Alden Bradford (17 November 1765 – 26 October 1843) was an American politician, clergyman and author who served as the 5th

Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth The Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth is the principal public information officer of the government of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. The Secretary of the Commonwealth oversees the Corporations Division, the Elections Division, the ...

. Born in

Duxbury, Massachusetts Duxbury (alternative older spelling: "Duxborough") is a historic seaside town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. A suburb located on the South Shore (Massachusetts), South Shore approximately to t ...

, he graduated from Harvard in 1786 and received a degree of LL.D. there. He was then ordained as a Congregational church pastor, serving in

Wiscasset, Maine Wiscasset is a New England town, town in and the county seat, seat of Lincoln County, Maine, United States. The municipality is located in the state of Maine's Mid Coast region. The population was 3,742 as of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 ...

. After moving to Boston he served from 1812 to 1824 as secretary of the

Commonwealth of Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. At times a bookseller and journalist, his works included a ''History of Massachusetts'' and ''Memoir of the Life and Writings of Rev. Jonathan Mayhew''.''Bradford Family History'' (American Genealogical Research Institute, 1978). He was a descendant of

William Bradford (Plymouth Colony governor) William Bradford ( 19 March 15909 May 1657) was an English Puritan separatist originally from the West Riding of Yorkshire in Northern England. He moved to Leiden in Holland in order to escape persecution from King James I of England, and then e ...

(c.1590-1647). Alden Bradford built (or arranged to have built) the Bradford House, built 1794, a historic house in

Wiscasset Historic District The Wiscasset Historic District is a historic district that encompasses substantially all of the central village of Wiscasset, Maine. The district includes at least 22 contributing buildings and two other contributing sites, one being a ceme ...

. with

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bradford, Alden 1765 births 1843 deaths People from Duxbury, Massachusetts Secretaries of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 19th-century American people Harvard College alumni Harvard Law School alumni