Sacramento County
Biographies
PERLEY K. BRADFORD
PERLEY
K. BRADFORD.--A successful rancher, who has been useful to his day and
generation not only through his scientific and eminently practical agricultural
pursuits, but also through his services in the proper discharge of the duties
of public office, is Perley K. Bradford, who has been a supervisor of
Sacramento County, and who resides at the old Bradford homestead off the
Sacramento-Thornton road, about twenty miles south of Sacramento. He was born on the Bradford home-place, near
Bruceville in Sacramento County,
on July 8, 1872, the son of James Bascom and Sarah G. (Kilbourne) Bradford,
worthy pioneer citizens, an extended sketch of whom will be found on another
page in this historical work
In
1850 James B. Bradford crossed the plains of California,
having been preceded by his twin brother, William Barton Bradford, who arrived
in California in 1849. During the fifties he had an extensive
experience in gold-mining, farming and merchandising. He became interested in mines in Placer,
Eldorado and other counties. In the fall
of 1850 he went to Salem, Ore., and
engaged in farming near Salem. Returning to California
in 1851, he resumed mining in Shasta County,
and in the fall of that year he located in Sacramento County. In 1852 he went to Diamond Spring in Eldorado
County, and then engaged in
business in partnership with his brother William B. Bradford. Under the firm name of J. B. and W. B. Bradford,
the two brothers engaged extensively in general mercantile pursuits in
different places in California and Nevada,
having branches in various mining camps.
They had learned the storekeeping business very thoroughly in their
father’s store in Washington, Ind.,
where they grew up and where the father, George Bradford, was a successful
merchant and leading citizen. With the
money they made in their mercantile business, they bought gold-mines, and
although they met with success at mining as well as in store-keeping, they
experienced the usual gold-miner’s luck; at times they were worth nearly a
million, particularly as the owners of the celebrated “Last Chance” gold-mine
in Placer County, which through no fault of their management they finally
lost. The partnership was dissolved in
1859. Seeing the great risks and
uncertainties involved in gold-mining, James B. Bradford resolved never again
to engage in it.
In
1860 James B. Bradford took up a claim of 160 acres from the government, and
during the same year he built a board cabin, which for several years was his
only dwelling-house. It is still
standing upon the place, a most interesting relic of the past. This 160 acres Mr.
J. B. Bradford cultivated until he passed away there, in 1907, at the age of
eighty-one. It still continues to be the
Bradford home-place.
Some years after her husband’s death, Mrs. Bradford died, at the age of
seventy-two. She was highly esteemed,
and truly mourned, as was her husband.
There were only two children in the family, Perley K. and his brother,
George B., both of whom were reared on the Bradford
ranch and attended the Mokelumne school, which was in
their home district. For a number of
years the elder Bradford engaged in general farming, and then became interested
in viticulture, in a small way at first, in the year 1866, setting out fifteen
acres to wine-grapes, which was the first vineyard in his vicinity. He kept
increasing his vineyard until he had 115 acres planted, and became widely known
as the pioneer vineyardist, as well as one of the largest grape-growers in the
county. In 1889 he began the manufacture
of wine in a small way, building a winery, and enlarging his plant from year to
year until it had a capacity of 3,000 tons of grapes and a production of
400,000 gallons of wine annually.
In
1897 he took in his two sons—namely, Perley K. Bradford, the subject of this
review, and the younger brother, George B. Bradford—as partners in the
business, and the firm name became J. B. Bradford & Sons. The two sons entered heartily into the
business, and soon after their father’s death they put in a spur of
switch-track at an outlay of $16,000, which was borne half and half by the
Western Pacific and themselves; and they also made many other important
improvements. The two brothers have
continued farming on the old home-place, and together they have prospered. They continued to make wine up to 1920, upon
a special permit, and only the purest wines were sent out from there. Now 104 of the 160 acres is devoted to all
kinds of wine-grape growing, the ranch being irrigated by two plants until recently
operated by steam, but of late by electricity.
The pumps are respectively six and four inches in size.
The
Bradford brothers have also acquired, since their
father’s death, several extensive parcels of land. They own 840 acres on the lower Cosumnes
River, known as the Brewster ranch, four miles west of Galt, 200 acres of which
is fine bean-land, while the balance is devoted to farming and pasture; 620
acres, known as the French place, on the Cosumnes River; 840 acres at Michigan
Bar; and 4,620 acres on the Bear River, between Auburn and Grass Valley. This last was really some eight ranches
joined together into one by a large syndicate that had intended, when the
purchase was made in 1916, to throw it on the market in subdivisions; but the
World War upset the syndicate’s plans, and the Bradfords
were able to purchase the land at an attractive figure. It is fine fruit-land, and there is a great
deal of river-oak on the place, at least 50,000 cords being a rough estimate;
and the owners intend to cut and sell the wood, which ought alone to more than
pay for the purchase of the land. They
also have three and one-half sections of land in the mountains of Eldorado
County. Instead of using this land themselves, the
Bradfords lease it to the government, and in return
get the lease of the entire “Long Canyon”
on the north fork of the American River,
where they can run 800 head of cattle during the summer months. Mr. Bradford and his brother have
incorporated their properties under the name of the J. B. Bradford Properties,
Incorporated, valued at $750,000, bonding them at $200,000. Perley Bradford is president of the
corporation, while George B. is vice-president and treasurer. Outside of the corporation, Mr. Bradford and
his brother own forty acres of land at Clay Station, said to be prospective oil
land. Besides owning and operating or
leasing out the above-named properties, the Bradfords lease about 2,000 acres
of land northeast of Galt on the Cosumnes River,
1,600 acres near Slough House, twenty miles east of Sacramento. Cattle-raising is now their principal
business. Both the home of Perley K.
Bradford and the home of George B. Bradford were built on the home-farm before
their father’s death, and are most comfortable, ornate country residences. Perley K. Bradford is a stanch Democrat, and
at present is the vice-chairman of the Democratic Central Committee.
A
man of large and important interests, Perley K. Bradford entered upon a public
career, in the following of which he has been of great service to this favored
section of the golden State. In 1912, he
was elected supervisor of the fifth supervisorial district of Sacramento
County, and served from 1912 to 1916.
While supervisor, he was instrumental in getting the concrete road from Thornton
to Franklin through his district, and the improvement has been of the greatest
benefit to thousands of people.
At
the home of his bride, on April 30, 1901, Mr. Bradford was married to Miss Mary
Belle Wood, the daughter of H. T. and Mary Ann Wood, whose interesting
life-story is given elsewhere in this historical work. Three children have blessed their union: Muriel Alice, James Hiram, and John Thomas. Mr. Bradford is a past master of Lodge No.
173, F. & A. M., of Elk Grove, having been raised to the degree of Master Mason
on December 17, 1897; and Mr. and Mrs. Bradford are members of the Eastern Star
of Elk
Grove,
in which Mrs. Bradford is a past matron.
Mr. Bradford also belongs to Lodge No.
6, B. P. O. Elks, of Sacramento, and
to the Eagles of the same city.
Mrs. Bradford has been twice district deputy grand matron of the Eastern
Star. During her first term, ten years
ago, the district extended from Stockton to Modesto;
while under her present tenure of office the district runs from Sacramento
to Placerville, in Eldorado
County, a wonderful growth and
expansion indeed. Mr. Bradford is a member of the Native Sons of the Golden
West, at Elk Grove, and is president of the Native Sons Building Association,
which has been incorporated for $50,000, and organized to build the new home of
the Native Sons in Elk Grove. Mr.
Bradford was a prime mover in this project, and was actively instrumental in
securing funds to start the building.
Mrs. Bradford is a member of the Native Daughters, Elk Grove
Parlor. At the present time she is
holding the exalted position of grand trustee of the grand parlor of the native
Daughters of the Golden West, and is discharging the duties pertaining to her
trust in a manner reflecting credit on California’s
native daughters, of whom she is a true type.
Sacramento may well be proud of Mr. Bradford and
his gifted wife, as well as of his brother and the splendid record of the
Bradford family as a whole, which has always stood for the laying of a broad,
deep foundation for the permanent development of the great California
commonwealth.
Transcribed by Barbara Gaffney.
Source: Reed, G. Walter, History of Sacramento County, California With Biographical Sketches,
Pages 352-357. Historic Record Company, Los
Angeles, CA. 1923.
© 2007 Barbara Gaffney.