Private James Bradford - WW1 Diary

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WWI Diary 0f Private James Brafford The following WWI diary was kept by Private James Brafford 101st Ammunition train 26th Div.. Little is known of him except that he was born in WV and at the time of entry into service was living in Holmes Co. OH. According to his draft card he was born on Feb. 3, 1895 in Williamsport WV. At the time of his entry into the service he listed his residence as Lakeville, OH, Holmes County. A death notice was also located showing a death date of Sept. 07, 1979 in Wilks Co. NC I (Paul Wallace) came into possession of his diary quite by accident. In late 2002 my wife & I were at an auction outside McConnelsville, Ohio. We purchased a box of old books. Located in the bottom of the box was this diary. There were also some photos taken from a book relating to the 26th Div. In the diary were some very old receipts for Mr. Howard Elliott who is mentioned near the end of the diary as one of his friends. I have no idea what the connection is between Mr. Elliott and the sale we attended or how he ended up with Mr. Brafford's Diary. The diary consists of regular entries as well as a summary of his service along with several poems or songs. There are also pages, dates and figures which are apparently pay records and a number of pages of his expenses. I have transcribed most of the pages trying as much as possible to preserve the spelling and grammar as he had written it. Unfortunately there appears to be a few pages possibly missing. After I had scanned the diary the original was donated to the Ohio Historical Society where it is available for viewing by appointment by interested persons. e-mail Paul Wallace Hosted by markboyd.info See Marion's Own for information about Co. D, 166th Inf, 42D in Ww1