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ALBERT WILLIAMS BRADBURY was born at Calais, in 1840. His family moved, soon after,
to East port, whore his early days were passed. He was fitted for college at the University Grammar School, Providence,
R. I., and was graduated from Bowdoin in 1860. In August, 1861, he commenced to recruit for the First Maine Battery,
Mounted Artillery; was mustered as Second Lieutenant in December; passed through the successive steps of First
Lieutenant, Captain, Major of First Maine Mounted Artillery, and Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel of Volunteers. He first
served in General Butler’s Department of the Gulf, under the immediate command of Gen. Godfrey Weitzel; was of
the Nineteenth Army Corps, commanded by Gen. Wm. B. Franklin, and subsequently by General Emory, and constantly
in the field.
He re-enlisted his entire command at the approaching expiration of three years’ term of service (the only instance
in that department, and, perhaps, in the army), and came to Augusta to recruit in the winter of 1864. After thirty
days he was ordered to join Burnside, but by him was ordered to the Artillery Camp, near Washington, for guns,
horses, etc.; had command of Fort Lincoln, on Bladensburg Road, with battalion of hundred days’ men; then of Forts
C. F. Smith and Strong, on south side of Potomac, with two battalions of hundred days’ men, reporting to General
DeRussey at Arlington Heights; July 4, 1864, was ordered to Washington for Harper’s Ferry, but route changed to
Fort Stevens, beyond Crystal Springs, where Jubal Early made his demonstration against Washington, and had command
of a long line of fortifications. Soon after this General Emory, Nineteenth Army Corps, came up from the Department
of the Gulf, and made application for him to be ordered to his command; went into the Valley of the Shenandoah,
in Sheridan’s Army, and participated in all the battles of that brilliant and successful campaign; was Chief of
Artillery of the Nineteenth Army Corps, and later appointed, in general orders, by General Sheridan, Chief of Artillery
of the Army of the Shenandoah.
He was mustered out of the United States service at Augusta, July 24, 1865; read law in the office of his father,
Hon. Bion Bradbury, who had then moved to Portland, and was admitted to the Bar lfl 1867, forming the co-partnership
of Bradbury & Bradbury, which had an extensive practice in the State and Federal Courts, and continued until
the death of the senior member, in July, 1887. He has been City Solicitor of Portland, and is now senior member
of the finn of Bradbury & McQuillan.
Colonel Bradbury has always taken an active interest in political affairs, and has been a prominent public speaker,
on the Democratic side, in Maine and other States, besides delivering addresses upon many important occasions in
various parts of the country.
The Bradbury family in this country is descended from Thomas Bradbury, who came from Essex County, England, to
Salisbury, Mass., in the early part of the 17th century. John, fourth in descent from Thomas, was the founder of
the family in York County. He was a member of the Provincial Legislature; for ten years one of the Executive Council
and Judge of Probate, warmly espousing the cause of the Colonies at the breaking out of the Revolutionary War.
His son Joseph was an officer in the War for Independence, and died at Saco in 1821, at the age of eighty-one years.
Joseph’s eldest son, Jeremiah, read law in the offices of Cyrus King, of Saco, and Nicholas Emery, of Parsonsfield,
and was admitted to the York Bar in 1805. He was Collector of Customs for the District of York seven years, when
he resigned to accept the position of Clerk of the Judicial Courts of York County, to which he was appointed by
Governor King, in 1820, and which he held, with the exception of a single year, till 1841. His wife was Mary Langdon,
daughter of Capt. Seth Storer, and a descendant of John Langdon, of New Hampshire, President of the Continental
Congress.
Their eldest son was Bion, born in Biddeford, December 6, 1811; graduated from Bowdoin in 1830; admitted to the
York Bar in 1834; Collector of Customs for District of Passamaquoddy from 1844 to 1857; served in the Maine Legislature
in 1849, 1850, and 1862, the last time being elected by the unanimous vote of both parties; candidate for Congress
in 1858 from the Sixth District; in 1874 from the First District, and for Governor in 1863. He was a member of
the National Democratic Conventions in 1856, 1860, and 1880, and, in 1885, was appointed Surveyor of the Port of
Portland, which office he was holding at the time of his death, July 1, 1887. Mr. Bradbury was an eminent lawyer,
and, for many years, a distinguished leader of the Democratic party.
He married Alice. daughter of Col. Johnson Williams, of Brooklyn, N. Y., afterwards of Waterville, Me., who was
the son of Dr. Obadiah Williams, a distinguished citizen of Waterville. Their eldest son, Albert W., is the subject
of this sketch.
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