Laban Johnson Bradford (1815 - 1891)

Born 26 Jun 1815 in Bracken, Kentucky

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 11 Sep 1891 at age 76 in Covington Kenton County Kentucky, USA

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Biography

• http://www.maysville-online.com/lifestyles/augusta-s-laban-bradford-and-his-role-in-creating-uk/article_ea23a88a-90e4-5962-8289-9976d2387eae.html

The University of Kentucky celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2015 and an Augusta man participated in the discussions that led to the Feb. 22, 1865 founding of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of the Kentucky University in Lexington.

Laban Johnson Bradford, known as "Colonel" (1815-1891) was an agriculturalist and promoter of education. He was born in Augusta on June 26, 1815, the son of William and Elizabeth Johnson Bradford. His father was the sheriff of Bracken County, owned 1,900 acres and 11 slaves after he settled in Kentucky in 1791. His brothers were Dr. Joshua Taylor Bradford the noted ovarian surgeon and Dr. Jonathan J. Bradford.

He served in the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1855.

At some point around 1857, Laban took note of a mutated tobacco plant on his farm that was seemed superior to the common red burley. He gave the seeds to a Brown County, Ohio tobacco grower and in a few years the experiment to grow the new strain of tobacco was successful and over the next 10 years the new white burley tobacco variety became an economic boon to the region.

Laban Bradford's role in the founding of what is now the University of Kentucky is recorded in the Encyclopedia of Northern Kentucky, from which this information was taken.

He was president of the Kentucky State Agricultural Society in 1862-1863, when discussions began on establishing the A&M college.

From the beginning of the college, Laban served as president of the Board of Visitors. When he was elected president of the National Tobacco Convention, he appealed to the U.S. Revenue Commission not to tax leaf tobacco, and he succeeded in getting existing laws modified. He served as a delegate to the U.S. Fair at Philadelphia and represented the National Tobacco Convention at the Universal Exposition at Paris, France in 1866.

Laban moved to Covington in 1874 and worked with A&M President James K. Patterson to ensure the success of the college. In 1878 the A&M College became Kentucky State College and Bradford served as a member of its board of trustees from then on.

He died in 1891 at his home in Covington, leaving behind his widow, Jane Marie and three children. He was preceded in death by his only son, Alexander Jewell Bradford, who died of a ruptured appendix while campaigning for state representative in 1887.

Sources

• United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M65B-ZQS : 9 November 2014), Laben J Bradford, Bracken county, part of, Bracken, Kentucky, United States; citing family 1000, NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

• United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZB9-NTK : 30 December 2015), Laban J Bradford, 1860.

• Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVK2-XBCN : 13 December 2015), Laban Johnson Bradford, 1915; Burial, Lenoxburg, Bracken, Kentucky, United States of America, Lenoxburg Cemetery; citing record ID 47560983, Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com.

• http://genealogynorthernkentuckycom.blogspot.com/2013/06/laban-j-bradford-and-william-bradford.html

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Caroline Cohoe for creating WikiTree profile Bradford-1179 through the import of cohoe only_2013-04-15.ged on Apr 15, 2013.

Click to the Changes page for the details of edits by Caroline and others.