James B. Bradwell
Encyclopedia
James Bolesworth Bradwell (April 16, 1828 – November 30, 1907) was a prominent Illinois
lawyer
, judge
, and politician
.
, England
, the son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Gutridge) Bradwell. Sixteen months after his birth, Bradwell's family moved to Utica, New York
. In 1833, they moved to Jacksonville, Illinois
, and the next year to Wheeling, Illinois
. Bradwell subsequently grew up on a farm in Cook County, Illinois
. Educated initially in a log schoolhouse, Bradwell later attended Wilson's Academy in Chicago
and Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois
.
After graduating, Bradwell worked as a journeyman
in Chicago
in a variety of different trades. He gained a reputation as an outstanding process artist, and produced the first halftone
ever made in Chicago, a portrait of Melville Fuller
.
In 1852, he married Myra Colby
, with whom he would have four children. An early feminist, Myra Bradwell would, in 1892, become the first woman admitted to the bar in Illinois. Following their marriage, James and Myra Bradwell moved to Memphis, Tennessee
where they opened a school
In 1854, Bradwell was admitted to the bar and the couple moved to Chicago in 1855. In 1861, he was elected County Judge of Cook County, with jurisdiction over all probate
matters in Cook County. During the American Civil War
, he was an active supporter of the Union
and opponent of the copperheads
. In addition to passionate addresses, Bradwell wrote and performed songs promoting the Union cause, thus gaining him the nickname of the "sweet singer of Cook County".
In 1865, he won re-election to a second four-year term. During his time on the bench, Bradwell gained a reputation as one of the country's leading probate
jurists. One of his most notable decisions involved Matt C. Jones, a former slave; Bradwell ruled that a marriage made during slavery was valid and survived emancipation
and that the children of former slaves were therefore entitled to inherit from their emancipated parents.
He was afterward elected as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives
in 1873, and re-elected in 1875. Bradwell had a reputation as an effective legislator. A supporter of the feminist movement
of the day, he was the driving force behind legislation that made women eligible to hold all local school offices, and a second act that allowed women to become public notaries
.
In 1875, Bradwell represented Mary Todd Lincoln
after her son Robert
had her involuntarily confined to Bellevue Place, a psychiatric hospital in Batavia, Illinois
, and, together with his wife, played a key role in convincing a court to declare Mary Todd Lincoln competent to handle her own finances.
Bradwell was active in affairs throughout his career. In 1869, for example, he presided during the organization of the American Woman Suffrage Association in Cleveland. At various points, he served as president of the Chicago Press Club, the Chicago Rifle Club, the Chicago Photographic Society, the Chicago Bar Association
, and the Illinois State Bar Association
. He served as the Illinois State Bar Association's historian, and would later be made an honorary member of the Illinois State Historical Society. He was one of the founders of the Union League Club of Chicago
and served as its first president. At the World's Columbian Exposition
of 1893, he served as Chairman of the Photographic Congress Auxiliary. An active Freemason, Bradwell even went so far as to publish a collection of Ancient Masonic Rolls (and to argue that they indicated that women should be eligible for membership in the Freemason organization).
In 1894, Myra Bradwell died, and Judge Bradwell became publisher of the Chicago Legal News, the newspaper that Myra Bradwell had founded in 1868 and published ever since. His daughter, Bessie Bradwell Helmer served as his assistant, and, together, they would go on to edit the revised statutes of Illinois and a number of volumes of Illinois appellate court decisions.
Bradwell died in Chicago on November 30, 1907.
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
, judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
, and politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
.
Biography
James B. Bradwell was born April 16, 1828, at LoughboroughLoughborough
Loughborough is a town within the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England. It is the seat of Charnwood Borough Council and is home to Loughborough University...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, the son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Gutridge) Bradwell. Sixteen months after his birth, Bradwell's family moved to Utica, New York
Utica, New York
Utica is a city in and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The population was 62,235 at the 2010 census, an increase of 2.6% from the 2000 census....
. In 1833, they moved to Jacksonville, Illinois
Jacksonville, Illinois
Jacksonville is a city in Morgan County, Illinois, United States. The population was 18,940 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Morgan County....
, and the next year to Wheeling, Illinois
Wheeling, Illinois
Wheeling is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, and a suburb of Chicago. The population was 34,496 at the 2000 census, and 38,555 at the 2006 special village census.-Geography:Wheeling is located at ....
. Bradwell subsequently grew up on a farm in Cook County, Illinois
Cook County, Illinois
Cook County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois, with its county seat in Chicago. It is the second most populous county in the United States after Los Angeles County. The county has 5,194,675 residents, which is 40.5 percent of all Illinois residents. Cook County's population is larger than...
. Educated initially in a log schoolhouse, Bradwell later attended Wilson's Academy in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois
Galesburg, Illinois
Galesburg is a city in Knox County, Illinois, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 32,195. It is the county seat of Knox County....
.
After graduating, Bradwell worked as a journeyman
Journeyman
A journeyman is someone who completed an apprenticeship and was fully educated in a trade or craft, but not yet a master. To become a master, a journeyman had to submit a master work piece to a guild for evaluation and be admitted to the guild as a master....
in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
in a variety of different trades. He gained a reputation as an outstanding process artist, and produced the first halftone
Halftone
Halftone is the reprographic technique that simulates continuous tone imagery through the use of dots, varying either in size, in shape or in spacing...
ever made in Chicago, a portrait of Melville Fuller
Melville Fuller
Melville Weston Fuller was the eighth Chief Justice of the United States between 1888 and 1910.-Early life and education:...
.
In 1852, he married Myra Colby
Myra Bradwell
Myra Colby Bradwell was a publisher and political activist. She was the first woman to be admitted to the Illinois bar to become the first female lawyer in Illinois in 1892.-Life:...
, with whom he would have four children. An early feminist, Myra Bradwell would, in 1892, become the first woman admitted to the bar in Illinois. Following their marriage, James and Myra Bradwell moved to Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
where they opened a school
In 1854, Bradwell was admitted to the bar and the couple moved to Chicago in 1855. In 1861, he was elected County Judge of Cook County, with jurisdiction over all probate
Probate
Probate is the legal process of administering the estate of a deceased person by resolving all claims and distributing the deceased person's property under the valid will. A probate court decides the validity of a testator's will...
matters in Cook County. During the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, he was an active supporter of the Union
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
and opponent of the copperheads
Copperheads (politics)
The Copperheads were a vocal group of Democrats in the Northern United States who opposed the American Civil War, wanting an immediate peace settlement with the Confederates. Republicans started calling anti-war Democrats "Copperheads," likening them to the venomous snake...
. In addition to passionate addresses, Bradwell wrote and performed songs promoting the Union cause, thus gaining him the nickname of the "sweet singer of Cook County".
In 1865, he won re-election to a second four-year term. During his time on the bench, Bradwell gained a reputation as one of the country's leading probate
Probate
Probate is the legal process of administering the estate of a deceased person by resolving all claims and distributing the deceased person's property under the valid will. A probate court decides the validity of a testator's will...
jurists. One of his most notable decisions involved Matt C. Jones, a former slave; Bradwell ruled that a marriage made during slavery was valid and survived emancipation
Emancipation
Emancipation means the act of setting an individual or social group free or making equal to citizens in a political society.Emancipation may also refer to:* Emancipation , a champion Australian thoroughbred racehorse foaled in 1979...
and that the children of former slaves were therefore entitled to inherit from their emancipated parents.
He was afterward elected as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives
Illinois House of Representatives
The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The state House of Representatives is made of 118 representatives elected from...
in 1873, and re-elected in 1875. Bradwell had a reputation as an effective legislator. A supporter of the feminist movement
Feminist movement
The feminist movement refers to a series of campaigns for reforms on issues such as reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay, women's suffrage, sexual harassment and sexual violence...
of the day, he was the driving force behind legislation that made women eligible to hold all local school offices, and a second act that allowed women to become public notaries
Notary public
A notary public in the common law world is a public officer constituted by law to serve the public in non-contentious matters usually concerned with estates, deeds, powers-of-attorney, and foreign and international business...
.
In 1875, Bradwell represented Mary Todd Lincoln
Mary Todd Lincoln
Mary Ann Lincoln was the wife of the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, and was First Lady of the United States from 1861 to 1865.-Life before the White House:...
after her son Robert
Robert Todd Lincoln
Robert Todd Lincoln was an American lawyer and Secretary of War, and the first son of President Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln...
had her involuntarily confined to Bellevue Place, a psychiatric hospital in Batavia, Illinois
Batavia, Illinois
Batavia was founded in 1833, and is the oldest city in Kane County, Illinois, with a small portion in DuPage County. During the Industrial Revolution, Batavia became known as ‘The Windmill City’ for being the largest windmill producer of the time...
, and, together with his wife, played a key role in convincing a court to declare Mary Todd Lincoln competent to handle her own finances.
Bradwell was active in affairs throughout his career. In 1869, for example, he presided during the organization of the American Woman Suffrage Association in Cleveland. At various points, he served as president of the Chicago Press Club, the Chicago Rifle Club, the Chicago Photographic Society, the Chicago Bar Association
Chicago Bar Association
Founded in 1874, the Chicago Bar Association is a voluntary bar association with over 20,000 members. Like other bar associations, it concerns itself with professional ethics, networking among members, and continuing legal education. It is located adjacent to the John Marshall Law School in the...
, and the Illinois State Bar Association
Illinois State Bar Association
The Illinois State Bar Association is the largest voluntary state bar association in the country. Approximately 30,000 lawyers are members of the ISBA. Unlike some state bar associations, in which membership is mandatory, ISBA membership is not required of lawyers licensed to practice in...
. He served as the Illinois State Bar Association's historian, and would later be made an honorary member of the Illinois State Historical Society. He was one of the founders of the Union League Club of Chicago
Union League Club of Chicago
The Union League Club of Chicago is a prominent social club located in downtown Chicago.-History:The Club can trace its roots to 1862, when radical southern sympathizers in the north were plotting an insurrection in Lincoln’s home state...
and served as its first president. At the World's Columbian Exposition
World's Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition was a World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. Chicago bested New York City; Washington, D.C.; and St...
of 1893, he served as Chairman of the Photographic Congress Auxiliary. An active Freemason, Bradwell even went so far as to publish a collection of Ancient Masonic Rolls (and to argue that they indicated that women should be eligible for membership in the Freemason organization).
In 1894, Myra Bradwell died, and Judge Bradwell became publisher of the Chicago Legal News, the newspaper that Myra Bradwell had founded in 1868 and published ever since. His daughter, Bessie Bradwell Helmer served as his assistant, and, together, they would go on to edit the revised statutes of Illinois and a number of volumes of Illinois appellate court decisions.
Bradwell died in Chicago on November 30, 1907.