Bradford, James Henry
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MILITARY SERVICE Age: 0, credited to Grafton, VT Unit(s): 12th CT INF Service: Chaplain, 12th CT INF [College: YC 63]; Congregationalist See Legend for expansion of abbreviations VITALSBirth: 08/24/1836, Grafton, VT Death: 12/22/1913 Burial: Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA Marker/Plot: 02/4807-SS Gravestone photographer: Courtesy of Arlington National Cemetery Findagrave Memorial #: 23680167 MORE INFORMATION Alias?: None noted Pension?: Yes, 3/20/1095, DC Portrait?: Unknown College?: Yale 63 Veterans Home?: Not Found (If there are state digraphs above, this soldier spent some time in a state or national soldiers' home in that state after the war) Remarks: None DESCENDANTS (Are you a descendant, but not listed? Register today) |
BURIAL: Copyright notice   Arlington National Cemetery, VA Check the cemetery for location/directions and other veterans who may be buried there. |
Biography
Bradford, James Henry, of Washington, D. C., traces his ancestry not only to Gov. William Bradford of Plymouth Colony, but three or four generations further back to Rev. John Bradford who after having been chaplain to the Queen was burnt at the stake at Smithfield by Bloody Mary with John Rogers, Latimer and others. His mother, who died when he was but four years old, was the daughter of Thomas Dickman, the first postmaster, printer and editor of Greenfield, Mass. She was a woman of noble character, beloved by all.
Henry attended the district school and at sixteen mowed his turn with the men in the hay field for the last time, for that autumn he went to Charleston, S. C., into the dry goods store of his brother-in-law.
Three years at Williston Seminary prepared him for Yale with one hundred and sixty-two others to make the class of '63. He had jumped from college to the Theological Seminary, and the next step was into the army as chaplain, having received the unanimous vote of the officers of the 12th C. V., for that position. From Hartford to Ship Island, then up the Mississippi, the first troops to land at New Orleans, where they guarded the upper defenses while General Butler reigned supreme. Up the far famed Teche to the Red River, thence to Port Hudson for a forty-two days siege, then down the river to the old camp ground at Brasier City; the regiment re-enlisting received a veteran furlough. Back to New Orleans and around to Bermuda Hundred and Washington and up the Shenandoah "whirling up the valley" with Sheridan. In bloody work at Winchester, Fisher's Hill, Cedar Creek and on up to Staunton and return. Mustered out of service with the regiment, completed a war experience of singular freedom from sickness or wounds. He then went as a home missionary to Hudson, Wis., on the St. Croix, for two years. Coming East for reformatory work his service in Westboro (Mass.) State Reform School three years; Connecticut Industrial School four years, and Massachusetts Primary School three years gave him a broad experience and enabled him to leave his impress upon hundreds of young lives, that have none too much sympathy and care. A few months at Howard Mission, New York, then to Washington where he has been for twelve years a part of what is called The United States Government. Preaching almost every Sabbath, chaplain in Post and Department of the Grand Army and the Loyal Legion, active in church, temperance and charitable work, he has lived a busy life and not less so has Mrs. Bradford, carrying all over the country the fame of the "Ben Hur Tableaux, " her own creation; and training her two girls and two boys into a model family.
Chaplain Bradford is never so happy as when breathing the pure air of Vermont, which state he visits with delight and leaves with regret, for her hills and valleys and people are very dear to him.
Chaplain Bradford was married August 19, 1865, to Ellen J., daughter of Sylvester and J. Sophia Knight of Easthampton, Mass. Their children living are: Mary Knight, Harry Bonnell, Horatio Knight, and Faith.Source: Jacob G. Ullery, compiler, Men of Vermont: An Illustrated Biographical History of Vermonters and Sons of Vermont, (Transcript Publishing Company, Brattleboro, VT, 1894), Part III, p. 25.
See also, Pedigree of James Henry Bradford, 1836-1913