Biography

He was the son of Col. John Bradish and Hannah Bradish (née Warner). He served in the U.S. Army during the War of 1812. In 1814, he married Helen Elizabeth Gibbs (daughter of George Gibbs (mineralogist)). She died in 1816 along with their son.

In 1819, Bradish was commissioned by U.S. President James Monroe's United States Secretary of State John Quincy Adams to pursue a treaty with the Ottoman Empire. Up till that point, Philadelphian David Offley was interceding, on behalf of American shippers, with the Empire's regencies along the Barbary Coast, i.e., Algiers, Libya, Tunis, etc., but his effectiveness was limited because the U.S had no official relations with the Empire, even after the conclusion of the First Barbary War and the Second Barbary War. The treaty terms demanded by Halet Efendi, the Ottoman foreign minister, were unacceptable to the U.S. Any future attempts at negotiations with Halet became moot when he 'offended' the Sultan and was first banished from Constantinople (Istanbul), and then killed. A treaty was eventually completed during President Andrew Jackson's term in office.

He was a member from Franklin County of the New York State Assembly from 1827 to 1830, and from 1836 to 1838. During his last term in the Assembly he was Speaker. As a Whig, he was Lieutenant Governor of New York from 1839 to 1842 under Governor Seward. When Seward declined to run for re-election in 1842, Lt. Gov. Bradish ran for Governor, but was defeated by William C. Bouck.

From 1850 until his death he was the President of the Historical Society of New York.

In 1855 Williams College conferred on him the degree of LL.D. During President Fillmore's administration he was Assistant United States Treasurer at New York.

In 1862, Bradish was elected president of the American Bible Society (ABS). He died in office and was succeeded in February 1864 by then ABS vice-president James Lenox.

He died at the Ocean House Hotel in Newport, R.I., and was buried at the Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, N.Y.