Jefferson County Online A part of the IAGenWeb and USGenWeb Projects Who's Who in Jefferson County, 1931 John Carl Bradshaw

"The Fairfield Daily Ledger"
Saturday, July 11, 1931
Front Page

Who's Who In Jefferson County
By Herbert F. McDougal

John Carl BRADSHAW

Probably no other man in Fairfield has observed so carefully and with such appreciation the rise in the standard of living as has J. C. Bradshaw, since 1899 in the furniture business in this city. From the day of scanty house furnishings to a time when the average citizen has more luxury than Queen Victoria ever dreamed of, he has watched the homes of this community take on culture and convenience, and has seen a day's labor double and treble its purchasing power, and the people spend that dollar to better purchase.

Time was when a home consisted of four walls, a floor and a roof. There was no heating plant, no electricity, no running water. It was all the period afforded the average man. But now he is able to manage all these, to put into his home things of beauty that are satisfying to the desire for better surroundings.

In the beginning of his business career Mr. Bradshaw once sold a man his household equipment and was paid cash on the spot in silver dollars, seventy-five of them, fished out of various pockets in the purchaser's clothes. It was rather a meager outfit, a kitchen cupboard, an extenion (sic) dining table, a living room set, a bedroom suite. The quality was substantial, perhaps, but it was not very satisfying to the eye. And at that it represented an expenditure of perhaps a whole summer's wages. The same amount of labor today puts into a home a more complete outfit, beautifully designed, well made and the last word in convenience.

Mr. Bradshaw went into business at a time when quarter-sawn oak was the rage. It was about this time that the Fairfield furniture factory split up for kindling five or six carloads of fine walnut dimension lumber because walnut furniture had become old forgev (sic). He saw oak "stay in" for thirty years in its various finishes and then give way to walnut again. He often signed about those six carloads of fine walnut lumber.

He remembers when a folding bed was a marvel and the argument in its favor was that "it virtually gives you another room." He sold hundreds of them, and wonders where they all are now. But in their day they were a sign of opulence. They were a sort of milestone in the progress of the home.

And now the children of couples to whom years ago he sold furniture to set up housekeeping are grown up and coming to him as did their fathers and mothers to buy the furnishings for their new homes. When one can serve two generations satisfactorily, he can feel that his business career has been a success.

Mr. Bradshaw was born in Saline June 27, 1875. His father Dr. A. C. D. Bradshaw was a practicing physician there and rode horseback over the country ministering to the sick and afflicted. The family moved to Fairfield when Mr. Bradshaw was a child and he grew up here attending the public schools and the private school taught by Mrs. Julia Stever, who recently died in California at 90 years of age.

In 1897 he became the manager of a grocery store in New Chicago. It was owned by his father and he was in charge two years. On June 10, 1899, he and the late Frank D. Kerrick went into partnership in the undertaking and furniture business in the room now occuped by Ray Maxwell. They continued in business together until March 1915 when they dissolved partnership, Mr. Kerrick taking the undertaking, and Mr. Bradshaw the furniture and remaining in the old location.

About 1908, he moevd to the room on Burlington street now the home of the A. & P. store. The present building was erected for him in 1930, and the business was opened in it as a trade event in March of that year.

It used to be the custom to keep stores open in most smaller places all evening. Kerrick & Bradshaw followed the fashion and closed at 9 o'clock at night. Mr. Bradshaw finally decided that it was a foolish habit and robbed him of hours of homelife and gave him nothing of profit in return. So one day he announced to his partner, "If you can see any use in coming back after supper and building a fire just to accommodate a few loafers, you're welcome. I'm not coming back any more." Mr. Kerick (sic) instantly agreed, and so a start was made toward 6 o'clock closing in Fairfield.

Mr. Bradshaw married Miss Grace Jane Wilson June 14, 1899. They have two living children--Carroll, associated with his father in business, and Mary Margaret. Another daughter, Ruth, died in 1922.