Mary Bradley

1771-1859

Mary (Coy) Morris/Bradley (shopkeeper, feminist, religious revivalist, author), was born in Grimross (Gagetown), New Brunswick, on 1 September 1771. She died on 12 March 1859. Bradley was first married on 15 February 1793 to David Morris. After their union, they lived in Maugerville Township, east of Fredericton. Several years later, in 1801, the pair settled into farming at Portland Point in the Saint John region, but in 1805 the couple moved to the city of Saint John, where they kept a shop in their home until 1816. Widowed in 1817, Bradley married Leveret Bradley in 1819 and remained in the Saint John area. Bradley converted to the Wesleyan Methodist faith in 1803 and taught herself to write to record religious experiences in her diary. Her only published work was the 375-page Narrative of the Life and Christian Experience of Mrs. Mary Bradley, of St. John, New Brunswick (Boston, 1849).

Predominant New Brunswick Residences:

Gagetown, Saint John

Archival Material

• Amasa Coy family fonds
  ⌄
  Location

  Provincial Archives of New Brunswick

  Retrieval Number

  MC239

  Date Range of Material

  1796-1913, Predominant 1808-1898

  Extent

  45 cm of textual records, maps, photographs

  Scope and Content Note

  This fonds documents the business, legal, and personal activities of Amasa Coy, Sr. and members of his family, notably his sister, Mary (Coy) Bradley, his daughter, Sarah P. (Coy) Smith, and his sons, Dr. Amasa P. Coy, John S. Coy, and Asa Coy. Mary Coy Bradley's records (MS1) consist of a single item, her 6-page manuscript recollection of her conversion to Methodism and spiritual walk (1804).