JOHN RUDLEY BRADY.

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         The late John Rudley Brady, who for more than forty-eight years was identified with the development of the natural resources of Louisa county, was born in Indiana on the 22d of January, 1829, a son of John and Rebecca (Rudley) Brady, who were natives of Ireland and America respectfully. After the death of the mother the father married again. He conducted a distillery in Indianapolis and was accidently drowned in the White river.

         John R. Brady was reared and educated in his native state, but at the age of twenty-two years desiring to see more of the country he started westward, Iowa being his destination. He arrived in Louisa county in 1851 and here engaged in agricultural pursuits. Immediately following his marriage he purchased a farm on section 11, Marshall township, eighty-five acres of which is still in possession of his widow.

         In July, 1858, Mr. Brady completed his arrangements for a home by his marriage to Miss Dolly Ann Avery, who was the first white girl born in Louisa county, her natal day being the 5th of August, 1838. Her parents were Solomon and Elmira (Elsworth) Avery, natives of New York state, who came to Louisa county in the early ‘30s, being among the very earliest settlers. Mr. Avery assisted in quelling the uprising of the Indians under Black Hawk. Upon his arrival in this county he entered a tract of government land, upon which he erected a log cabin with a thatched roof and dirt floor. Crude as it was it was his home until destroyed a week before the birth of Mrs. Brady, when Mr. Avery . . .

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. . . sought shelter for himself and wife with the Kiowa Indians. They were given welcome and it was in a tepee of a member of that tribe that Mrs. Brady was born, the mother and babe being tended and cared for by the squaws. One of the now dearly prized possessions of Mrs. Brady is a picture of the old Indian chief Wapello, for whom the town was called. Her father made by hand the shingles which roofed the first house erected in the village. Nine children were born unto Mr. and Mrs. Avery, but only Mrs. Brady and Solomon, a resident of Wapello, are now living. The father and mother spent their last days in Iowa and were laid to rest in the cemetery of Wapello.

         Unto the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Brady were born fifteen children, six of whom are living: Mary Ann, the wife of Ed Wilson, of this county; J. C., who is residing in Arkansas; and Frank, William and Robert, all living in Louisa county; and Dennis, who is with his mother and is operating the home farm.

         Mr. Brady passed away on the 28th of June, 1899, and was laid to rest in the cemetery at Wapello. His widow, who has spent her entire life in Louisa county, has many interesting recollections of the pioneer days which she relates in a most entertaining manner. She is one of the well known residents of Marshall township, whose prairies she has seen converted into fertile farms, while the tepee of the Indian has given way to the modern dwelling.