Biographies
HENRY JOHN
BRADLEY
HENRY JOHN
BRADLEY—A time-honored name in the history of
Sacramento County is that so worthily represented by Henry John Bradley, of the
firm of W. H. Bradley & Sons. He was born at Sunderland, near the mouth of
the River Wear, England, on October 3, 1880, the son of William H. and
Elizabeth Maria (Cormack) Bradley. W. H. Bradley came
out to America in 1883 and located at Carbondale, Amador County, and was joined
by his family in 1884, meeting them in Sacramento upon their arrival here. In
1886 the family removed to Sacramento, and here Mr. Bradley engaged in selling
hay and grain, also dealing in insurance. He also served two years, from April
1, 1892, to April 1, 1894, as captain of police of this city, and was noted as
a very efficient officer. He had purchased the Gurney Cab Company and had his
office and stable where the Ochsner Building now
stands, near the corner of Seventh and K Streets. When the Ochsner
Building was erected he moved his stable to his home place at 2320 H Street,
where he maintained it until June 1, 1903, when he bought the property at 1015
Eleventh Street and here continued his livery and hack business. This building
was an old livery stable, erected by J. D. Lockhardt
in 1889, and is one of the old landmarks still to be seen in Sacramento. In
1906 William H. Bradley engaged in the auto-livery business, thus founding the
oldest garage in the city, and becoming a pioneer of the auto-livery business
in Sacramento. Mr. Bradley who was a member of the Sons of St. George, having rounded out a useful and eventful career, in which he had
done much to develop the county, died on August 3, 1920; while Mrs. Bradley
breathed her last on June 5, 1921. In December 1916, the two sons, Henry John
and Allan C. Bradley, took over the business, and now conduct a general
garage-livery.
Henry J. Bradley
was able to attend the schools of Sacramento, having come here when he was
three and one-half years of age, and when sixteen he took up railroad work, as
fireman with the Southern Pacific. He was married on December 13, 1904, to Miss
Grace V. Bagwill, a native of Sacramento, whose parents
settled here in 1876. In national politics he is a Republican, but he is too
broad-minded and patriotic to allow a narrow partisanship to interfere in any
way with his hearty support of the best man and the best measures for the city
and county in which he lives, and where he and his firm have so prospered. Mr.
Bradley is fond of hunting and fishing.
Transcribed by Gloria Wiegner
Lane.
Source: Reed, G.
Walter, History of Sacramento County,
California With Biographical Sketches, Page
441. Historic Record Company,
© 2007 Gloria
Wiegner Lane.