Volume #2

BRADLO MEMORIES
Newsletter
Hearst (Ontario)

Fall 1996

While doing research on another historic project for the town’s 75 th anniversary, my friend came across photos of the original church in Bradlo, and of the second one at its original location. These are priceless .. Andrew Tapajna had seen these pictures a few years ago, but I wasn’t able to locate them . It turned out they were part of the Bishop’s collection. The late Msgr Pierre Grenier had written a history of the parishes in the area and had a short blurb on the “ Slovak Mission ”. ( for those of you looking for baptismal records etc, it was considered part of the Jogues / Stavert Parish, Saint Martyrs - Canadiens. )

I have been able to track down two of the homes from Bradlo that were moved to other locations. You would never recognize them now since they have been remodelled .. But it is nice to know they still exist. One of these is the Wydareny home that was moved into town sometimes in the early 50 ‘ s . It stands on 518 Prince Street.

The second place is the Svos Store That was moved to Jogues ( or Stavert as some of us know it ) You would never recognize it but suffice to say it still is in use.

For the 75 th Homecoming, June 27 th to July 6, 1997 we want to organize a display of Bradlo, its beginnings, implements used, just any artifacts we can find, including ‘ Kroj ‘ the women would have worn. This will probably be held in a school gym, and we are hoping to interest other groups locally, to join us to make it more interesting. ( the Finn people, for example, played an important part in the history of Hearst . A piece of Bradlo Trivia: There were quite a few Finn settlers on Concession 1, Kendall. ( Stella Drajanoff speaks about them ). In fact in 1932 , my dad , John Bies bought his homestead , Lot 24 West. Cons. 2, from a young 22 year old Finlander , Arvi Ranto. The latter had bought it in 1930. )

For the display, I wonder if any of you have some artifact of early Bradlo that we might use ? I would appreciate anything you might want to share. Since a large part of the display will be pictorial, photos are needed. In fact any help will be appreciated, so if anyone feels they might be interested in working at the display, please let us know. Better still, any ideas on how to make it more interesting ?.. We are open to any suggestions. We want this to be a Bradlo thing, so the more Bradlo people involved, it can’t help but be better.

Many of you will be wanting to look up your baptismal records etc. At one time the church in Bradlo was referred to as the ‘ Slovak Mission ‘ and the parish priest in Jogues looked after the spiritual needs of this mission . If you are looking for your baptismal records, you would write to either myself ( I would be happy to help in this regard ) or to the Parish Priest at:

Notre Dame de L’Assomption
P.O. Box 817,
Hearst Ontario ,
P0L 1N0

Attn. Rev. Gilles Gosselin

This Parish has the early records and some of the later ones. We found that many of the Baptisms and Confirmations are in the files of the Jogues - Coppell Church. By writing to the Cathedral, The address above, you should be able to get any information you need in this regard since the archives are here. For your information the address of the Jogues Church is:


Friends of Bradlo - Newsletter Copyright by Rudy Bies © 1997
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Last update on March 29, 1997.