Charles D. Bradley, BiographyPorter County biographical sketches . . . .
Transcribed biography of Charles D. Bradley
CHARLES D. BRADLEY. The Bradley family has for many years been prominently connected with the more important elements constituting the life of the community in this section of the state and still occupies a position that places its present representatives among the leaders in social and commercial activities. Charles D. Bradley, a well known citizen of Chesterton, Indiana, is a native of Liberty township, Porter county, where he was born March 26, 1858. His father was James S. Bradley, an Ohioan by birth, and his grandfather also bore the same name. His mother, who likewise was a native of Ohio, was Elizabeth M. Jones, daughter of Jonathan and Lydia (Phares) Jones. The elder Bradleys were married in Porter county, Indiana, and lived in that section throughout the remainder of their lives. Six children were born to them but only a portion of that family is now living. One of the daughters, Martha E., is the wife of Henri Ribble, and another, Levantia L., is married to J. G. Johnson. The father was a veteran of the Civil war, his company being in the Twelfth Cavalry Regiment of Indiana Volunteers, in which he served for three years. At the time of his death he was a member of A. B. Wade Post, No. 208, Grand Army of the Republic.
Charles D. Bradley spent the first twenty years of his life on the farm. He was of a mechanical turn of mind, however, and decided that his choice of occupation would embrace one of the mechanical trades. He first learned carpentering and later widened his sphere by undertaking contracting for the erection of buildings. He met with fine success in this line of work and filled contracts for the erection of a number of buildings in Chesterton and also put up several structures in the city of Chicago.
Mr. Bradley married Minnie D. Dettman, of Liberty township, who was born in Chicago in 1861. Six children were born of this union. James H. completed a correspondence course in electrical and steam engineering in the Scranton, Pennsylvania, Correspondence School and is now located in Wilson, Kansas; William A. is manager of the business conducted by him and his father at Chesterton; Charles F. is superintendent of a machine shop at Quincy, Illinois; Robert L. also resides at Quincy, Illinois; and the two daughters, Florence and Vera, are engaged in the millinery business in Chesterton.
William A. Bradley, the second son, displays considerable inventive talent and one of his inventions, a folding chair, proved to be of such value that they are now being manufactured in the Chesterton factory and have been for the past two years. In 1907 the Bradleys, father and son, merged their manufacturing business into a plant to include facilities for remodeling and repairing automobiles, and this line of work now constitutes a large feature of their business.
Charles D. Bradley is personally a man of strict integrity and high moral principles, is of liberal and progressive instincts and the weight of his influence is always felt on the side that means growth and development in all affairs that affect the welfare of the community in which he lives.
Source: Lewis Publishing Company. 1912. History of Porter County, Indiana: A Narrative Account of its Historical Progress, its People and its Principal Interests. Chicago, Illinois: Lewis Publishing Company. 881 p.
Page(s) in Source: 852-853
This biography has been transcribed exactly as it was originally published in the source. Please note that we do not provide photocopies or digital scans of biographies appearing on this website.
Biography transcribed by Steven R. Shook