Myra Bradwell
Childhood
The Early Life of Myra Bradwell
Myra Colby was born on February 12, 1831, in Manchester, Vermont, the youngest surviving child of Ebenezer F. Colby Sr. and Abigail Hurd Willey. She grew up in a large New England family before moving west with her parents as a young girl — a journey that would eventually bring her to Illinois, where she would make history.
The Colby Family
Myra's parents, Ebenezer F. Colby Sr. and Abigail Hurd Willey, were both from New Hampshire — Ebenezer from Madison, born in 1788, and Abigail from Goshen, born in 1791. The family settled in Manchester, Vermont, where all of the Colby children were born. Myra was the sixth surviving child, born in 1831. Three children — Ensign (b. 1814), John (b. 1820), and Judith (b. 1823) — did not reach adulthood.
Surviving Children
The Groves of Cook County
Outside Chicago, the suburbs of Palatine and Schaumburg were once covered in groves. Pioneers knew them as Deer Grove, Plum Grove, Englishman's Grove, Missionary Grove and others. Myra Colby grew up in a grove called Salt Creek, which became the village of Schaumburg in 1850.
Maps identify properties belonging to Myra's future father-in-law, Thomas Bradwell. Property belonging to her uncle Morgan Johnson is also visible. Morgan was married to Myra's maternal aunt, Wealthy Johnson. The Johnsons followed the Colbys to Cook County from New York in the 1840s.
Schaumburg Township, 1851
A black-and-white map of Schaumburg Township from 1851 shows the location of the Colby farm, just south of Plum Grove. Myra's father, Ebenezer Colby, owned 80 acres in Section 12 of what was then part of the Salt Creek Precinct, according to Jane Rozek, former keeper of the History of Schaumburg Township blog.
The Colby farm lay near what is now the intersection of Golf and Meacham roads in Schaumburg. A few miles north, James Bradwell's father, Thomas Bradwell, had property in Englishman's Grove. He also owned other properties, which his servants maintained. An Englishman by birth, Bradwell considered himself landed gentry.
“If a man needed money for the purchase of land he could usually obtain it from Bradwell. No note or mortgage was given; but Bradwell required that the land be placed in his name as well as the borrower's.”
—History of Palatine, Ill.: Centennial Book, 1855–1955
Key Dates & Milestones
Born February 12 in Manchester, Vermont, to Ebenezer F. Colby Sr. and Abigail Hurd Willey.
The Colby family moved west, eventually settling in Illinois.
Salt Creek grove, where Myra grew up, was incorporated as the village of Schaumburg.
Married James B. Bradwell on May 18 in Chicago. She was 21 years old.
Images
Sources & Further Reading
- Colby family tree. Palatine Historical Society.
- Map of the Groves of Cook County, 1835–1850. Chicago Historical Society.
- 1851 map of Schaumburg Township. Schaumburg Township Historical Society.
- Jane Rozek, History of Schaumburg Township (blog).
- History of Palatine, Ill.: Centennial Book, 1855–1955.
- Jane M. Friedman, America's First Woman Lawyer: The Biography of Myra Bradwell (1993).