Edward Green Bradford born on July 17, 1819, at Bohemia Manor, Cecil County, Maryland. He was a descendant of William Bradford, governor of Plymouth Colony, was the son of Moses and Phoebe (George) Bradford.
His father was an editor for several years of the Delaware Gazette, a Federalist paper; his mother was of a wealthy Irish family. They moved to Wilmington, Delaware, soon after his birth.
Bradford was educated in the Wilmington schools, Bristol College, Philadelphia, and at Delaware College. He graduated in 1839 and studied law under Chief Justice Gilpin, then attorney-general.
Bradford was admitted to the bar in 1842 and appointed deputy attorney-general immediately. He held this position for eight years.
He had shown an interest in politics while still a law student and took an active part in the Harrison-Tyler campaign of 1840. In 1849, he represented New Castle County in the state legislature and was offered the Whig nomination for Congress but did not accept it.
President Lincoln, in 1861, appointed him United States district attorney for Delaware and President Johnson reappointed him in July 1865. A man of courageous opinions, he resigned his office the following year because of disapproval of Johnson's policies.
For some years, he practiced law successfully and in 1871, was appointed by President Grant as United States district court judge for Delaware. At various times in his life, he took a decided stand in politics. He was active in the organization of the Republican party in Delaware, at the outbreak of the Civil War, he was a declared Union man, and during the reconstruction period took an advanced position on suffrage.
His career as a judge was rather uneventful, although many important cases came before him. Other offices held by him were city solicitor of Wilmington, director for thirty years of the Wilmington Farmers' Bank, and vestryman of Trinity Church for a long period.
At the time of his death the Wilmington Daily Republican, in an editorial which spoke highly of his abilities, stated that he would have been a worthy successor of John Middleton Clayton as United States senator, an office which he had all his life greatly desired. The weakness of the Republican party in the state was given as the only reason for his non-election.
At the early start of his political career Edward Bradford was a Whig. In 1849, while representing New Castle County in the state legislature, he was offered the Whig nomination for Congress but did not accept it.
Later Bradford was active in the organization of the Republican party in Delaware, at the outbreak of the Civil War, he was a declared Union man, and during the reconstruction period took an advanced position on suffrage.
Bradford married first, Mary Alicia Heyward by which they had three children: son, James Heyward Bradford, Mary Cornelia Bradford, and Edward Green Bradford, jr. .
Second, he married Elizabeth Roberts Canby. They had eight children.
11 April 1820 - 5 April 1848
21 February 1827 - 18 May 1914
Born in 1846.
1868-1868
1866-1926
1852-1925
1863-1918
1861-1930
Born in 1843.
1854-1860
1856-1919
1859-1934
Born in 1848.
