Bridget Bray
- Born
- 1880-01-01 12:00:00
- Died
- 1952-06-22 12:00:00
- Gender
- Female
Bridget was the daughter of David Bray a stonemason and Catherine Bush. She was the sister of Hanora (1892), Ellen (1883), John (1887), Catherine (1889), Margaret (1895) and William (1895). Bridget’s father David Bray was a native of Graig in Co. Kilkenny and married his wife Kate (Katherine) Bush on 13th June 1876 in Doneraile.
Bridget, who was a servant arrived at Ellis Island on 19th September 1900 on board the Majestic. On the ship’s arrival record she gave her final destination as the address of her Uncle William who lived in New Jersey.
Interestingly, after arrival Bridget changed her name to ‘Adelaide’, but no one in the family knows why she did this the family thought she might have done this so that no one would guess she was Irish. This could have been a reaction to anti-Irish sentiment and general racism as the Irish flooded into cities and towns in the US looking for work and to makea new life for themselves.
Bridget aka Adelaide married George Henry Walter who worked on the railroads in Camden New Jersey. George was born on the 15th July 1881 in Winconsin. The couple had 12 children all born in New Jersey.
Her sister Catherine (Kitty) followed her a couple of years later in 1909 with the final destination of Arlington, New Jersey. Kitty married Edgard John Cowen who was born 2 May 1885 in Pennsylvania.
Bridget died 22 June 1952 in Camden New Jersey, her husband died nearly 20 years earlier on 1st of February 1933 in Camden.
