BRADLEY FAMILY

Hide Profile

William Czar Bradley (1782-1867), a lawyer, is the first member of this prominent Vermont family to appear in this collection. The Bradleys left Connecticut to settle in Westminster, Vt., in the 1770s. William Czar, following in his father's footsteps, became a lawyer and member of both the State Legislature and the U.S. Congress.

His son, Jonathan Dorr Bradley (1803-1862), like his father and grandfather before him, attended Yale College (graduating in the class of 1822) and read for the bar. He practiced law, first in Bellows Falls, Vt., and then in Brattleboro, and was active in civic affairs. In 1829, he married Susan Mina Crossman (1811-1892) and they had four sons: William Czar II, Richards, Stephen Rowe II, and Arthur.

William Czar Bradley II (1831-1908) graduated from Harvard College in 1851 and attended the Divinity School until illness forced his withdrawal and eventual return to Brattleboro. He later taught young men preparing for college and served as town librarian in Brattleboro, where he resided until his death. Stephen Rowe Bradley II (1836-1910) and Arthur Bradley (1849-1911) were involved in the manufacture of white lead in Brooklyn, New York; Arthur was instrumental in the discovery of a new manufacturing process for the metal. They both married, and Stephen Rowe Bradley had four children.

Richards Bradley (1834-1904) was briefly involved in business in New York, until his marriage in 1856 to Sarah Williams Merry (1834-1914), daughter of Robert D.C. Merry and Sarah Williams Merry of Boston. SWMB's father was a merchant who imported cotton, tobacco, notions, sugar, rum and other products, and who traveled to the south (primarily New Orleans) to conduct business. SWMB was orphaned at a young age and inherited significant wealth in a trust fund from her grandfather John D. Williams. This inheritance, the subject of several years of legal disputes (well documented in the collection), enabled RB and SWMB to construct the Bradley Home Place in Brattleboro in 1858, and to live in Brattleboro and Boston on the income from the trust fund. The Home Place remained in the family until the 1940s. They had five children: Susan (SBGII), Richards Merry (RMB), Jonathan Dorr II (JDBII), Emily (EBW) and Sally (SBT). A sixth child died in childhood.

Susan (Bradley) (SBGII) (b.1859) married Richard Grinnell and lived in New York City until her husband's asthma forced their removal to Colorado. Jonathan Dorr Bradley II (1864-1928) married Frances Kales and lived and worked in Chicago. Emily (Bradley) (1866-1943) married Dr. William F. Wesselhoeft; they lived in Boston with their four daughters. Sally (Bradley) (1868-1926) married Russell Tyson; they lived in Chicago, where Russell was in the real estate business with JDBII.

Richards Merry Bradley (1861-1943) attended St. Paul's School and graduated from Harvard College in 1882. He married Amy Aldis (1865-1917) of St. Albans, Vt., in 1892. She was the daughter of Asa Owen Aldis and Mary (Taylor) Aldis. The Aldis family had come to America in the 1630s, settling first in Massachusetts and moving to Vermont in the early nineteenth century. Asa Own Aldis, a prominent lawyer and judge, served in Washington on the commission to settle claims of citizens against the government arising from the Civil War, as well as on the French and Alabama Claims Commission. Amy's siblings were Helen, Owen Jr., Cornelia and Arthur. Before her marriage, AAB spent several years in Paris studying sculpture, and later sent several of her daughters to do the same.

RMB and AAB had five daughters: Amy Owen, Helen Aldis, Sarah Merry (married Clarence Gamble; see MC 368), Mary Townsend and Edith Richards. A son, Walter Williams, and a sixth daughter, Ruth, died in childhood. RMB founded a real estate business in Boston and often traveled to the midwest, west coast and Canada to buy land and make investments.

For further family history, particularly of the Bradley and Aldis families, see Series I of the Sarah Merry (Bradley) Gamble papers, MC 368. The Gamble collection contains papers pertaining to many of the individuals represented in the Bradley family papers, and #514 in Series IV is a family history that includes typescripts of journals and letters from the Bradley family papers. In addition, the Brattleboro Historical Society holds papers of the Bradley family.

From the guide to the Papers, 1813-1957, (Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute)

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
creatorOf Papers, 1813-1957 Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
correspondedWith Abraham Howard person
correspondedWith Aldis, Arthur person
correspondedWith Aldis, Cornelia person
associatedWith Aldis family family
associatedWith Alpha Delta Phi Club corporateBody
correspondedWith Amy Aldis Bradley person
associatedWith Amy Bradley Suter person
correspondedWith Ann G. Frothingham person
correspondedWith Arthur Aldis person
associatedWith Asa Owen person
associatedWith Asa Owen Aldis person
correspondedWith Augusta Bradley person
associatedWith Baker, Osmyn person
correspondedWith Barnard, Frances person
correspondedWith Beale, Florence person
associatedWith Bradley, Richards Merry, 1861-1943 person
correspondedWith Bradley, Ruth person
associatedWith Brig Delta corporateBody
associatedWith Browning, Robert, 1812-1889 person
correspondedWith Burel, Madame person
correspondedWith Carrie L. Head person
correspondedWith Carrie (Mrs. Rudyard) Kipling person
correspondedWith Cornelia Aldis person
correspondedWith Dalton, Ethel person
correspondedWith Darling, Mary person
associatedWith Deland, Margaret Wade Campbell, 1857-1945 person
associatedWith Dorr, Nathaniel person
associatedWith Edith Bradley person
associatedWith Eleazer Howard's person
correspondedWith Elizabeth (Bessie) Perkins person
correspondedWith Elizabeth Fitzburg Binney person
correspondedWith Elizabeth T. Clarke person
correspondedWith Emily Bradley Dorr person
correspondedWith Ethel Dalton person
correspondedWith Evelyn Story person
associatedWith Fellows, Charlotte person
correspondedWith French, Alice person
associatedWith Gamble, Sarah Merry Bradley, 1898-1984 person
correspondedWith George Williams person
correspondedWith Green, Laura person
correspondedWith Green Mountain Camp corporateBody
correspondedWith Grinnell family family
correspondedWith Grinnell, Mary person
correspondedWith Grover Cleveland. person
associatedWith Hannah Merry Frothingham person
correspondedWith Hannah Williams French person
associatedWith Harvard College corporateBody
associatedWith Harvard University corporateBody
correspondedWith Helen Aldis Lathrop person
correspondedWith Helen Bradley Rotch person
correspondedWith Howland, Marion person
correspondedWith John D. Williams person
correspondedWith Jonathan Dorr Bradley person
correspondedWith Joshua Ellis, Jr. person
associatedWith Kipling, Caroline, 1865-1939 person
associatedWith Kipling, Rudyard, 1865-1936 person
correspondedWith Lathrop, Bryan person
correspondedWith Leila Aldis person
correspondedWith Louise S. B. Russell person
correspondedWith Lucy Bradley person
correspondedWith Margaret Deland. person
correspondedWith Margaret Wesselhoeft person
correspondedWith Mary Bradley person
associatedWith Mary Frances Aldis person
correspondedWith Mary T. Aldis person
correspondedWith Mary Taylor Aldis person
correspondedWith Mary Williams person
correspondedWith McKeever, Elsie person
associatedWith Merab Bradley Kellogg person
associatedWith Merry, Daniel person
associatedWith Merry family family
associatedWith Miranda Metcalf Aldis. person
correspondedWith Moore, Annie person
correspondedWith Owen Aldis person
associatedWith Page, Thomas Nelson, 1853-1922 person
correspondedWith Perkins, Mary person
correspondedWith Perkins, Sarah person
associatedWith Putnam, Elizabeth Lowell, 1862-1935 person
associatedWith Richards Bradley person
associatedWith Robert D. C. Merry II person
correspondedWith Russell Tyson person
correspondedWith Sarah B. Kellogg person
correspondedWith Sarah H. Hayward person
correspondedWith Sarah Richards Bradley) person
correspondedWith Sarah Williams Merry Bradley person
correspondedWith Stephen R. Bradley person
associatedWith Stephen Rowe Bradley II person
associatedWith Story, William Wetmore, 1819-1895 person
correspondedWith St. Paul's School corporateBody
associatedWith St. Paul's School (Concord, N.H.) corporateBody
correspondedWith Susan Bradley Grinnell person
correspondedWith Susan C. Bradley person
associatedWith Susan Crossman Bradley person
correspondedWith Thomas B. Frothingham person
associatedWith Thomas Ives person
correspondedWith Townsend, Harriet person
associatedWith Troy Female Seminary corporateBody
correspondedWith Uncle John French person
correspondedWith Walter W. Bradley person
correspondedWith Walter Williams Bradley person
correspondedWith Wesselhoeft, Alice person
correspondedWith Wharton, Edith person
associatedWith Wharton, Edith, 1862-1937 person
correspondedWith Whitney, Mary person
associatedWith William B. Dorr person
associatedWith William Czar Bradley person
correspondedWith Williams, Francis person
correspondedWith Williams, George person
associatedWith Will Wesselhoeft person
correspondedWith Wilson, Susan person
correspondedWith Winifred Lee Poe person
Place Name Admin Code Country
Japan
New York (N.Y.)
Boston (Mass.)
Brattleboro (Vt.)
Wyoming
Southern States
Vermont
New Orleans (La.)
Law offices
Subject
Business travel
Occupation
Lawyers
Activity

Family

Related Descriptions
Information

Permalink: http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6zt7tk0

Ark ID: w6zt7tk0

SNAC ID: 41004239