Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 01.djvu/401

 BRADFORD.

BRADFORD.

BRADFORD, Gamaliel, 5th, was born in Boston, Mass., Jan. 15, 1831; son of Gamaliel Bradford (4th), a physician; member of the Massachusetts medical society; graduate of Har- vard college in 1814, and for some years before his death the superintendent of the Massachu- setts general hospital. He is a descendant in the eighth generation of William Bradford, the first governor of Plymouth colony. The first Gamaliel was a member of the governor's council in Massa- chusetts in the first half of the eighteenth cen- tury. The second Gamaliel was a colonel, and the third a lieutenant in the war of the revolu- tion. It is through this ancestry that Gamaliel 5th derives his title to membership in the Mas.sa- chusetts society of the Cincinnati, of which he is the treasurer. The fifth Gamaliel has (1897) a son, the sixth, and a grandson the seventh of the name. Gamaliel 5tli graduated at Harvard col- lege in 1849. In 1851 he entered, as a clerk, the banking house of Blake Brothers & Company ; was admitted to a partnership in 1858, and con- tinued in that position until Jan. 1, 1868, then retired from business and devoted liimself to the study of political science, and the theory and practice of modern popular government, federal state and city. He contributed exten- sively to magazines and newspapers in support of his views. He was a member of the Massa- chusetts historical Society and first governor of the Mas.sachusetts Society of Mayflower Descend- ants. He is the autlior of " Lessons of Popular Government "' (2 vols. 1898). _

BRADFORD, John, journalist, was born in Fauquier county, Va., in 1749. He served two years in the war of the revolution, and was later present at the battle of Chillicothe. He removed to Kentucky in 1785, locating in Fayette county, on Cane Run, near Lexington. In 1787, with his brother. Fielding, he established the Kentucke Gazette, the first newspaper published west of the Alleghanies, whieh was issued under that title until 1786, when its name was changed to the Kentucky Gazette. The press and equipment for this enterprise were brought from Philadel- phia. In 1786 he became public printer; in 1792 was one of the electors of the senate, and chair- man of the town trustees. He was elected to the legislature in 1797, and also to that of 1801. John Bradford was made cashier of the bank, which was the result of the famous act of 1801, incor- porating the first fife insurance company, in an obscure clause of which were concealed full bank- ing privileges, and assigned his interest in the Gazette to his son. He was at one time chairman of the board of trustees of Transylvania uni- versity, and when nearly eighty years of age he was elected to the shrievalty of Fayette county and held the office till his death, in 1830.

BRADFORD, Joseph, playw-right, was born near Nashville, Tenn., Oct. 24, 1843. He attended the naval academy at Annapolis. From 1863 to 1864 he served in the navj^ in the civil war, and later became an actor. He abandoned his true name — William Randolph Hunter — and adopted the maiden name of his mother. After acting successfully for a few years he wrote for periodicals, and was the author of several plays which became well-known. He is the author of" Our Bachelors," "One of the Finest," and " The Cherubs, " besides many admirable poems. He died April 13, 1886.

BRADFORD, Joseph M., naval officer, was born in Sumner county. Term., Nov. 4, 1824. He became a midshipman in the United States navy at the age of sixteen, and, after serving fifteen years, was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. In 1863 he was assigned to service on the South Atlantic blockading squadron, as fleet captain. In July, 1866, he was promoted to the rank of commander, and was placed on the retired list in March, 1867. He died in Norfolk, Va.. April 14, 1872.

BRADFORD, Thomas, printer, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., May 4, 1745; son of Col. Wil- liam Bradford, revolutionary soldier, and great- grandson of William Bradford, first printer in New York. He was a graduate of the College of Philadelphia, and subsequently learned the print- ing trade in the office of his father, who ad- mitted hun into partnership on the Pennsylvania Journal. He also assisted in editing that paper, and ten years after his father's death clianged its name to True American. At the breaking out of the revolutionary war he joined the Con- tinental army with the rank of captain, from which he was soon promoted to that of com- missary-general. His printing-office was finely equipped, and did the printing for Congress after the war. He died May 7, 1838.

BRADFORD, Vincent Loockerman, philan- thropist, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., Sept. 24, 1808; son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Loocker- man) Bradford. His father was a direct descendant of William Bradford, printer, who came to America in 1682, and his mother was of old Knickerbocker stock, her ancestor, Govert Loockerman, having come from Holland with Wouter Van Twiller, governor of the New Nether- lands, in April, 1633, and married Maria Jansen, daughter of Roelf Jansen and Annetje Jans. He received a thorough preliminary education, and was graduated with the highest honors from the University of Pennsylvania in 1825, receiving the degree of A.M. in 1828. He was admitted to the Philadelphia bar in April. 1829. He removed to Niles, Michigan, in 1835, and in 1837 was elected to the state senate. In 1843 he returned to Phila-