Lucretia Bradley

Biography

Lucretia Bradley was born in New London, a port on Connecticut’s southeastern coast, in August 1661, a daughter of the mariner Peter Bradley and Elizabeth Brewster. Her father died the following year, leaving her too young to have known him for long. Her early life belonged to the waterfront community where his home lot sloped toward the marsh below Town Street.

Her mother later married Christopher Christophers. This created a blended household whose connections became still closer when Lucretia married Christopher’s son Richard on January 26, 1681. Richard was her stepbrother through their parents’ marriage; the relationship arose from remarriage, not from shared biological parents.

Lucretia and Richard had four recorded sons: Christopher, Richard, Peter and John. Their births stretch from the early 1680s to March 1689/90. She died on January 7, 1690/91 and was buried in New London’s Old Burying Ground, leaving the youngest still an infant.

The surviving dates describe a short life bounded by two early separations: the loss of her father during her infancy and her own death while her children were young. Her nearly ten years of marriage had brought four children into the Bradley–Christophers family.