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WILLIAM
KEYES BRADLEY, usually known as W.K. or to his personal friends as
Billy, was born in Gananoque, Ontario, twenty miles from Kingston in
the year of Canadian Confederation, 1867. He was the third member of a
family of twelve, seven boys and five girls. William’s parents were
great storytellers and the young Bradleys were steeped in Irish
stories, sayings and traditions.
Billy spent his early childhood and boyhood as most of the other
children of the day. The chief business of the parents was survival.
The children received little education as schools were poor, teachers
rather ignorant and the older children were needed at home to help with
the younger ones. W.K. only got to about grade two but the level of
reading, spelling and arithmetic was much higher than it is in grade
two today, and when he got older he tried to educate himself by
learning to do by doing.
In 1886 the Bradley family came west. It was a hard pull for the family
to leave their home. Were not the dear old Irish grandfather and
grandmother buried on the old Ontario farm? W.K. could well remember
the moving of their bodies from the old home to a more secure resting
place. He always said it was one of the hardest moments of his life.
The two railcars that contained their effects were accompanied by two
older brothers. Their mother and the rest of the family rode in an
old-time coach car. The coach car had a cook-stove at one end to heat
the car and provided cooking facilities. At the other end of the car
was a very unsanitary bathroom and
washroom. The seats were made of slats and were uncushioned. The lights
were lit with a torch each evening by the brakeman.
W.K. took up a homestead 24 miles west of the present town of
Boissevain, and used to tell of how very lonely he was doing his
homestead duties. He papered his shack on the inside with old
newspapers and in bad weather he would go around and read these papers
many times.
In 1894 W.K. met a girl, a beautiful little school teacher named Maude
Hathaway, the third teacher to teach at the Westhall School. Both
agreed they would like to try town life and Billy sold his farm to his
brother-in-law, H.G. Winslow. Billy and Maude moved to Hartney where
W.K. started a dray and livery business. He later became town constable
and bailiff, a member on call of the Manitoba provincial police and a
member of the John Foster Detective agency of Brandon – whose slogan
was “The Eye that Never Sleeps.”
W.K. was very fond of trees and gardening and it was through his work
and his influence in interesting others and his putting in many hours
of labour, just planting trees for the love of planting, that Hartney
has so many fine old trees today.
W.K. had many adventures in his livery and police work. A lot of his
work in the police was investigating horse stealing. Several times he
arrested escapees who were dangerous criminals. Once he was nearly
thrown off a fast moving train when he was taking an insane man to the
hospital in Brandon
Maude Bradley
Maude Bradley, wife of W.K. Bradley, was a small woman but had a big
heart. She was a great temperance worker and a lifetime member of the
Women’s Christian Temperance Union. Her zeal in this organization did
not make her too popular among some of the opposite sex, who used to
called her “Old Carrie Nation,” a one-time well-known British
suffragette known the world over for her zeal for women’s rights and
her hatred of liquor. Maude did everything humanly possible to keep
Hartney free from any outlet that could obtain a licence to sell
liquor. She and her small band of faithful followers carried many
petitions and held many meetings to try and convince people of the
evils of the drink.
She was also a girlhood friend of Nellie McClung and both worked
together on many ideas. Maude was very popular in all the women’s
movements. This brought to the Bradley home many distinguished
personalities. Maude had a room in her home to keep any of the speakers
and entertainers who happened to come to town. Dr. Amelia Yeomans, a
woman noted for her work for women’s rights, stayed a few days while
working in the district. Pauline Johnson, the great Aboriginal poetess
once came to Hartney and gave two concerts. She stayed for two days.
Miss Alma Dale, the founder of the Chain Lakes Quaker church lived
three weeks at the Bradley home. And when The Swiss Bell Ringers came
to Hartney for two performances they stayed in the home and practiced
in the front room.
Adapted from A Century
of Living, page 218.
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