Brady Thompson

Brady Thompson was born in Pennsylvania on December 25, 1841. A census in the year 1860 lists 18 year old Brady as a resident of the Slear household, a white family consisting of husband and wife Elizabeth Smith and Charles Slear, as well as their ten children.¹ Because of Pennsylvania’s Gradual Abolition Act, it is not clear whether Brady was a paid servant of the family or whether he was enslaved. Additionally, Brady is only eighteen years old at the time of this census; The Gradual Abolition Act legalized the enslavement of those born into slavery until their 28th year.

 The 1860 federal census lists Thompson as an apprentice tanner who had attended at least some school. Thompson served for exactly two years of the Civil War, from November 10 1863 to November 10 1865 under the 8th United States Colored Infantry Regiment, organized at Camp William Penn.² The regiment saw combat at the Battle of Olustee, the Appomattox Campaign, sieges of Richmond and Petersburg, and Texan occupation over its two year course. In 1870, he married Susannah (Susan) Steele.³ Together they had four children: Emanuel (Mannie) in 1866, Bruce in 1872, Mary in 1875, and William Franklin (Frankie) in 1877. On the 1880 census, Thompson is listed as a widower.⁴ His youngest child, Frankie, was only two years old at the time of this census, leaving Brady a widowed father to four children under the age of 15.

Mannie married Elenora Enty, of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, in 1898.⁵ His occupation is listed as “laborer” on their marriage certificate. It is not clear if the two ever had children, but the 1920 census lists their residence in Cape May, New Jersey.⁶ 

Bruce never married or had children, and passed away in December of 1893.⁷

Brady and Susan’s only daughter, Mary, would marry Andrew Henry, a laborer, on June 27, 1893, and lived in various areas of Pennsylvania, including Northumberland, Macungie, Alburtis, and Allentown. The pair had eleven children: Earl (born 1895), Anshen or Andrew (born 1896), Cyris (1900-1973), Boyd (1901-1967), Charles (born 1903), Alfred (1905-1985), Alma (born 1908), Joseph (born 1911), twins Elizabeth and Ruth (born 1915), and Thomas (1919-1985). Remarkably, all eleven children appear to have lived into adulthood.⁸

His youngest son, Frank, would go on to marry Dora Parks in 1900 and reside in Northumberland. According to the 1910 census, Brady had three more grandchildren by Frank and Dora: Marion, Martha, and Violet.⁹ 

Brady would die on January 5, 1906, at the age of 63 from alcohol poisoning. He was interred in the Lewisburg Cemetery three days later.¹⁰

-Lily Hebda

1. United States Federal Census, 1860. Accessed 25 February 2026. Ancestry.
2. Thompson, B. Record of Burial Place of Veteran. Ancestry.
3. Thompson, B. & Steele, S. (1870, March 18). Marriage. The Lewisburg Chronicle. Ancestry.
4. United States Federal Census, 1880. Accessed 25 February 2026. Ancestry.
5. “Pennsylvania, County Marriages, 1775-1991”, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KHNN-96J : Sun Mar 10 02:38:12 UTC 2024), Entry for Emanuel Lewis Thompson and Elenora Enty, 13 September 1898.
6. “United States, Census, 1920”, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M454-PBQ : Sat Jan 18 06:43:22 UTC 2025), Entry for Imanuel Thompson and Elnora Thompson, 1920.
7. “Pennsylvania, Deaths and Burials, 1720-1999”, FamilySearch(https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:H58C-6NPZ : Thu Jul 17 09:08:00 UTC 2025), Entry for Buse Thompson and Brady Thompson, 2 Dec 1893.
8. United States Federal Census, 1920. Accessed 24 March 2026. Family Search.
9. United States Federal Census, 1910. Accessed 24 March 2026. Ancestry.
10. Pennsylvania, Death Certificates, 1906-1966. [Death Certificate for Brady Thompson]. Ancestry.