FOOTPRINTS: THOMAS BRADFORD Part Two

The first order of business of the new County Commissioners was to appoint Thomas Bradford as Clerk of the Board.

Four days later, on March 10, 1821, Amos Rogers, Abraham Cass, Charles Polk, and William White, as State Commissioners to locate the county seat for Greene County, made their report, locating the county seat in sections 9 and 10, in township 7 north, of range 5 west. They named it Burlington. The land for Burlington was donated by Thomas Bradford, Frederick Shepherd, and Zebulon Hogue.

Bradford arranged for the first Greene Circuit Court to be held in September 1821, at his house, or rather next to his house because the first session of the court was held outdoors next to a large bonfire. Historian Ritter quips that the first court room was large and airy.

At the first Session of the Greene Circuit Court, the President Judge was J. Doty and the Associate Judge was John L. Buskirk. Thomas Warnick was Clerk of the Court and Thomas Bradford was Sheriff. The Court seemed to have so much confidence in the fidelity and honesty of their Clerk that they did not require any security on his official bond.

At the time, the Court consisted of the presiding judge and two associate judges. When the Greene Circuit Court held its February term of Court, the President Judge was absent, but the associate judges carried on in his absence. By then, Thomas Bradford had become an associate judge, along with his colleague John L. Buskirk. The Court again was held at the home of Thomas Bradford. It was during this term that the first jury trial was held in the county; the defendant was charged with assault and battery, convicted, and fined one dollar.

At the following August term of Court, the Court was held by William Wick, President Judge, and Thomas Bradford, the Associate Judge. The Court was again at the home of Thomas Bradford, but then adjourned to meet at the Courthouse in Burlington.

In 1824, the Circuit Court convened for the first time in Bloomfield, and soon thereafter Thomas Bradford retired as a judge, content to earn his living as a blacksmith. And he was remembered as a blacksmith of uncommon ability. He had brought many of his blacksmith tools with him from North Carolina.

When Uncle Jack Baber wrote his well-known The Early History of Greene County in 1875, he remembered Thomas Bradford as follows: “We believe it is not saying too much to say that in the organization of the county, and for many years after, Judge Bradford was the active, living, moving, and controlling spirit in its civil and political organization. As stated heretofore, as Sheriff pro tem, he called the first election, gave the officers their certificates of election, and put the county in running order. At his house all the elections and courts were held for the first two years.”

Bradford died on April 16, 1841, in Bloomfield. He is buried in the Bradford Cemetery, 1/4 mile south of the Bloomfield town limits, on a farm that was owned recently by Bill Wright.

“Footprints” is a series of stories about the people, places and circumstances that make up the history of the Town of Bloomfield on the occasion of Bloomfield’s coming bicentennial. David Holt has researched extensively to write these stories we share with you, and we thank him for that.