William Bradford (Rhode Island)

William Bradford (November 4, 1729 – July 6, 1808) was a physician, lawyer, and politician, serving as United States Senator from Rhode Island and deputy governor of the state.

Early life and education

Coat of Arms of William Bradford

William Bradford was born at Plympton, Massachusetts to Lt. Samuel Bradford and Sarah Gray.^[1] He was a great-great-grandson of the William Bradford who had been Governor of the Plymouth Colony. The younger man first studied medicine at Hingham, Massachusetts and then practiced at Warren, Rhode Island.

Career and revolution

Bradford moved to Mount Hope Farm in Bristol, Rhode Island, where he was elected to the colonial assembly in 1761. (He was elected to additional terms at various times up until 1803, and served as Speaker of the Assembly in several terms.) He expanded his abilities with the study of law, was admitted to the bar in 1767, and established a practice at Bristol. He served as deputy to the Governor from 1775 to 1778. He was elected to the Continental Congress in 1776, but did not attend.

Bradford served on the Committee of Safety of Bristol County, Rhode Island and from 1773 to 1776 on the Committee of Correspondence for the Rhode Island colony. When the British Navy bombarded Bristol on October 7, 1775, his home was among the buildings destroyed. He afterward went aboard ship to negotiate a cease fire.

After the United States government was established, Bradford was elected to the United States Senate, taking office on March 4, 1793. He was the President pro tempore of the Senate from July 6, 1797 until he resigned from the Senate in October of that year. He returned to his home in Bristol and died there in 1808. Originally buried in Bristol's East Burying Ground, his grave was later moved to the Juniper Hill Cemetery.

Personal life

He married and had a family, including daughter Nancy Ann Bradford. In 1790, she married James DeWolf of Bristol, who was a successful slave trader and belonged to a large and influential family that also went into banking and insurance. He was elected to the US Senate in the 1820s.^[2][3] They were the great-great-grandparents of artist and publisher Charles Dana Gibson.

References

External links

• United States Congress. "William Bradford (id: B000739)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 
• Wiliam Bradford entry at The Political Graveyard
• William Bradford at Find a Grave

United States Senators from Rhode Island
Class 1	Foster Potter Howland Malbone Champlin Hunter DeWolf Robbins Dixon I Sprague III Francis A. Greene James Simmons Arnold Sprague IV Burnside Aldrich Lippitt Gerry Hebert Gerry McGrath Leahy Pastore J. Chafee L. Chafee Whitehouse
Class 2	Stanton Bradford R. Greene Ellery Fenner Mathewson Howell Burrill Knight Simmons Clarke Allen Anthony Sheffield Chace Dixon III Wetmore Colt Metcalf Green Pell Reed

Presidents pro tempore of the United States Senate
Langdon Lee Langdon Izard H Tazewell Livermore Bingham Bradford Read Sedgwick Laurance Ross Livermore Tracy Howard Hillhouse Baldwin Bradley Brown Franklin Anderson Smith Bradley Milledge Gregg Gaillard Pope Crawford Varnum Gaillard Barbour Gaillard Macon Smith L Tazewell White Poindexter Tyler W R King Southard Mangum Sevier Atchison W R King Atchison Cass Bright Stuart Bright Mason Rusk Fitzpatrick Bright Fitzpatrick Foot Clark Foster Wade Anthony Carpenter Anthony Ferry Thurman Bayard Davis Edmunds Sherman Ingalls Manderson Harris Ransom Harris Frye Office rotated 1911–1913 Bacon Curtis Gallinger Brandegee Lodge Clarke Saulsbury Cummins Moses Pittman W H King Harrison Glass McKellar Vandenberg McKellar Bridges George Hayden Russell Ellender Eastland Magnuson Young Magnuson Thurmond Stennis Byrd Thurmond Byrd Thurmond Byrd Stevens Byrd Inouye Leahy Hatch

Template:Rhode Island in the American Revolutionary War