Gamaliel Bradford (biographer)

Gamaliel Bradford VI (October 9, 1863 – April 11, 1932)[1] was an American biographer, critic, poet, and dramatist. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, the sixth of seven men called Gamaliel Bradford in unbroken succession, of whom the first, Gamaliel Bradford, was a great-grandson of Governor William Bradford of the Plymouth Colony. His grandfather, Dr. Gamaliel Bradford of Boston, was a noted abolitionist.[2]

Gamaliel Bradford VI
Born(1863-10-09)October 9, 1863
DiedApril 11, 1932(1932-04-11) (aged 68)
NationalityUnited States American
Occupationbiographer
SpouseHelen Hubbard Ford
Children2
Signature

Early life

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In 1886, Bradford married Helen Hubbard Ford. The couple would go on to have two children: Gamaliel Bradford VII (18 June 1888–8 August 1910), a Harvard graduate and Boston banker for Norman Wait Harris who died at 22 from suicide at the Kendall Hotel in Cambridge, Massachusetts, shooting himself after a young woman who was engaged refused to marry him instead;[3] and Sarah Rice Bradford (1 July 1892–September 1972).[4]

Bradford attended Harvard University briefly with the class of 1886, then continued his education with a private tutor, but is said to have been educated "mainly by ill-health and a vagrant imagination."[5] As an adult, Bradford lived in Wellesley, Massachusetts.

The building and student newspaper[6] for the Wellesley High School (where Sylvia Plath received her secondary school education[7]) were named after Gamaliel Bradford. The town changed the name of the building to Wellesley High School, but the newspaper maintains Bradford's name.

Career

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In his day Bradford was regarded as the "Dean of American Biographers."[8] He is acknowledged as the American pioneer of the psychographic form of written biographies, after the style developed by Lytton Strachey.[9] Despite suffering poor health during most of his life, Bradford wrote 114 biographies over a period of 20 years.

 
c. 1925

He was friends with fellow Harvard University graduate and poet, George Faunce Whitcomb, as he inscribed the book, Jewels of Romance with the words: "To Gamaliel Bradford with deepest gratitude, George Faunce Whitcomb, Easter 1930, Brookline, Massachusetts".[10]

Death

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Bradford died on April 11, 1932, in Wellesley, Massachusetts.[11]

Bibliography

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Articles

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References

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  1. ^ "Gamaliel Bradford" Encyclopædia Britannica: History & Society:
  2. ^ Mathews, James W. (1991). "Dr. Gamaliel Bradford (1795-1839), Early Abolitionist" (PDF). Historical Journal of Massachusetts. 19 (1). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 19, 2017. Retrieved September 20, 2017.
  3. ^ "YOUNG BRADFORD A SUICIDE.; Gamaliel, 3d, Shoots Himself In Hotel -- Young Woman Refused to Wed Him". The New York Times. August 9, 1910. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
  4. ^ Bradford, Gamaliel VI. "Gamaliel Bradford VI Papers" (PDF). The Wellesley Historical Society. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
  5. ^ Braithwaite, William Stanley, ed.. Anthology of Magazine Verse for 1919: and Year Book of American Poetry. Small, Maynard & Company. 1919. p.301.
  6. ^ The Bradford Archived October 12, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ Alexander, Paul. Rough Magic: A Biography of Sylvia Plath.
  8. ^ "Bradford, Gamaliel". (2009). In Student Encyclopædia. Retrieved November 24, 2009, from Britannica Online for Kids. [1]
  9. ^ Colby, Frank Moore; Sandeman, George. Nelson's Encyclopaedia. p. 341.
  10. ^ Whitcomb, George Faunce (1922). Jewels of Romance. Boston: The G. R. Willis & Co., Inc. p. 3.
  11. ^ "Gamaliel Bradford Dies in Wellesley". The Boston Globe. Wellesley (published April 12, 1932). April 11, 1932. p. 17. Retrieved March 27, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
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