William J. Bradford family photograph album

William James Bradford was born in Bristol, RI, on December 19, 1840 to Peter James Bradford and Lucretia Smith Bradford née Coit (also known as Elizabeth). Three years later his sister, Mary Elizabeth Bradford, was born. In 1873, William married Mary Elizabeth Goodrich and together they had one son, also named William. The Bradfords were a very prominent family in Rhode Island, especially in Bristol. The family lineage can be traced to Governor William Bradford (1590-1657), who served as the head of the Plymouth Colony for 30 years. Dr. William Bradford (1729-1808) settled in Bristol in 1761 and purchased a home that became known as Mount Hope Farm in 1783. Dr. Bradford was a member of the Colonial Assembly, Deputy Governor of Rhode Island, and after the formation of the United States government, he was elected to the US Senate in 1793. Capt. William Bradford (1781-1851), one of many Bradford mariners, was a wealthy sea captain and merchant in the early 1800s who also resided in Bristol, R.I.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, William J. Bradford enlisted in the Union Army on June 6, 1861. He served in the Rhode Island 2nd Infantry, G Company which was recruited out of Bristol. During his service, he was promoted from Corporal to Adjutant. In 1863, he resigned as Adjutant and was assigned to Company E. In November of 1863, he was appointed aide-de-camp (ADC) to distinguished General Frank Wheaton (1833-1903), older brother of William Levi Wheaton. Bradford served in this role until May of 1864, after which he spent his final month of service as Acting Adjutant of his regiment. He was mustered out on June 17, 1864.

After the war, Bradford returned to Providence, RI. For many years he was employed in the office of the collector of internal revenue for the district. He left this position after the consolidation of the districts of Rhode Island and Connecticut. In October of 1888, he returned to the East Bay of RI to reside and took over the store kept by his father, Peter, at 170 Hope Street in Bristol. William continued in the grocery and hardware business until his death on August 7th, 1899, one week removed from a difficult surgery to extract a cancerous growth. William J. Bradford served as the Bristol town moderator and auditor, and was well-known in the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), Department of Rhode Island, as well as the Freemasons and the Royal Arcanum fraternal benefit society.

William Levi Wheaton was born in Connecticut in 1838 to Dr. Francis Levison Wheaton and Amelia S. Wheaton née Burrill. The family’s time in Connecticut was brief and they returned to Providence while William was still quite young. William’s grandfather on his mother’s side was Col. George Rawson Burrill (1770–1818) and his great-uncle was Senator James Burrill (1772–1820). His father Dr. Wheaton graduated from Brown University in 1838 and served as a surgeon in the Mexican-American War and the American Civil War. Dr. Wheaton went on to become surgeon general of Rhode Island. William was also the younger brother by five years of General Frank Wheaton (1833-1903), under whom William J. Bradford served as ADC during the Civil War. On December 1, 1863, William L. Wheaton married Mary Elizabeth Bradford, sister of William J. Bradford. Together they had two children, one of whom died in infancy.

William Wheaton also enlisted and was mustered into Company G of the Rhode Island 2nd Infantry on June 6, 1861. Originally Wheaton served as a Private for Company G, before being detailed for medical duty as a hospital attendant. Later that same year he was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant. He was then assigned to Company F. The following year, in 1862, Wheaton was appointed to 1st Lieutenant and transferred again, this time to Company K. From June of 1862 until May of 1864, Wheaton was on detached service on the staff of General Palmer. He was mustered out on the same day as his brother-in-law, June 17, 1864.

This collection also contains images of three Black individuals: an elderly woman named Aunt Hannah, a young woman named Betty, and an unknown young man. Currently there exists no biographical information for these individuals. Aunt Hannah and Betty are pictured separately each holding a white baby named May, and so may have been nursemaids, or wet nurses, during their servitude. The Bradford family includes generations of slavers who amassed extensive wealth from the triangular trade, as well as from Caribbean plantations, some of whom are also known to have kept enslaved peoples in Bristol, RI. A man listed as Peg Bradford spent his life in bondage and died in 1794 while still a servant of Dr. William Bradford (1729-1808), Deputy Governor of RI and US Senator. Dr. Bradford’s son, Ezekiel Hersey Bradford (1772-1849), is known to have had a young man of mixed race, named John, bound to him as an apprentice in 1807. A Black boy called Moses Mingo was bound for at least seventeen years, beginning in 1800, to Hon. Daniel Bradford Jr. (1778-1821), formerly Chief Justice for the Court of Common Pleas for the County, a member of the General Assembly, and a member of the Bristol Town Council. While research shows Dr. Francis L. Wheaton’s family kept domestic servants of both Black and Irish descent in Providence, RI, during the period documented in this collection, the full nature of these relationships has not been determined and the names listed in census records do not match those of the individuals pictured here.

1. “Bradford, Peg servant of Gov. William” died May 27, 1794. Elder Wight’s Death Records, Arnold’s Vital Records, Vol. 8, p. 361 2. A mulatto boy named John [surname left blank], grandson to Naomi Ichabod, was bound as an apprentice to Hersey Bradford." Nov. 2, 1807, Bristol Town Council and Probate Book 2, 1760-1811, p. 684-85. 3. "The council ordered that the black boy at Capt. Bradford’s called Moses Mingo be bound to Daniel Bradford, Jr., for seventeen years from the [number left blank] day of February last." March 3, 1800, Bristol Town Council and Probate Book 2, 1760-1811, p. 504-5.