, his trip to the interior of this
continent, his first trip to Huntington county on horseback through the "bridle
paths" of the forest. On one occasion a foot pad undertook to steal one of his
horses but was persuaded from the notion by unexpectedly looking into the muzzle of a gun.
One thing he always felt honored to relate, was an occurrence which happened when he was
a boy 14 years of age, during a "shut down" of the factory. His father being a
well-to-do country gentleman, kept some fine saddle horses, and on this occasion he was
exercising one of these upon the public road. It was a day of "the hunt" for
the lords and dukes on the manor, and the hare was started near him. The horse he was
riding had been ridden in many a chase, at the "huntsman horn" and the
"baying of the pack," despite the efforts of the youth, leaped the low stone
wall which skirted the road and dashed across the moor and joined that of the l!
ords carrying the unwilling rider to the end of the chase.
In 1858 while yet living in Franklin county he became a member of the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows and after moving to this county became one of the charter members of Salamonie
Lodge No. 392. During the early days of the order in Warren he was one of its most
enthusiastic members and was a regular attendant at its meetings. During recent years the
infirmities of age prevented him from being present at the sessions of the lodge but he
was always in good standing in the order and was one of its most honored members. His
death removed from the order here the last of those whose names appear upon its charter.
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