Santa
Clara County
Biographies
HECTOR
R. BRADFORD
H. R. BRADFORD. When the bleak shores of Massachusetts
offered a cheerless welcome to the Puritans that winter day memorable in
American history the Bradford family was represented among those heroic voyageurs, and no name in colonial history is more
distinguished than that of Governor Bradford of Massachusetts. England had been the former home of the
family, and the traits characteristic of that race came the inheritance of
American descendants, who through successive generations have displayed vigor
of intellect and sagacity of judgment.
From New England the family crossed the border into Canada and settled
at St. Andrews, New Brunswick, where both H. R. and his father,
F. W., were born and spent their childhood days. The latter, in addition to engaging in
mercantile pursuits, carried on a shipping business, owning vessels in the
trans-Atlantic trade and the East Indies as well. For some years he served as preventive
officer in the Canadian customs department for St. Andrews. After a busy career in his home land, in
1876, he removed to California and settled in Eureka, Humboldt county, where he bought and sold lands. Coming to San Jose in 1884, he acquired large
orchards in this vicinity and still makes this city his home, though now
leading a retired life. Reared in the
Episcopal faith, he has made that church his lifelong religious home and has
been a generous contributor to its maintenance.
By his marriage to Catherine McKenzie, who was born in New Brunswick
and died at San Jose in 1902, he became allied with the celebrated old Scotch
family of McKenzies.
They were the parents of a daughter and three sons. One of the sons, G. F. Bradford,
who acted as assistant superintendent of the Redington
quicksilver mine in Napa county and also owned interests in the Treadwell and
Bradford quicksilver mine in Lake county, died in San Francisco. Another brother, B. M., is a prominent
railroad and mining man resident in San Francisco.
The eldest of the sons, H. R. Bradford,
was born February 22, 1867, and was nine years of age when the family made
the journey from their far eastern home to the Pacific coast region, settling
at Eureka, where later he attended the grammar and high school. After the family removed to San Jose in 1884
he started out to earn his own livelihood, and the twenty or more years that
have since elapsed prove how judiciously he has managed his interests. In Lake county he
was employed to build the furnace buildings and condensers for the Treadwell
and Bradford quicksilver mines. On his
return to San Jose he began prospecting for quicksilver in Santa Clara and San
Benito counties, and in the latter opened the Bradford quicksilver mine, which
was incorporated with himself as president and manager. His interests were enlarged by the opening of
a mine, where he built and operated a furnace, the business being conducted
under the title of the Cerro Bonito Quicksilver Mining Company, Incorporated,
with Mr. Bradford as president. In
addition he opened up a mine twelve miles from San Jose, in Santa Clara county, which has proved to be one of the finest properties
of the kind in the entire country.
Substantial improvements have been introduced to promote its operation,
including the erections of a furnace and condensers. The mine is operated by the Silver Creek
Quicksilver Mining Company, of which he is the president and which is already
bringing large dividends to its stockholders.
The securing of the property is due to Mr. Bradford’s prompt
acquisition of the property by purchase after he had discovered the ledge and
ascertained the presence of quicksilver.
The company’s holdings in that locality embrace about two thousand
acres.
A fourth mine also engages
Mr. Bradford’s attention, but this one, instead of possessing value for
quicksilver, is rich in gold quartz. The
mine is located in Sierra county and is owned by the
Continental Gold Mining Company, of which he is president. As a stockholder he has an interest in the
Tesla Coal Mining Company, of which his brother is secretary and which operates
a coal mine and railroad in Alameda county. The company engages in the manufacture of
glass, terra cotta and manganese of iron, and owns the largest pottery on the
Pacific coast. At Mr. Bradford’s
office, No. 7 Market street, San Jose, the visitor finds an
interesting collection of ore, in a study of which, though not himself a
scientist or an expert in metallurgy, he can find much that is instructive and
helpful.
As a citizen Mr. Bradford has been
a contributor to movements for the benefit of his home city, has aided in
commercial enterprises of value, and in politics has always given his
allegiance to the Republican party. His marriage, which occurred in San
Francisco, united him with Miss Millie T. Dickinson, who was born,
reared and educated in Atchison, Kans., and by their union a daughter was born,
named Marie. In his specialty, that of
promoter and developer of mines, few men on the coast have attained a success
or influence superior to that enjoyed by Mr. Bradford, whose striking
success in advancing the financial interests of the stockholders in his
companies has won for him the confidence of the people to a degree seldom
surpassed. Possessing a remarkable
insight and sagacity of judgment, a brief survey of a property convinces him of
its qualities and enables him to decide promptly whether the mine can be worked
at a profit. Now in the prime of life,
with many years of activity before him, one may safely predict for him an
increased influence in his chosen pursuits and the prestige which accompanies
success.
Transcribed by Donna Toole.
Source: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 396-397. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2015 Donna Toole.