USA > Connecticut > Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial; representative citizens, v. 7 > Part 31
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men. * * Our State will bear proudly on its bosom through coming centuries this insti- tution, expressing in its object, and its architec- ture the humanity of the age. *
* * In aiding, you place stones of beauty in these walls, where- on the All-Seeing Eye, it may not irreverently be said, shall read your name, though time and storm shall have written their wild signatures upon them. * * * The sons and daughters of toil, as the day calls them to work and the night to rest, will look upon these towers, blending with the morning and the evening sky, with their tearful benedictions. In the time of illness and accident, if the struggle of life presses too hard
upon them, this shall be their honorable refuge, builded with a beneficence akin to, and sanctioned by, the Divine.
In 1866 Judge Bradley received the hon- orary degree of LL. D. from Brown Uni- versity, and was also elected one of the fellows of that institution. For three years he officiated as lecturer in the Law School of Harvard University. In 1876 he was chosen professor of that school, and filled the chair with remarkable abil- ity until 1879. On his retirement the board of overseers, through their chair- man, Judge Lowell, said :
We have suffered a great loss in the resignation of Hon. Charles S. Bradley, whose lucid and practical teaching was highly appreciated by the students, and whose national reputation added to the renown of the school. We had hoped that some incidental advantage of quiet and freedom from care might be found to outweigh other considerations, and that the professorship was permanently filled.
Judge Bradley traveled widely in Amer- ica, and at different times had visited nearly all portions of Europe. With his love of letters and broad scholarship he united a genuine and strong love for agri- culture and rural enjoyments, which was perhaps in a large degree an inherited passion. The grounds about his elegant residence in Providence, his farm prop- erty, and his attachment to ancestral es- tates, were a proof of his appreciation of all that belongs to the oldest and most important of human occupations. His tastes and culture were manifested in his great love for superior works of art, of which he had many noted specimens in his home. His oration before the Alumni Association of Brown University in 1855, his oration on the 250th anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, his remarks on the retirement of Presi- dent Caswell from the presidency of the University in 1872, and his oration before
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the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard University in 1879, were models of rich thought, graceful diction, and lucid argu- ment, vindicating his right to be classed as one of the most impressive orators of his day in the United States. Of his address before the Phi Beta Kappa So- ciety, the Boston "Daily Advertiser" ob- served :
If there were any need for justification of the custom of annual addresses before the college societies, such an address as Judge Bradley's yesterday gave that justification completely. It is, indeed, remarkable to see an audience of so distinguished men of leading position in every walk of life. It is remarkable to have so much good sense, so many important suggestions, nay, so many of the fundamental truths upon which civilized society rests, crowded into one hour. The power of the speaker on his audience, the hold with which he compelled their fascinated attention were again and again referred to through the afternoon. This is not simply the attention which people give to what they hear with pleasure, it was the satisfaction with which the audience received important principles, of which they felt the value, whether they were or were not new to the hearer. Vero pro gratiis in- deed might well be taken as the motto of the ad- dress, the passage which showed how the bar of the country must be relied upon to maintain at the highest the dignity of the bench was received with profound sympathy and interest. It deserves the careful attention of the bar in every part of the country.
His oration on "The Profession of the Law as an Element of Civil Society," pronounced June 29, 1881, before the So- cieties of the University of Virginia, was regarded "as a learned and profound dis- cussion of this subject, in which he ar- gued that the bar is essential to the ad- ministration of justice, that the adminis- tration of justice is essential to the ex- istence of society, and the existence of so- ciety essential for the protection of man in his endeavors to live according to the laws of his being."
Judge Bradley married (first) April 28,
1842, Sarah Manton, daughter of Joseph and Mary (Whipple) Manton, of Provi- dence, Rhode Island. She was born March 10, 1818, and died December 12, 1854, survived by three sons: I. Joseph Manton, who died March 7, 1879, unmar- ried. 2. Charles, of whom see forward. 3. George Lothrop, of whom see forward. Judge Bradley married (second) August 4, 1858, Charlotte Augusta Saunders, of Charlottesville, Virginia, and she died in May, 1864, her daughter, Janet Laurie, dying in the same month. He married (third) in May, 1866, Emma Pendleton (Ward) Chambers, of Winchester, Vir- ginia, who died February 28, 1875. Judge Bradley died in New York City, April 29, 1888, while on a visit to his son, the late George Lothrop Bradley.
(VII) Charles (2) Bradley, son of the late Chief Justice Charles Smith and Sarah (Manton) Bradley, was born in Providence, Rhode Island, May 6, 1845. He received his early education under Dr. S. F. Smith in a private academy in Newton, Massachusetts, and later at- tended the University Grammar School of Providence, where he prepared for col- lege. He entered Williams College, and was graduated therefrom in 1865. Short- ly afterward he entered business life and went to Chicago, where he was engaged in business for several years. He next went to Colorado, where he was interested in gold mining, but, tiring of this venture and of business life, he returned to Prov- idence, where he determined to enter the legal profession.
He prepared for the bar in the office of his father in Providence, and after being admitted at once began the practice of his profession in the office of Bradley & Metcalf, of which noted law firm his fa- ther was senior member. His legal prac- tice dealt more with the technical and in-
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volved problems of jurisprudence, and was for the greater part conducted in his office. He was well known in the ranks of the legal profession in Providence as a lawyer of fine capability and masterly reasoning powers, but was of a retiring disposition, eschewing public life. Mr. Bradley spent much time on his country estate in the town of Lincoln, taking great pride in its beauty. He was essentially a homeloving man, and his home was that of the man of culture, refinement and scholarly tastes. His library and art col- lection, the nucleus of which had been left him by his father, were his special attractions. He was a member of the Hope and Rhode Island clubs of Provi- dence, and of the Rhode Island School of Design and the Providence Art Club. Mr. Bradley died in the prime of life, No- vember 9, 1898, in the fifty-fourth year of his age.
On October 31, 1876, Charles Bradley married Jane Whitman Bailey, who was born in the town of North Providence, July 13, 1849, daughter of William Ma- son and Harriet (Brown) Bailey. Mr. and Mrs. Bradley were the parents of the following children: 1. Charles, Jr., men- tioned below. 2. Alice Whitman, born November 5, 1881; resides with her mother. 3. Joseph Manton, born Decem- ber 10, 1882; was engaged in business in Portland, Oregon, for six years, at the end of which time he returned to the East, and engaged in cotton manufactur- ing in Brattleboro, Vermont; he married Margaret S. Walter, of Portland, Ore- gon, and they have two children: Joseph Manton, Jr., and Margaret Bradley. He died in Providence, Rhode Island, March 15, 1915. 4. Mary Emerson, born June 18, 1884; married Dr. Emery M. Porter, of Providence; issue : Emery Moulton, Jr., who died in infancy; George Whip- ple ; Jane Bradley, who died in infancy ;
Arnoldl, and Nancy Porter. 5. Margaret Harrison, born July 6, 1890; married Brockholst M. Smith, of Providence, and they are the parents of a daughter, Helen Bradley Smith, born in August, 1914, and a son, Brockholst M. Smith, Jr., born October 24, 1917.
(VHI1) Charles (3) Bradley, son of Charles (2) and Jane Whitman (Bailey) Bradley, was born in Providence, Rhode Island, December 19, 1877. He was edu- cated in the University Grammar School of Providence, and entered Brown Uni- versity, from which he was graduated in the class of 1898. Immediately on com- pleting his education, he entered the em- ploy of the Bell Telephone Company, and was assigned to the Pittsburgh (Pennsyl- vania) office in 1900. He rose rapidly to the fore in the office in this city, and by successive promotions was made super- intendent of one of the departments of the plant. His promising career was cut short by his untimely death, as a result of blood-poisoning, on January 17, 1910.
Charles Bradley married, October 16, 1901, Helen N. Hunt, daughter of Hora- tio A. Hunt, of Providence. Mr. and Mrs. Bradley were the parents of the following children : Charles, Horatio Hunt, and George Lothrop. Mrs. Bradley, who sur- vives her husband, and resides at No. 170 Waterman street, Providence, is well known in social life in Providence, and has been prominently connected with charitable and philanthropic work in the city.
(VII) George Lothrop Bradley, third son of the late Chief Justice Charles Smith and Sarah (Manton) Bradley, was born in Providence, Rhode Island, Octo- ber 4. 1846. He was educated in private schools in Providence, and in Newton, Massachusetts, later attending the Uni- versity Grammar School of Providence, where he prepared for Harvard and
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Brown Colleges, passing the preliminary examinations for both institutions. He entered neither, however, but, becoming deeply interested in metallurgical engi- neering, went to Freiburg, Germany, where he pursued a course in this science at the School of Mines, from which he was graduated in 1867. On his return to America, he went to Colorado for the purpose of developing some mining prop- erty, making the journey across the plains in a stage coach, at a time when Indians and marauding bands of outlaws infested the region. The coach preceding that in which he was a passenger was attacked by Indians and all its occupants killed. After a short period spent in the West, which was filled with the thrilling exper- ience of the pioneer days, he returned to his home, and shortly afterward went to South America to investigate mining con- ditions there.
On his return, in Boston he met Profes- sor Alexander Graham Bell, then a teacher of a new system of communication for deaf mutes, who subsequently went to Salem, Massachusetts, and, while giving instructions there, devoted considerable time to the study and development of the telephone. Professor Bell later came to Providence, where he met Norman N. Mason, who was then in the apothecary business, and they with others placed the telephone on a practical working basis. Mr. Bradley, deeply interested in the pro- ject, and keenly alive to its possibilities, was induced to introduce the invention in Boston, where in 1876 he organized the New England Telephone Company. In the following year he organized the Na- tional Telephone Company in New York City. In the meantime the Western Un- ion Telegraph Company had acquired the Edison patents for the telephone, and there was a contract between the two companies for the monopoly of the sys-
tem. This contract between the two companies resulted in a compromise which gave the Bell Company an undis- puted field. Its stock had gradually in- creased in value from one to fifty dollars per share, and eventually rose to $800 per share. Through his holdings in the company, Mr. Bradley realized a goodly profit. His name ranks among the fore- most in the history of the telephone, and he probably did more to make it a busi- ness success than any other man in the country. He saw from the outset the great financial possibilities in what others of recognized foresight had regarded as a mere mechanical toy, and became one of the original investigators and promoters of the invention which has played so im- portant a part in human progress in the past three decades. In his researches he was associated with Professor John Pierce and Professor Blake, of Brown University, and, encouraged in the un- dertaking by the late Hon. Rowland G. Hazard, of Peace Dale, who was confident that the telephone would be as univer- sally used as gas and water.
After establishing the telephone on a financial basis, in 1883 Mr. Bradley set- tled in Washington, D. C., and became actively interested in the Mergenthaler Linotype Company, which had been a business failure for more than six years. With the assistance of the late Hon. Wil- liam C. Whitney, who was secretary of the United States Navy in President Cleveland's cabinet, Mr. Bradley put the latter company in such a sound financial condition that its stock was greatly en- hanced in value.
Mr. Bradley later became interested in the Florida Coast Line Canal and Trans- portation Company, investing heavily in its stock. This company was organized for the purpose of constructing an inland waterway five hundred and sixty miles in
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length along the eastern coast of Florida. Mr. Bradley gave this enterprise not only great financial aid, but in addition took an active interest in the management of the corporation, and for several years served as its president. In order to form a con- tinuous navigable inland waterway, it was necessary not only to construct canals through the divides separating natural waters, but to remove shoals from the channels of these waters, and in places cut through sharp bends and increase the width of a number of tortuous salt-water creeks which form a portion of the route selected by the company. The canal is operated under a State charter and has the right of eminent domain, and privilege of charging tolls on all canals constructed and channels improved, the tolls to be fixed by the president and directors of the company, and to be approved by the board of trustees of the internal improve- ment fund of the State of Florida. In ad- dition to the rights acquired by the canal company under the above law the State Legislature, by special act, granted to the company a land subsidy of 3.840 acres per mile for the purpose of enabling those interested in the project to obtain the necessary capital for the construction of the canals and improvements along the natural waterways. This policy on the part of the State resulted in the Canal Company becoming such a considerable owner of land on the east coast of Flor- ida that when an opportunity came to secure the construction of a railroad along the coast of Biscayne Bay, the Canal Company decided to grant a land subsidy of about 270,000 acres of land to the rail- way company, which resulted in the con- struction of one of the best railroads in the South. It soon became apparent that the directors of the Canal Company had made no mistake in subsidizing the rail- road, as the construction of this railroad
not only transformed the eastern section of Florida from a wilderness into the greatest winter resort in the United States, but, in addition, gave great im- petus to the development of the agricul- tural resources of that country by giving rapid transportation to the growers of delicate fruits and vegetables, which en- abled them to place the products of their plantations in the northern and western markets in good condition. The vast im- provements of the Canal Company, too, had drained large bodies of rich marsh land, which, when the water was lowered, were ready for the plow, and resulted in new agricultural enterprises, as well as the building of new towns and villages on both sides of the waterway for practically its entire length. A line of passenger and freight steamers was placed in commis- sion and operated between Titusville and Jupiter, one hundred and thirty miles to the south, another important factor in the opening up of this country. Until the year 1892 the inside waters of the Flor- ida coast were supposed to be controlled by the State, and the canal company, un- der its charter, improved the channels of the Indian river where necessary. In the latter year, however, through the efforts of the late Senator Matthew S. Quay, of Pennsylvania, an appropriation was made by Congress to be expended in still fur- ther improving the river and in enlarging the canals owned by the land company. The question of jurisdiction being raised, the United States Attorney-General gave the opinion that the appropriation should not be expended until the Florida Coast Line Canal and Transportation Company waived its rights to charge tolls on the channels improved by the company be- tween Titusville and Jupiter. After some negotiations, an agreement was made which provided that no tolls should be collected on that section of the water-
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way, and the money appropriated was then spent on the channel, and subse- quently additional appropriations were made for the same purpose. The remain- der of the waterway, however, is still controlled by the canal company. In the launching of this colossal enterprise, in the financing of it, and in the subsequent work of placing it on a firm business basis, Mr. Bradley was one of the leaders. To his consummate genius as a business or- ganizer, executive and financier, a great part of the success of the Florida Coast Line Canal and Transportation Company is due. As one of the founders of this company he had no small part in the in- fluential place it holds in the growth and development of the interest of Eastern Florida. In the difficulties which beset the establishment of so phenomenal an enterprise, he was ever the wise counselor, the keen, sagacious, foresighted man of business, and his own belief in the future greatness of the gigantic scheme infused into all engaged in it the courage which carried it through to completion.
Mr. Bradley possessed the calm, judi- cial type of mentality, was essentially an individualist and an original thinker. Al- though an idealist, he was endowed with a genius for the practical which made him a farsighted but dependable leader, a man whose vision might be relied upon, for it was tempered always with a regard for the practical. The broad understanding and tolerance of the cosmopolite, the cul- ture which comes with wide travel, con- stant association with men of influence in the world of finance, business and the professions, was his in a marked degree. He was a linguist of no mean ability, a fine conversationalist, a forceful and com- pelling speaker. He was deeply inter- ested in literature and the arts, and his home was the center of a thoughtful and brilliant society. He was essentially a
diplomat, a man of affairs, of large visions. Nothing of a mean nature entered into his life ; he was above the petty disagree- ments. Mr. Bradley was a lover of na- ture and outdoor life, and took an es- pecial pride in his estate, comprising over eight hundred acres of land, in Pomfret, Connecticut, an ideal spot, commanding a magnificent view of the surrounding country. He was one of the founders of the Pomfret School for Boys, and main- tained a deep interest in it until the time of his death, serving as a member of the board of trustees.
Mr. Bradley was prominent in social and club circles in New York and in Washington, D. C. He was a member of the Metropolitan, Cosmos, Elite, Chevy Chase, and Country clubs of Washington ; of the Reform and the Players' clubs of New York City ; and also of the National Geographical and various other societies. He was a man's man, generous, chival- rous and upright in every detail of his life, surrounding himself with none of the barriers which men who have attained the place of distinction which was his are apt to erect about themselves. In con- sequence, he was not only honored and re- spected but loved by a vast number of friends and acquaintances.
On June 12, 1878, Mr. Bradley married Helen McHenry Chambers, daughter of Dr. John Mason Duncan Chambers, a prominent physician of Virginia, and his wife, Emma Pendleton Ward. Mrs. Brad- ley, who survives her husband and resides on the Bradley estate at Pomfret, Con- necticut, is a descendant from some of the earliest Virginia families. She is well known in social circles in Rhode Island and in Washington, D. C. Mr. and Mrs. Bradley were the parents of a daughter, Emma Pendleton Bradley.
George Lothrop Bradley died at his home in Washington, D. C., on March 26,
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1906, in the sixtieth year of his age. By the terms of his will, the Bradley estate, in Providence, Rhode Island, containing twelve acres of land, became the Emma Pendleton Bradley Home for Convales- cents and Invalids, in memory of his only daughter, Emma Pendleton Bradley.
SHEPARD, Andrew Nelson,
Tobacco Grower and Dealer, Legislator.
A lifelong resident and native of Port- land, Connecticut, Andrew Nelson Shep- ard has attained an assured position among its business men and citizens of affairs and worth. He has always been interested in the progress and proper con- duct of public affairs, has borne no small share in their management, and has ac- quitted himself with credit to an honored name. The name of Shepard is an old one in England, and it is easy to conjecture its origin, being given when men began to employ surnames a few centuries ago.
(I) Edward Shepard came from Eng- land and lived at Cambridge, Massachu- setts. His name, with that of his son, John Shepard, appears often in the town and county records. His will was proved August 20, 1680. It is apparent from this instrument and from deeds that he was a mariner. There is no record of his mar- riage or death. His first wife, Violet Shepard, died January 9, 1649. His sec- ond wife, Mary (Pond) Shepard, was the widow of Robert Pond, who died in 1637. She was probably the mother of Daniel Pond, who married Abigail, daughter of Edward and Violet Shepard.
(II) John Shepard, born 1627, in Eng- land, was apparently the eldest son of Ed- ward Shepard. He was made a freeman at Cambridge, May 22, 1650, and removed to Hartford, Connecticut, after 1666. He lived on what is now known as Lafayette
street, south of the new State House, and owned lands extending to the Wethers- field bounds. He was known as Sergeant John Shepard, and is described as a man of consequence in the colony. He mar- ried, October 1, 1649, Rebecca, daughter of Samuel Greenhill. She died December 22, 1689.
(HI1) Edward (2) Shepard, second son of John Shepard, was born July 31, 1662. He lived in Middletown, Connecticut, which town he represented in the Gen- eral Court in 1710-11. He married, April 14, 1687, Abigail Savage, born July 10, 1666, died October 16, 1719, daughter of John and Elizabeth Savage, of Middle- tow11.
(IV) John (2) Shepard, eldest child of Edward (2) Shepard, was born February 19, 1688. He married, February 17, 1720, Sarah Clarke, born September 8, 1692, daughter of John and Elizabeth (White) Clarke, of Middletown.
(V) Daniel Shepard, son of John (2) Shepard, was born September 16, 1723, and died in that part of Middletown which is now Portland, August 22, 1798. It was then part of the town of Chatham. He married, June 30, 1749, Sarah Corn- wall, born May 15, 1732, daughter of An- drew and Elizabeth (Savage) Cornwall, died January 10, 1773, descendant of Wil- liam Cornwall, who came from England, was a member of John Elliot's church in 1633, and was at Hartford as early as 1638.
(VI) Daniel (2) Shepard, second son of Daniel (1) Shepard, was born March 2, 1754, in that part of Chatham now Port- land, and died there October 24, 1850, in his ninety-seventh year. He married
(VII) Erastus Shepard, son of Daniel (2) Shepard, was born in 1791, in Port- land, and made his home in that town,
Conn-7-15
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where he died September 15, 1843. He married Honor Goodrich, born about 1793, daughter of Luther Goodrich, of Chat- ham, and probably of his first wife, Free- dom (Bidwell) Shepard, who died about I797.
(VIII) Nelson Shepard, third son of Erastus and Honor (Goodrich) Shepard, was born December 25, 1820, in Portland, and made his home in that town through- out his life, inheriting from his father a farm of sixty acres. On this he built a handsome residence in 1856, occupying the site of the house in which he was born. He was among the first in Connecticut to engage in tobacco culture, and made great success in the venture, which brought him a comfortable fortune. Mr. Shepard was one of the most public-spirited citi- zens of Portland, and a man of genial manners and kindly heart, the friend of mankind, active in promoting public wel- fare and useful in various official capaci- ties. For three years he was a member of the Board of Selectmen, represented Port- land in the General Assembly, and was for three years a county commissioner. He was a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal church of Glastonbury, of which he was a vestryman, and was a supporter of the Republican party in pol- itics from the time of its organization. Mr. Shepard was interested in several business institutions of his home town, a stockholder in the Middlesex Quarry Com- pany, trustee of the Freestone Savings Bank, and director and vice-president of the National Bank of Portland.
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