MSS 896 AV Bradford Family Papers

              MSS 896 AV
Bradford Family Papers
Page 1
OHIO HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Manuscripts/Audiovisual Collections
MSS 896 AV
Bradford Family Papers
1821-1943
OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION
Number: MSS 896 AV
Title: Bradford Family Papers
Creator: Joan Griffin Jones
Dates: 1821-1943
Media: Correspondence, genealogy, photographs,
newspaper clippings.
Quantity: 0.54 cubic foot
Location: The Ohio Historical Center
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE COLLECTION
Walter Simeon Bradford was born in Brunswick, Medina County, Ohio on September 8, 1833. He was
one of at least three children of Philander Bradford and Rebecca Sherman Bradford (brother Philip
was born in 1838 and a sister Elizabeth, married Henry S. Fitch.) Walter was educated at Macedon
and Canandaigua Academies in New York State as a civil engineer and practiced that profession for a
number of years in Iowa and Wisconsin. In 1856 he was elected surveyor of Humbolt County, Iowa
and served one term. In 1858 he returned to Ohio and settled in Mansfield, which was his home for
the remainder of his life.
On December 29, 1860, Walter Simeon Bradford married Amanda Day, the daughter of Amos and
Martha Smith Day. This couple had six children: sons Orrin, Walter Sherman, and Robert, and
daughters Jessie and Florence. For a time Walter Bradford was an agent for the Cincinnati publishing
house of Moore, Wilstach, Keys & Co. Soon after the commencement of the Civil War he entered the
army as a First Lieutenant in the 2nd Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Heavy Artillery (O.V.H.A.). He
served as Adjutant Drill Master, and Ordinance Officer for the regiment. In 1865 Bradford was
appointed Acting Assistant Adjutant General of the 2nd Brigade, 4th Division of the Army of the
Cumberland, then headquartered at Knoxville, Tennesse. Later in the year he was promoted to
captain of Company K of the 2nd Regiment, O.V.H.A., and took command of Fort Lee at Knoxville,
Tennessee. He was offered the engineership of the fortifications and defenses of Knoxville, but
declined since he would have supplanted an old friend. In the later months of the war, Bradford
participated in engagements in the Cleveland, Tennessee vicinity.
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