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Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

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Massachusetts, and baptized there, Feb-<br />

ruary 22, 1746-47. He served with valor<br />

during the American Revolution, and held<br />

the rank <strong>of</strong> second lieutenant in Captain<br />

Stephen Webster's company, Fourth Es-<br />

sex County Regiment, in 1778. He married<br />

(first) (intentions dated February 11,<br />

1773), Sarah Osgood, <strong>of</strong> Andover, where<br />

she died September 14, 1790, aged forty;<br />

he married (second) April 14, 1791. Sarah<br />

Ayer, who died October 20, 1820, aged<br />

sixty-five, at Andover. Lieutenant Jonathan<br />

Bradley was a resident <strong>of</strong> Andover<br />

for the greater part <strong>of</strong> his life, and was<br />

one <strong>of</strong> the leading men <strong>of</strong> the town in his<br />

day. He died there, February 23, 1818,<br />

aged seventy-three years.<br />

(V) Charles Bradley, son <strong>of</strong> Lieutenant<br />

Jonathan and Sarah (Ayer) Bradley, was<br />

born at Andover, Massachusetts, Decem-<br />

ber 17, 1792. He married (intentions<br />

dated at Newburyport, November 14,<br />

1817) Sarah Smith, <strong>of</strong> Haverhill. She<br />

was a daughter <strong>of</strong> Jonathan K. Smith, and<br />

a granddaughter <strong>of</strong> Rev. Hezekiah Smith,<br />

a famous chaplain <strong>of</strong> the Massachusetts<br />

troops in the Revolution, and for more<br />

than forty years one <strong>of</strong> the fellows <strong>of</strong><br />

Brown University. Charles Bradley was<br />

a prominent merchant <strong>of</strong> Boston, and af-<br />

terward a manufacturer in Portland,<br />

Maine.<br />

(VI) Hon. Charles Smith Bradley, son<br />

<strong>of</strong> Charles and Sarah (Smith) Bradley,<br />

was born in Newburyport, Massachu-<br />

setts, July 18, 1819. He enjoyed excel-<br />

lent educational advantages, and prepared<br />

for college in the Boston Latin School.<br />

He entered Brown University, drawn to<br />

it by the regard he had for his great-<br />

grandfather, and in 1838 was graduated<br />

with the highest honors in his class,<br />

which contained an unusual number <strong>of</strong><br />

brilliant men. Several years following<br />

were spent in post-graduate study in the<br />

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY<br />

218<br />

University, and after taking the degree<br />

<strong>of</strong> Master <strong>of</strong> Arts he chose the legal pro-<br />

fession for his work in life, and entered<br />

the Harvard Law School. Completing his<br />

studies for the bar in the law <strong>of</strong>fice <strong>of</strong><br />

Charles F. Tillinghast, <strong>of</strong> Providence, he<br />

was admitted to the bar in 1841. In the<br />

same year he formed a partnership with<br />

Mr. Tillinghast.<br />

He sprang rapidly into prominence<br />

through his eloquence as a speaker. His<br />

public utterances were all characterized<br />

by a masterly power <strong>of</strong> reasoning, comprehensive<br />

knowledge, and a polished dic-<br />

tion which led to his appointment <strong>of</strong>ten<br />

to speak on political and literary occasions.<br />

In 1854 he was elected by the town<br />

<strong>of</strong> North Providence to the Senate <strong>of</strong> the<br />

State, where he was influential in securing<br />

the Act <strong>of</strong> Amnesty to all who had<br />

taken part in the Dorr Rebellion <strong>of</strong> 1842.<br />

At a public meeting in Providence, June<br />

9, 1856, relative to the assault <strong>of</strong> Brooks<br />

on Sumner in the United States Senate,<br />

he said<br />

:<br />

Is it not well that the second city in New Eng-<br />

land, the first which is not connected by any per-<br />

sonal ties with Mr. Sumner, should speak <strong>of</strong> this<br />

outrage, not in the first flush <strong>of</strong> our indignation,<br />

but in the tones <strong>of</strong> deliberate condemnation?<br />

* * * YVe know that brutality and cowardice<br />

go hand in hand, because brutal passions and<br />

true moral courage cannot harmonize in the same<br />

.character. * * * If the South upholds this<br />

act, the antagonism <strong>of</strong> their civilization and ours<br />

will mount higher and come closer and closer;<br />

and it requires no horoscope to show the future.<br />

Judge Bradley was a conscientious<br />

member <strong>of</strong> the Democratic party through-<br />

out his life, but had the support and con-<br />

fidence <strong>of</strong> men <strong>of</strong> all parties in the city<br />

and State. He represented Rhode Island<br />

repeatedly in the National Democratic<br />

Conventions, notably that <strong>of</strong> i860, when<br />

the party was divided, and he adhered to<br />

the Unionists, casting his vote for Ste-

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