Etta May Bradley

This is the story of Etta May Bradley. She was my great-uncle's mother, and she seemed to live an interesting life, to say the least. She was taken to court at two different times to be tried for insanity, once by her father, and then by her husband. She disappeared with her five-year-old child for five months, Her relationships with her father and her stepmother appear to have been quite contentious.

 Etta May Bradley was born on the 13th of July in 1868 in Bloomington, Illinois. She was the oldest of six children born to Sylvester and Jennie Motter Bradley. 

In the 1870 Census for Bloomington taken on the 12th of July of 1870, Etta "Ettie" was listed as age three, living with her parents, a younger brother, and her uncle. Her father, Sylvester, and his brother (the uncle living with them) were listed as "Peddlers".   The following month (August 1870), Etta's younger brother William H. Bradly died. He was one year old.

Over the next ten years, three siblings to Etta were born: Bert Henry Bradley born in 1872, Cora Belle Bradley born in 1875, and Harry Bradley, born in 1877. All of them were born in Bloomington, Illinois. In the 1880 Census for Bloomington, "Ettie" was listed as twelve years old, living with her parents and three younger siblings. Her father, Sylvester Bradley, was listed as a "Lighting Rod Salesman".

In 1883, Etta's sister Daisy Alma Bradley was born.

Etta was listed in the Peoria, Illinois City Directory as living with her father at 606 W. Mouton in Peoria.  She was listed as "May Bradley".

Etta married William Nungester in May of 1890 in McLean County, Illinois. They were each twenty-one years old. They had a son in June of 1891 but sadly, he only lived for one month.

In the Monroe County Indiana Circuit Court in the December term of 1892 Etta stated that her husband had deserted her and did not leave sufficient provisions for her support. She asked for $500. It was also reported "That said plaintiff has no children but is now expecting to be delivered of a child in June 1893" and "That said plaintiff now resides with her father and is being cared for and supported by him."

In the Elkhart Daily News (Elkhart, IN) on December 7, 1892, the headline was TRIED TO GET RID OF HIS WIFE.  The article stated that William was trying to have his wife found insane. however, Etta was examined and found to not be insane. She was described as "24 years old, handsome, and has the appearance of being a girl of refinement and culture.", 

In June of 1893, Etta and William did indeed have a baby, a daughter named Florence. In August of 1893, Etta's mother died.

It seems as if William and Etta divorced between 1893 and 1896, as William married Eliza Parker in 1896, probably in Ohio.

On the second of September of 1897 Etta's father, Sylvester Bradley, alleged that Etta was insane. His witnesses were Carrie Bradley, Catherine West, and Harry Bradley (Etta's stepmother, her step-grandmother, and Etta's brother). After the evidence was examined, Etta was found to not be insane.

An article from The Decatur Herald (Decatur, Illinois) Sunday, September 5, 1897, stated the following:

"Bloomington, Ill., September 4-After a bitterly fought trial in the probate court Etta Nungester was declared not insane. The case attracted unusual interest on account of the attractive appearance of the girl and the efforts made by her own father to have her placed in an asylum. Her father is a business man of this city and the daughter married against his will to a young man who proved to be worthless. He deserted his wife and child and Mrs. Nungester and her little one were forced to stay at the home of her father. She was tolerated for a time, but recently Bradley's wife, the stepmother of Mrs. Nungester began to make life disagreeable for the daughter. She refused to have her about, and the father decided to have his daughter adjudged insane, as the cheapest way to get rid of her. The poor girl was without money and the friends who rallied to her support were equally penniless. Without a lawyer to defend, the outcome of the case appeared dark.  Before the trial came off, however, Jacob Bohrer, assistant states attorney, learned of the facts in the case and agreed to defend her. His handling of the case was successful, and despite the great number of witnesses placed on the stand by the plaintiff the girl was freed. She was completely prostrated by the strain of the examination."

By the end of the month, the following article was written about Etta (found from 29 September 1897, Bloomington):

"Sues for $2000- Etta M. Nungester yesterday began suit in the circuit court against Sylvester Bradley and wife for $2000. Mrs. Nungester is a daughter of Bradley by a former wife, and the suit grows out of daily troubles. The daughter and stepmother have not got along well together. The daughter is married and has one child, her husband having deserted her. A short time ago an effort was made to prove Mrs. Nungester insane. It failed and since then she claims she has not been provided for by her father. She has attempted to obtain work, but the proceedings in the county court against her have so injured her chances that no one will employ her."

From the 11th of November 1898, an unknown Chicago paper: 

Mrs. Nungester, No. 606 West Moulton street, Bloomington, has written Postmaster Gordon asking for information about her daughter, Etta May, who left her home several months ago. The daughter was accompanied by a 5-year-old child, and Mrs. Nungester is much distressed at the absence of the wanderers."

And then from the Bloomington, Illinois paper on the 30th of November 1898:

" Spirits Were Mistaken.
-Mrs. Etta Nungester, who has been missing, has returned home. A spiritualistmedium is said to have reported her dead in Chicago, as the result of a seance. She has been in Indianapolis ever since she left the city."

Then in 1900, Etta was living with her father and stepmother in Peoria, Illinois on Cornhill St. Her father was listed as a "Manufacturer". Also living in the household were her stepmother's mother, Etta's sister Daisy, and a boarder. Etta was listed as widowed. Her daughter Florence is not listed with the family. Florence is also not listed with her father William and his wife.

In 1901, Etta was listed in the Peoria City Directory as "Mrs. May Nungester, widow of William H." She was living on Cornhill St. with her father;

 According to a birth certificate found in Chicago, on the 2nd of November in 1901, in Chicago Illinois, Claude Thompson was born to William Thompson and Etta Bradley Thompson.  This is the birth of my great-uncle, Claude Sylvester Bradley. He is the reason why I began researching this fascinating woman, Etta May Bradley.

Etta was listed in the 1904 Peoria, Illinois City Directory as "Mrs. Etta Nungester". She was living with her father.

To finish this sad story, in 1905 Etta was listed in Peoria City Directory as Mrs. Etta Nungester, and she lived in Peoria Heights. So it is not a given that she had been married to William Thomspon if that was actually the name of Claude's father.

On the 26th of February 1906, Etta May Bradley Nungester died from pulmonary tuberculosis. She was thirty-seven years old. Her death record stated that she was a "widow by law". She is buried in Evergreen Memorial Cemetery in Bloomington, Illinois.

When Etta died her daughter Florence was twelve years old. In 1910 Florence was seventeen years old working as a Milliner at a store and living with Etta's sister Belle in Bloomington. She married later that year. 

Claude was four years old when Etta died. In 1910 he was living with his grandfather Sylvester Bradley and his step-grandmother. Sylvester died on the ninth of June in 1917. Caude had lived with him until his grandfather died. In 1918, before his sixteenth birthday, Claude joined the service. His sister Florence was listed as his next of kin. He joined Company B, 124th Machine Gun Battalion, 33rd Division.