James Ware Bradbury

Education

Born in Parsonsfield, Maine, he attended the common schools and Gorham Academy. He then studied law, was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Augusta, Maine, in 1830.

Career

There he was for a time editor of the Maine Patriot, and was prosecuting attorney for the county from 1834 until 1838. He was elected in 1846 as a Democrat to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1847, until March 3, 1853, when he declined to be a candidate for reelection (returning, at the close of his term, to the practice of his profession). While in the Senate he chaired the United States. Senate Committee on Printing and the United States. Senate Committee on Retrenchment.

He was chairman of a select committee on French spoilations.

He served as a trustee of Bowdoin College in 1861 and was corresponding secretary of the Maine Historical Society and then president of that body from 1867 to 1887.

Achievements

• After graduating from Bowdoin College in 1825, he became principal of Hallowell Academy and founder of the first normal school in New England, at Effingham, New Hampshire, in 1829.

Membership

He was a member of the Baltimore convention of 1844, which nominated James K. Polk for the presidency.

Connections

Father:

Doctor James Bradbury

Mother:

Ann (Moulton) Bradbury

Spouse:

Eliza Ann Smith