Bradshaw, Eliza

Eliza Bradshaw, born on a plantation in Mercer County, KY, was a slave who was sold when she was seven years old and again when she was 17. A few months later, she married Lewis Bradshaw, another slave, and they eventually had seven children. Eliza endured beatings and once had salt poured into wounds on her head. The beatings stopped when she scalded her master with boiling water. In 1879, Lewis and Eliza Bradshaw moved their family from Harrodsburg, KY, to Hodgeman County, Kansas. They were among the "Exodusters" who were migrating West. Lewis died about six months after their arrival. For more see E. Bradshaw, "An Exoduster Grandmother," Kansas History, 2003, vol. 26, issue 2, pp. 106-111.