BRADLEY, Frank P., late United States marshal for the Southern District of Iowa, is a resident of Council Bluffs. He is of New England ancestry on both sides of the house, and his mother belonged to a family whose name has been immortalized by two of her sons, the Hallecks. She was Julia A. Halleck, a daughter of I. P. Halleck, who came from New York early in the thirties and located in Kendall county, Illinois, and who in 1855 removed to Audubon county, Iowa. Her father was a cousin of Fitz-Greene Halleck and was related to General Halleck, who distinguished himself of the war of the rebellion. The Hallecks were Quakers, but trace their origin to the Pilgrims who landed their origin to the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620. Mr Bradley's father was E. D. Bradley, and early settler in Kendall county, Illinois. His business in his earlier years was that of a merchant, and later he became a real estate speculator. His grandfather, Bartholomew Bradley, removed from Vermont to Genesee county, New York, while still a young man, and from there to Indiana, near La Porte, where he made his home until his death.

Frank P. Bradley was born October 30, 1852, in Oswego, Kendall county, Illinois, and removed with his parents to Aurora, Illnois, in 1859. Here he became a pupil in the public schools and was a graduate of West Aurora high school in 1870. He became a resident of Audubon county, Iowa, in 1874, and lived there for twenty years. In 1894 he removed to Council Bluffs, his present home. Mr. Bradley possesses in an eminent degree the qualifications that bring one success in a political way. He has the elements of popularity combined with integrity and wisdom, and an unswerving devotion fo the best interest of the democratic party. The first recognition at the hands of his party was given him in 1878, when he was elected clerk of the courts in Audubon county. Two years later he was re-elected and again re-elected in 1882. He was treasurer of the democratic state central committee of Iowa from 1883-1885, and was the democratic nominee for reporter of the supreme court in 1885. He was a delegate to the national democratic convention in 1892, representing the Ninth congressional district of Iowa. Two years later President Cleveland appointed him to the position of United States marshal for the Southern District of Iowa, and he held the office four years, or until the expiration of his term. He is a member of the Elks fraternity.

Mr. Bradley was married February 24, 1878, to Miss Fannie Atkinson. They have had five children, but two of whom are living: Charles C., born May 30, 1979, and Darwin L., born December 4, 1888.


From Biographies and Portraits of the Progressive Men of Iowa Volume II, Leaders in Business, Politics and the Professions, Together with the Beginning of a Western Commonwealth, by Benjamin F. Shambaugh, Ph. D. Des Moines: Conway & Shaw Publishers, 1899, pp. 524-525.