Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 01.djvu/404

 BRADFORD.

BRADISH.

tion of the Pennsylvania Joiinutl. Dec. 2, 1742. In 17.>4 he establisheil a cx^lfee house after the fashion of those in London, and in 1TG2 initiated a marine-insurance office in conjunction with a Mr. Kydd. He assailed the stamp act, and de- nounced the pretentious claims of the British government in the columns of his paper. He was a meml)er of the Pennsylvania militia in the revolutionary war; was connnissioned major, afterwards colonel ; fought at Princeton and was woundeil at Trenton. He heli)ed defend Fort Mifflin. Nov. 16, 1777, when bombarded by the British fleet. He sacrificed money and health for his country, and when the British troops evacuated Philadelphia he returned an invalid. The Penn.sylvania Journal continued under the management of his son Thomas. It became after- wards the True American. He died in Philadel- j.liia. Pa.. Sei)t. 2.-.. 17i)l.

BRADFORD, William, statesman, was born at Plymouth, Mass., Nov. 4, 1729; a lineal descendant of Governor Bradford. He studied medicine and practised that profession at War- ren, R. I., but afterwards located him.self at Bristol, where he studied law, was admitted to the bar and attained eminence in the legal pro- fession. He was active in political life, and in 1773 was made deputy-governor of Rhode Island ; he held other offices, and later was elected a dele- gate to the Continental Congress, but did not serve. His teautiful mansion at Bristol, R. I., was burned by the cannonade of the British, Oct. 7, 1775, though a cessation of the firing was effected by his intervention with Captain Wallace, on board the Rose. He was elected to the U. S. senate in 1793, and acted as president jjro tempore of that body for a short time in the oth Congress, and resigned liis seat before the expiration of his term. He died in Bri.stol, R. I., July 6, 1808.

BRADFORD, William, artist, was born in Fairhaven, Mass., in 1824. He began his art career by making drawings and paintings of whaling-ves.sels, the first money he received for the work being twenty -five dollars for a drawing of the whaler, Jireh Pernj. Marine subjects became his sjjecialty, and he was fortunate in securing Van Beest, the best foreign marine artist in the country, for a studio mate. The in- fluence of Van Beesfs methods uiwn those of Bradford were salutary, a certain set mannerism of Bradford's style Ijeing softened without de- stroying his habit of fidelity to detail. After his separation from Van Beest, he began to study nature as exhibited on the ea.stem coast, from Rhofle Island to Labrador, and produced a series of marine pictures mirivalled for accuracy of detail and perfection of finish. For his " Sealers Crushed among the Iceltergs," a magnificent pro- duct of his Labrador studies, he received the then

im usual price of ten thousand dollars, from Le- CJrand Lockwood, the New York millionaire. Years later he was enabled to visit the Arctic zone, and the pictures, resulting from his stud- ies of the ice formations there, were among the finest productions of his brush. He was peculiarly happy in his storm effects, produ- cing with marvellous truthfulness to nature the aspect of the sea and the tumultuous motion of the waves. He visited the Pacific slope and spent seven years in studying and painting in the Yosemite and ^Mariposa val- lej-s of California. In 1870 he visited England, where his work was received with enthusiasm. '• The Steamer " Panther ' off the Coast of Green- land, under the Midnight Sun," painted by special conmiission from Queen Victoria, was placed in the library at Windsor castle, and other of his paintings in the galleries of Princess Louise, Lord Dufferin, the Duke of Argjle, the Duke of Westminster and the Baroness Burdett- Coutts. No collection of any size in America is without an example of his work. Among his best-known pictures are his " Fishing Boats in the Ba}' of Fxindy," " Shipwreck off Nantucket,*' "Lighthouse in St. John Harbor," "Fishing Boats at Anchor," " Sudden Squall in the Baj- of Fundy," " A Stiflf Breeze in the Harbor of East- port," " The Coast of Labrador," *" Bi arding the Sloop," " Svmset in the North," " Arctic Scene," and " Whalers after the Nip in Melville Bay " (1889). In 1873 three hvmdred and fifty copies of his superb volume on " The Arctic Regions " were brought out in London by special subscrip- tion. Queen Victoria and the Duke of Argyle being among the patrons and subscribers. He died in New York city, April 25, 1892.

BRADISH, Luther, .statesman, was born at Cummington, Mass., Sept. 15, 1783. He was graduated at Williams college in 1804, and studied law. He made a European tour, and upon his return to America was commissioned by the United States government to gather information concerning the commerce of the Levant, pending the establishment of diplomatic relations with the Porte. He sailed on the U. S. ship-of-war Columhit.H, and after executing this commission he continued his travels until 1826, when he returned to New York and .settled in Franklin count}', where he had a large landed interest, and represented his county in the state assembly, 1827-'30, and again 1835-"38, serving as speaker during his last term. In 1830 he was an un- successful candidate for repre.sentative in Con- gre.ss. He was elected lieutenant-governor of the state in 1839 and .served until 1843, and in 1X40 was defeated in the contest for the gov- ernorship on the Whig ticket. In 1855 Wil- liams college conferred on him the degree of