George was not Divorced from Annie Birt until 1911. There is no record of a marriage to Carolyn.
Notes by George Bradbee (Grandson); "he was a bit of a playboy. He was keeping two homes at the same time. He left my grandmother (Louisa) about the year 1900. The divorce was in 1911 when my grandmother decided to remarry. I know his parents were against him marrying my grandmother. She was on the stage - and his parents were quite well-to-do and didn't like the idea. They wanted him to marry someone else but whether it was Caroline Ashman (second wife) I don't know. Grandfather appears to have been the proverbial black sheep - quite interesting really. I know that Grandfather had one sister (clementina) but I didn't know of the other one, the one killed in the San Francisco quake. Incidentally his father was married twice; first to a Louisa Prosser and secondly to a Jeanne of Brussels Belgium. Biography by George R. Bradbee entitled "George W(h)iffen Bradbee". Death Certificate indicates he was born in England, probably London, his birth date is shown as July 30, 1878. His birth certificate has not yet been located. His father was George Whiffen Bradbee, born March 2, 1828 (all of this needs verification), died October 25, 1906 in Belgium. His mother was Clemence Lemens from Holland. As a young man he is said to have served as a fusilier in the British Army in both India and Turkey. On December 6, 1894 he married Annie Louisa Birt. The marriage certificate indicates he was 24 in 1894 and an omnibus conductor and lived at 41 Tachbrook Street, Pemlico. The marriage certificate is registered in the District of St. George, Hanover Square. Annie Louisa Birt was 19 and the daughter of a french polisher. (if his age was 24 in 1894 was correct, he would have been born in 1870). He had two sisters, one of whom was named Florence and is said to have died in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The other sister, Clemence, was born in 1875. Annie Louis Birt and Geroge Whiffen Bradbee had three children (see attached family fact sheet) and they were divorced in 1911. Sometime around 1900, while still married to Annie Louisa, GWB started another family with Carolyn Ellen Ashman. Carolyn's father was George Walter Ashman, born in Horsley, England, and her mother was Edith Carolyn Ann Bird, born in Horsley, England. Her death certificate indicates her birth datewas November 9, 1878 in England. Carolyn had two sisters, Emily and Kate and two brothers. Emily's husband was named Alva. When this second family was discovered, Annie Louisa divorced GWB as noted above. Carolyn and GWB's first child was George Ashman Bradbee, born in subdistrict of South Hammersmith, County of London, February 4, 1901 (birth certificate). The address was given as 28 Wilson's Road. GWB's profession was listed as autobus driver. His son's recollection is that the family lived in Cricklewood and Hendon and that he went to boarding school in Croydon for a short time. The family was in Ostand, Belgium, probably in 1908, 1909. (Certificate from Boy's School #4, Ostand, Belgium, November 1909). GWB is said to have worked for the Hotel Alemagne and to have been caretaker on King Leopold's yacht, Madge. The 1911 date of divorce from his first wife, while possible, is somewhat at odds with his having been in Belgium with his second family on the date indicated. A second child, Helen, was bornin 1902 in London, subsequently, three other daughters were born, Eve, Kate and Josephine. In 1911 the family came to the USA aboard the St. Paul and arrived in New York City. They immediately took a boat to Savannah, Georgia to land that he had purchased while still in England. The land was in Homeland, just north of Folkston. GWB decided not to farm the land and stayed in Homeland only a short time before moving on to Jacksonville, Florida (where Josephine was born). He went to work for the Jacksonville Brick Company, a British firm. They first lived in a small house in the vicinity of Terrand Avenue and Kings Road and later in a house next to the brick company's office until the company went broke around 1913. They stayed in Jacksonville on CharlesStreet. Their son, George, was confirmed at the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepard on April 9, 1916. The family later moved to Stonewall Street or Avenue near the St. John's river. About 1915 they sent their son north to Union City, NJ to the Barn's family (former Jacksonville neighbors) to be apprenticed as an electrician. Carolyn worked as a traveler's aid for a while and then they both went to work for the Volunteers of America Home for Wayward Girls. GWB was an ambulance driver for the Red Crossbetween 1921 and 1924. In 1920 Carolyn got a job as a housekeeper at St. Luke's Hospital, Jacksonville. Their son returned to Jacksonville in August 1920. As a result of the Red Cross work, GWB became a male nurse and went north with a wealthy patient andlater sent for his wife and daughters. They lived on Montgomery Street in Jersey City, NJ. GWB went to work as a doorman at an upper class apartment building and Carolyn went to work at the Margaret Hague Hospital taking care of the new-born babies. In 1929 their son moved north also with his wife and moved into an apartment in the same building. Between 1936 and 1938 GWB and Carolyn took care of an old folks home in Brielle, NJ. It was part of the Rebecca Lodge, Odd Fellows. Later they moved to Los Angeles to be with daughters and their families. They died within a day of each other, March 9th and 10th, 1953, GWB of kidney failure and Carolyn of cancer. 31March 1901 Census (England) notes: George Bradbee 33 London Kilburn Middlesex Hammersmith Stage Driver
Notes courtesy of Karl Sawdy.
