Sophia Johannah Arnoldus Bradley

Sophia Johannah Arnoldus Bradley 1874-1922 Many years ago in the far-off land of Copenhagen, Denmark, Hans Jacob Arnoldus and Inger Sophia Fredricka Sorensen joined hands in matrimony on the 1st of July 1867.   Both Hans Jacob and Inger Sophia were born in Denmark.   They had joined the church in the spring of 1867.   In 1868, along with their six month old daughter, Eliza Josephine, they sailed to America.   They chose to make their home in Moroni, Utah. In Moroni they had seven more children. Sophia Johannah was born 14 September 1874 in Moroni, Utah. Some of the records list her as Sophia Johannah and others refer to her as Johannah Sophia, it is not known which is correct.   The Moroni cemetery records list her as Sophia Johannah.    Sophia Johannah, as a young girl, learned all the chores and duties of farm life.   She with her siblings worked in the fields with their father, putting in many long, hard hours.   The girls also learned the arts of cooking, milking cows, and tending a garden.   The children attended the Moroni schools and received a fair education. Sophia Johannah was a beautiful woman.   As a young woman she earned the title of “Miss Moroni” She married James Otis Bradley on the 5th of December 1895, and they settled in Moroni.   They were sealed in the Manti Temple on 3 April 1918. They had seven children: James (who only lived a few months), William Otis, Mark, Ora Sophia, Clifford Henry, Anna Elizabeth and Helen. They had a large farm and grew mostly sugar beets, but also grain and alfalfa. Sophia did not have good health.   She had heart problems and died from a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 47 on 27 March 1922.   She left James Otis with six children to raise on his own. The youngest, Helen, was just two years old. The older sisters cared for the younger ones in their nice, five room, brick home in Moroni.   They lived kitty corner from the chapel, the tithing office, the post office and the town marshal.