Abraham Bradley Jr. was born in Litchfield, Connecticut back in 1767. His father Abraham was a Yale College graduate. Junior (which is what I will call him in this post) graduated with a degree in law. He moved to the Wyoming Valley of frontier Pennsylvania in 1788. He established a private law practice, briefly serving as county judge in Wilkes-Barre. He was described by those who knew him as “an unassuming man, modest and retiring almost to diffidence, yet a lawyer of competent learning, with a clear and discriminating mind.”
When President George Washington appointed a local judge Timothy Pickering as postmaster general Junior moved to Philadelphia in 1791. He was the first assistant postmaster general of the United States. However, can you tell me what else he accomplished during his term in that position? Okay here we go, he was responsible for moving the federal government’s post office from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to the new capital at Washington, D.C. As far as my research he is the longest assistant postmaster serving 30 years in that position. Want more? Okay he is also responsible for drawing detailed, comprehensive maps of the United States and the office’s efficiency. He represented the first clear cartographic break in European-dominated map making.
Comments(12)