Bradford, James M. (IL State Representative)

Born: 1795-09-28 Culpeper County, Virginia

Died: 1852-03-03 Sangamon County, Illinois

When he was twelve years old, Bradford moved to Kentucky with his parents. As a young man, he served as a soldier in the War of 1812, later traveling on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers for business. On July 4, 1820, he married Ann Barnes in Mississippi. Three years later, the couple moved to Kentucky, where they had four children. In 1834, the family moved to Sangamon County, Illinois. After the death of his first wife, Bradford married Arsonath Talbett on December 28, 1836. In 1840, Bradford won election as a Whig to the Illinois House of Representatives. He received the most votes of the five candidates elected from Sangamon County that year. He was active in the temperance movement, and the Sons of Temperance eulogized his good works upon his death in 1852.

John Carroll Power and S. A. Power, History of the Early Settlers of Sangamon County, Illinois (Springfield, IL: Edwin A. Wilson, 1876), 129-30; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Sangamon County, 28 December 1836, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; Theodore C. Pease, ed., Illinois Election Returns, 1818-1848, vol. 18 of Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library (Springfield: Illinois State Historical Library, 1923), 344; Illinois Daily Journal (Springfield), 5 March 1852, 2:1; 15 March 1852, 3:1.