Mary Carroll Craig Bradford (August 10, 1856 – January 15, 1938) of

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

was the first female delegate at the

1908 Democratic National Convention The 1908 Democratic National Convention took place from July 7 to July 10, 1908, at Denver Auditorium Arena in Denver, Colorado. The event is widely considered a significant part of Denver's political and social history. The Convention The 1 ...

. She later became the Colorado State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Early life and education

Mary Carroll Craig was born on August 10, 1856, in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, daughter of Anna Turk Carroll and James Barnes Craig. She was educated at the Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn, with supplemental private instruction.

Career

Bradford began teaching as a young married woman in

Leadville, Colorado The City of Leadville is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Statutory city, statutory city that is the county seat, the most populous community, and the only List of municipalities in Colorado, incorporated municipality in Lake County, Colorad ...

. She also taught in Colorado Springs and in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

before moving into administrative positions, as superintendent in Adams County in 1902, and in Denver in 1908. She was elected to the Colorado state superintendency in 1913, and served six terms in that office, until 1927. Bradford was active in the movement for

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

in Colorado, as president of the Colorado Springs Equal Suffrage Association in 1893. After suffrage was won, she helped organize the Colorado Women's Democratic Club, and ran for State Superintendent of Education in 1894 (she lost to another woman, Anjanette J. Peavey). Bradford was a charter member of the Denver Women's Club and president of the Colorado Federation of Women's Clubs. She was also president of the National Education Association.

Personal life

She married Edward Taylor Bradford in 1876, and the pair had four children. She was widowed in 1901, and died in 1938, age 71.Heather Kleinpeter Caldwell, "Mary Carroll Craig Bradford: Providing Opportunities to Colorado's Women and Children through Suffrage and Education" (PhD dissertation, Texas A&M University, 2009)
p. 2.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bradford, Mary C.C. 1856 births 1938 deaths American suffragists American educators