BIOGRAPHIES:   Ira B. BRADFORD, Augusta, Eau Claire County, WI

====================================================================
USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information 
on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as 
this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may 
NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other 
persons or organizations.

Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes 
other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file 
contributor, or the legal representative of the contributor, and contact 
the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent.   The submitter 
has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently 
for free access.

This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by:  
Eau Claire Co. WIGenWeb coordinator  10 December 2002
====================================================================

**Posted for informational purposes only -- Poster is not related to the
subject of this biography and has no further information.

Ira B. Bradford, banker and attorney, Augusta, Eau Claire county, was born 
June 24, 1851, in Fulton, Wis.  The genealogy of this family dates back to 
Gov. Wm. Bradford of Massachusetts, who was a historic character in the 
annals of New England.  The grandfather, Leonard Bradford, was a native of 
New Hampshire, where he was a cooper by trade, and died aged ninety-one years.  
His wife, Betsey Jones, was also born in New Hampshire and lived to be seventy-
eight years of age.  Of their children Hon. Elbridge Bradford received a common-
school education.  He was a carpenter all his life, is a strong Methodist, a 
stanch democrat and positive in all his convictions.  He was elected to the 
legislature from Sullivan county, N. H., and is still living a retired life 
in Augusta, a hardy old man.  September 5, 1848, in Goshen, N. H., he married 
Lovina, daughter of Samuel Burnham, who was a Methodist Episcopal local preacher, 
and came to Wisconsin in an early day and for many years resided at Janesville.  
To Elbridge Bradford and wife four children were born, namely:  Elbridge Jr., 
Ira B., Clinton E. and Elmer M.

Ira B. was educated in the common schools of Washington, N. H., where he also 
attended the Tubbs Union Academy, and afterward the seminary at Tilton, N. H.  
His eyes failing him, he abstained from reading for two years, and was prevented 
from taking a college course.  His struggles were heroic to gain a law education, 
as his parents were able to help him but little.  He began the study of law at 
Edinboro, Pa., in the office of his uncle, Charles Burnham, and completed his 
course in Janesville, Wis., whither he came in February, 1873, and was admitted 
to the bar in the following month.  He then removed to Augusta where he opened 
an office and conducted a law business.  He started the Augusta bank, of which 
he is proprietor, in 1875, but devotes his attention principally to law, and is 
quite successful.  He has been intimately connected with the growth of Augusta, 
and has probably done more hard work to build it up than any dozen men.  Mr. 
Bradford has inherited many of his ancestors' sterling qualities, but in politics 
is a pronounced republican, and takes an active interest in local and state 
politics, being especially posted in state affairs, having a personal knowledge 
of every politician of note in the state.  He was the first mayor of the city of 
Augusta, but has declined all other local offices.  He has found time, however, 
to devote some of his attention to the interests of the public schools, and was 
a member of the board of education for twelve years.

In 1879 the republican party nominated him as a member of the legislature, and 
he was elected in an uncertain district, being the first republican elected 
outside of Eau Claire city, with but thirteen votes cast against him in his own 
town.  He had some 600 majority, which he sustained when re-elected in 1880.  He 
served on the judiciary committee the first year, and the second year was elected 
speaker of the house, in which he was the youngest speaker elected by that body. 
During his last term two United States senators were elected, which gave Mr. 
Bradford an opportunity to show his ability as a speaker, besides enabling him 
to gain a political acquaintance in the state which few men have enjoyed.  He has 
been an active politician ever since, and does a great deal of work in every 
election campaign.  During the last presidential campaign he spent three months 
stumping the state in the interest of his party.  Mr. Bradford married, August 20, 
1872, in Edinboro, Pa., Allie M., daughter of James and Olive Barker, and two 
children have blessed their union, Archie E. and Sadie M., Mr. and Mrs. Bradford 
are active members of the Methodist Episcopal church and interested in everything 
that pertains to the welfare of Augusta. 

--Taken from "Historical and Biographical Album of the Chippewa Valley
Wisconsin" Including A General Historical Sketch of the Chippewa Valley;
Ancestral Records of Leading Families; Biographies of Representative 
Citizens, Past and Present; and Portraits of Prominent Men.  Edited by
George Forrester.  Chicago, Illinois: A. Warner, Publisher.  1891-92
Page 509