Harry Clinton Bradford (1868 - 1950)

Born 1868 in Mississippi, United States

Descendants

Died 1950 at about age 82 in Brownsville, Cameron, Texas, United States

Biography

Harry Clinton Bradford

Birth: 1868 Mississippi, USA

Death: 1950 Brownsville, Cameron County, Texas, USA

Parents:

James W. Bradford

Spouse:

Georgia Turner m. 23 Nov 1865, Lowndes, Mississippi

H. C. Bradford Of El Reno Dies In Texas Home

Harry C Bradford, 81, El _Reno_, the man who probably was responsible for Oklahoma's being one state instead of two, died Monday in Brownsville, Texas, _where he always spent the winter.

He was a member of a delegation that went to Washington in 1906 to try to promote single statehood.

The leader of the Democrats, who were holding out for two states, was John William Sharp of Mississippi. When Bradford was introduced to him, Williams asked, "Are you any relation to my old friend Watt Bradford, of Pine Bluff, Ark.?"

"I'm his oldest son," Bradford replied.

Williams and Bradford then discussed old times in Arkansas, and later got around to the political situation. Bradford said he thought the state would be Democratic.

Williams assured Bradford that his convictions settled the problem and Oklahoma became a single state instead of states of Oklahoma and Jefferson.

Bradford was born in Mississippi because his mother wanted her baby to be born there, even though she lived in Pine Bluff, Ark.

His Father and Williams served together in the Confederate army, and the senior Bradford's personal slave, "Uncle Miles," waited on the pair.

Bradford opened a grain elevator in Weatherford when the railroad reached there. Then he went to Clinton, buying grain and selling coal and ice.

He ran a bank at Anadarko, then contributed to an Opera House in El Reno and went into the ice business there.

He finally came to Oklahoma City as manager of the Oklahoma City Mill & Elevator Co. He later returned to El Reno, where he continued in business before retiring.

Family links: Spouse: Donnie N. Modrall Bradford (____ - 1962)*

Children:

Burial

El Reno Cemetery, El Reno, Canadian County, Oklahoma, USA

Plot: Lot 1, Block 18, First Addition; Vault Mausoleum, Vault A

Find A Grave: Memorial #126053208

Sources