Vicinity of Bradbury Settlement

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Vicinity of Bradbury Settlement, out in Kimble County. Now, two miles above the forks of the North and South Llano rivers, the land sits quiet today. But back in its time, this stretch was about as far out on the Texas frontier as a man could plant his boots and call it home.

And one man did exactly that. James Bradbury, Sr., a frontiersman, the marker calls him, and you get the sense that word was earned. Sometime between 1850 and 1864, he pulled up from Williamson County and moved out here.

He didn't come alone, either. He came with six children. His wife had already passed by then, so it was just him and those kids, carving something out of raw country.

He erected picket buildings and log buildings. He set up a blacksmith shop where he repaired guns and tools; which, out on a frontier like that, was about as essential a skill as breathing. The main business was ranching, but the land itself fed them too.

Fish. Game. Honey.

And bear meat, cured as bacon. You think about that for a second. Bear meat.

Cured as bacon. That is a man making do, and making do well. Bradbury wasn't alone out there, exactly.

Five other men lived nearby (some of them with families of their own). A small constellation of souls in a very big, very wild landscape. And then 1872 came.

James Bradbury, Sr. was killed in an Indian fight. The marker doesn't soften it, and neither should we. A man who had hauled six children across the frontier, who had hammered iron and cured bear bacon and built something real in Kimble County; he died in a fight on that same land he'd opened.

Three years later, in 1875, his land was bought and occupied by Dr. E.K. Kountz and his family.

The settlement carried on. The country kept going, the way it always does. But somewhere out there, two miles above where the North and South Llano rivers come together, there's a story that started with a frontiersman and six kids and a blacksmith's hammer; and it doesn't let go easy.

What the marker says

(2 mi. above forks of N. and S. Llano rivers) One of earliest Kimble County communities. Opened by James Bradbury, Sr., a frontiersman. Between 1850 and 1864 he moved here from Williamson County with six children, after death of his wife. He erected several picket or log buildings, and had blacksmith shop for repairing guns and tools.Main business was ranching. Diet included fish, game, honey and bear meat cured as bacon. Five other men (some with families) lived nearby. Bradbury was killed in 1872 in an Indian fight. In 1875 his land was bought and occupied by Dr. E.K. Kountz and family. (1970)