Freetown Doctor Who Served as an Underground Railroad Conductor

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve passed Dr. Braley Road in Rochester and East Freetown and wondered about the story behind the man. Incredibly, it involves the Underground Railroad.

To find out more, I took a drive to the Freetown Historical Society, where I was able to read a nearly 100-year-old primary source. It was written by Dr. Braley’s great-great-granddaughter while she was a student at New Bedford High School, an assignment dating back to 1930.

Bradford Braley was born in Freetown on July 12, 1793, to Ezekiel and Mary Braley. Although he was raised as a Quaker, Braley left the Meetinghouse after marrying his wife, Patience, who was not a Quaker.

The Man Behind Dr. Braley Road

A number of other Freetown Quakers found themselves in similar situations, so they decided to build a Christian Baptist Church in the town. Braley and his wife raised 12 children together.

Braley became a “doctor” without going to college. He was self-taught, and often complained that he didn't get an adequate education at the Quaker school he attended as a boy.

When he was 27 years old, Braley started helping sick neighbors during a particularly harsh winter for illness. Word of Freetown’s Dr. Braley spread quickly across places like Acushnet, New Bedford, Fall River, and Dartmouth.

Untrained Country Doctor Healed Freetown Residents

Braley picked up some medical knowledge from a New Bedford doctor, who generously shared much of his medicine with the up-and-coming doctor.

The New Bedford doctor’s generosity apparently moved Braley. He built a reputation for charging very little for riding his wagon around the region and offering care when needed. Poor families weren’t expected to pay Dr. Braley at all.

Dr. Braley’s family once said he turned away a wealthy man's money offered to treat his sick son, choosing instead to attend to a poor man's sick wife. “Send for a New Bedford doctor,” Braley said. “This man has not."

A Legacy Of Massachusetts History and Public Service

Volunteers at the historical society told us that the Dr. Braley house served as a stop on the Underground Railroad. When bounty hunters would show up in town looking for escaped slaves, one house would ring a bell. When the next house heard the bell, they'd ring it as well, and so on. The ringing bells would be the warning signal to hide the runaway slaves.

During his time as a state legislator, Braley was one of the first in Massachusetts to speak out against the consumption of alcohol, a movement that would eventually spark Prohibition nationwide. He also served as a Freetown selectman for 14 years and as a justice of the peace, presiding over the marriages of nearly every couple in town at the time.

One winter morning in February of 1872, Braley was in his wagon on his way to a house call. The slush was knee-deep, and his wagon's shaft got stuck in the mud, throwing the old doctor from his seat and breaking his neck. Sadly, Dr. Braley died minutes later.

In his family's own words, Braley was "a well-known country doctor" to the very end.

A special thank you to both Rick and Bob, volunteers at the Freetown Historical Society, for contributing the information for this article.