William O’Connell Bradley

William O'Connell Bradley

William O’Connell Bradley was a politician from the US state of Kentucky. He served as the 32nd Governor of Kentucky and was later elected by the state legislature as a U.S. senator from that state. He became known as the father of the Republican Party in Kentucky.

About William O’Connell Bradley in brief

Summary William O'Connell BradleyWilliam O’Connell Bradley was a politician from the US state of Kentucky. He served as the 32nd Governor of Kentucky and was later elected by the state legislature as a U.S. senator from that state. He became known as the father of the Republican Party in Kentucky. Bradley was born near Lancaster in Garrard County, Kentucky, on March 18, 1847. He twice dropped out of school and ran away to join the Union Army, first serving as a recruiting officer in Somerset, then enlisting as a private soldier in Louisville. Despite having no college education, Bradley passed the exam and was licensed in 1865, joining his father’s firm in Lancaster. On July 13, 1867, Bradley married Margaret Robertson, and subsequently converted from Presbyterianism to Presbyterianism. The couple had six daughters, five of whom survived infancy, and one other son, who died as an infant. Bradley’s sister, Catherine Virginia Morrow, married Judge Thomas Z. Morrow, who made an unsuccessful run for the governorship of Kentucky in 1883; their son, Edwin P. Morrow was elected the 40th governor of Kentucky in 1917. He died from his injuries in a streetcar accident on May 23, 1914. He was the youngest child of Robert McAfee and Nancy Ellen Bradley, and his father was one of Kentucky’s leading criminal defense lawyers. In 1861, Bradley became a page in the Kentucky House of Representatives. In 1872, his party honored him with a nomination to serve in the U. S. Senate, even though he was too young to qualify for office.

He received more votes than any Republican candidate ever had ever had in the Senate. He later received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Kentucky University. In 1875, he was elected to a seat in the heavily Democratic Eighth District of the US House of Reps. The following year, he lost to a Republican in the Eighth District, Milton J. Durham, by 3,000 votes. His term was marked by political struggles and violence. His wife, Margaret Robertson Bradley, later converted from Baptistism to South Carolina Presbyterianism, and had two children, George Duncan Bradley and Christine Bradley. In 1870, Bradley’s two children converted from South Carolina Baptism to Southern Baptism. In 1880, Bradley was elected a prosecuting attorney of Garrard county. He went on to become the first Republican to serve as Kentucky’s attorney general. In 1895, he defeated Parker Watkins Hardin in the general election. In 1897, he became the first Kentucky Republican to be elected to the United States Senate. In 1907, he served as a member of the state’s minority party, the Democratic Party. In 1912, he won a seat for the United S. House of Representatives, but was defeated by a Republican, Milton Durham. In 1914, he received the vote of every Republican in Kentucky’s state legislature, but he was the only one who had ever been elected to office. In 1916, he received the votes of every Republican in the State Legislation.