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Archiver > RIGENWEB > 2001-11 > 1006634267


From: Beth Hurd <>
Subject: [RIGENWEB] George L. BRADLEY (part 4)
Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2001 12:37:47 -0800


continued from part 3.

"On his return, in Boston he met Professor Alexander Graham Bell, then a
teacher of a new system of communication for deaf mutes, who subsequently
went to Salem, Mass., and, while giving instructions there, devoted
considerable time to the study and development of the telephone. Professor
Bell later came to Providence, where he met Norman N. Mason, who was then in
the apothecary business, and they with others placed the telephone on a
practical working basis. Mr. Bradley, deeply interested in the project, and
keenly alive to its possibilities, was induced to introduce the invention in
Boston, where in 1876 he organized the New England Telephone Company. In
the following year he organised the National Telephone Company in New York
City. In the meantime the Western Union Telegraph Company had acquired the
Edison patents for the telephone, and there was a contract between the two
companies for the monopoly of the system. This contract between the two
companies resulted in a compromise which gave the Bell Company an undisputed
field. Its stock had gradually increased in value from one to fifty dollars
per share, and eventually rose to eight hundred dollars per share. Through
his holdings in the company, Mr. Bradley realized a goodly profit. His name
ranks among the foremost in the history of the telephone, and he probably
did more to make it a business success than any other man in the country.
He saw from the outset the great financial possibilities in what others of
recognized foresight had regarded as a mere mechanical toy, and became one
of the original investigators and promoters of the invention which has
played so important a part in human progress in the past three decades. In
his researches he was associated with Professor John Pierce and Professor
Blake, of Brown University, and, encouraged in the undertaking by the late
Hon. Rowland G. Hazard, of Peace Dale, who was confident that the telephone
would be as univerally used as gas and water.

After establishing the telephone on a financial basis, in 1883 Mr. Bradley
settled in Washington, D. C., and became actively interested in the
Mergenthaler Linotype Company, which had been a business failure for more
than six years. With the assistance of the late Hon. William C. Whitney,
who was secretary of the United States Navy in President Cleveland's
cabinet, Mr. Bradley put the latter company in such a sound financial
condition that its stock was greatly enhanced in value.

Mr. Bradley later became interested in the Florida Coast Line Canal and
Transportation Company, investing heavily in its stock. The company was
organized for the purose of constructing an island waterway five hundred and
sixty miles in length along the eastern coast of Florida. Mr. Bradley gave
this enterprise not only great financial aid, but in addition took an active
ineterest in the management of the corporation, and for several years served
as its president. In order to form a continuous navigable inland waterway,
it was necessary not only to construct canals through the divides separating
natural waters, but to remove shoals from the channels of these waters, and
in places cut through sharp bends and increase the width of a number of
tortuous salt-water creeks which form a portion of the route selected by the
company. The canal is operated under a State charter and has the right of
eminent domain, and privilege of charging tolls on all canals constructed
and channels improved, the tolls to be fixed by the president and directors
of the company, and to be approved by the board of trustees of the internal
improvement fund of the State of Florida. In addition to the rights
acquired by the canal company under the above law the State Legislature, by
special act granted to the company a land subsidy of 3,840 acres per mile
for the purpose of enabling those interested in the project to obtain the
necessary capital for the construction of the canals and improvements along
the natural waterways. This policy on the part of the State resulted in the
Canal Company becoming such a considerable owner of land on the east coast
of Florida that when an opportunity came to secure the construction of a
railroad along the coast of Biscayne Bay, the Canal Company decided to grant
a land subsidy of about 270,000 acres of land to the railway company, which
resulted in the construction of one of the best railroads in the south. It
soon became apparent that the directors of the Canal Company had made no
mistake in subsidizing the railroad, as the construction of this railroad
not only transformed the eastern section of Florida from a wilderness into
the greatest winter resort in the United States, but, in addition, gave
great impetus to the development of the agricultural resources of that
country by giving rapid transportation to the growers of delicate fruits and
vegetables, which enabled them to place the products of their plantations in
the northern and western markets in good condition. The vast improvements
of the Canal Company, too, had drained large bodies of rich marsh land,
which, when the water was lowered, were ready for the plow, and resulted in
new agricultural enterprises, as well as the building of new towns and
villages on both sides of the waterway from practically its entire length.
A line of passenger and freight steamers was placed in commission and
operated between Titusville and Jupiter, one hundred and thirty miles to the
south, another important factor in the opening up of this country. Until
the year 1892 the inside waters of the Florida coast were supposed to be
controlled by the State, and the canal company, under its charter, improved
the channels of the Indian river where necessary. In the latter year,
however, through the efforts of the late Senator Matthew S. Quay, of
Pennsylvania, an appropriation was made by Congress to be expended in still
further improving the river and in enlarging the canals owned by the land
company. The question of jurisdiction being raised, the United States
Attorney General gave the opinion that the appropriation should not be
expended until the Florida Coast Line Canal and Transportation Company
waived its rights to charge tolls on the channels improved by the company
between Titusville and Jupiter. After some negitiations an agreement was
made which provided that no tolls should be collected on that section of the
waterway, and the money appropriated was then spent on the channel, and
subsequently additional appropriations were made for the same purpose. The
remainder of the waterway, however, is still controlled by the canal
company. In the launching of this colossal enterprise, in the financing of
it, and in the subsequent work of placing it on a firm business basis, Mr.
Bradley was one of the leaders. To his consummate genius as a business
organizer, executive and financier, a great part of the success of the
Florida Coast Line Canal and Transportation Company is due. As one of the
founders of this company he had no small part in the influential place it
holds in the growth and development of the interest of eastern Florida. In
the difficulties which beset the establishment of so phenomenal an
enterprise, he was ever the wise counselor, the keen, sagacious, foresighted
man of business, and his own belief in the future greatness of the gigantic
scheme infused into all engaged in it the courage which carried it through
to completion.

Mr. Bradley possessed the calm, judical type of mentality, was essentially
an individualist and an original thinker. Although an idealist, he was
endowed with a genius for the practical which made him a farsighted but
dependable leader a man whose vision might be relied upon, for it was
tempered always with a regard for the practical. The broad understanding
and tolerance for the cosmopolite, the culture which comes with wide travel,
constant association with men of influence in the world of finance, business
and the professions, was his in a marked degree. He was a linguist of no
mean ability, a fine conversationalist, a forceful and compelling speaker.
He was deeply interested in literature and the arts, and his home was the
center of a thoughtful and brilliant society. He was essentially a
diplomat, a man of affairs, of large visions. Nothing of a mean nature
entered into his life; he was above the petty disagreements. Mr. Bradley
was a lover of nature and outdoor life, and took an especial pride in his
estate, comprising over eight hundred acres of land, in Pomfret, Conn., an
ideal spot, commanding a magnificent view of the surrounding country. He
was one of the founders of the Pomfret School for Boys, and maintained a
deep interest in it until the time of his death, serving as a member of the
board of trustees.

Mr. Bradley was prominent in social and club circles in New York and
Washington, D. C. He was a member of the Metropolitan, Cosmos, Elite, Chevy
Chase, and Country clubs of Washington; of the Reform and the Players' clubs
of New York City; and also of the National Geographical and various other
societies. He was a man's man, generous, chivalrous and upright in every
detail of his life, surrounding himself with none of the barriers which men
who have attained the place of distinction which was his are apt to erect
about themselves. In consequence, he was not only honored and respected but
loved by a vast number of friends and acquaintances.

On June 12, 1878, Mr. Bradley married Helen McHenry Chambers, daughter of
Dr. John Mason Duncan Chambers, a prominent physician of Virginia, and his
wife, Emma Pendleton Ward. Mrs. Bradley, who survives her husband and
resides on the Bradley estate in Pomfret, Conn., is a descendant from some
of the earliest Virginia families. She is well known in social circles in
Rhode Island and Washington, D. C. Mr. and Mrs. Bradley were the parents of
a daughter, Emma Pendelton Bradley.

George Lothrop Bradley died at his home in Washington, D. C., on March 26,
1906, in the sixtieth year of his age. By the terms of his will, the
Bradley estate in Providence, R. I., containing twelve acres of land, became
the Emma Pendleton Bradley Home for Convalescents and Invalids, in memory of
his only daughter, Emma Pendelton Bradley."

from the RI Historical Cemeteries Database Index:
BRADLEY, CHARLES SMITH 1819 - 29 APR 1888 PV003
BRADLEY, SARAH (MANTON*) 1818 - 12 DEC 1854 PV003
BRADLEY, CHARLOTTE AUGUS (SAUNDERS*) 1828 - 5 MAY 1864 PV003
BRADLEY, EMMA P. CHAMBER 1828 - 28 FEB 1875 PV003

BRADLEY, GEORGE LOTHROP 1846 - 26 MAR 1906 PV003
BRADLEY, HELEN MCHENRY (CHAMBERS*) 1856 - 10 JAN 1919 PV003
BRADLEY, EMMA PENDLETON 1879 - 26 NOV 1907 PV003

BRADLEY, CHARLES 1845 - 9 NOV 1898 PV003
BRADLEY, JANE WHITMAN (BAILEY*) 1849 - 12 OCT 1937 PV003

BRADLEY, CHARLES 1877 - 17 JAN 1910 PV003
BRADLEY, HELEN NANCY 1877 - 21 SEP 1966 PV003

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Hurd
Johnston, RI USA

http://www.the-hurds.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


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