John Bradford (1749–1830) was an early

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settler A settler or a colonist is a person who establishes or joins a permanent presence that is separate to existing communities. The entity that a settler establishes is a Human settlement, settlement. A settler is called a pioneer if they are among ...

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

, where he established himself as one of the territory's leading

printer Printer may refer to: Technology * Printer (publishing), a person * Printer (computing), a hardware device * Optical printer for motion picture films People * Nariman Printer (fl. c. 1940), Indian journalist and activist * James Printer (1640 ...

Biography

Bradford was born in

Prince William County, Virginia Prince William County lies beside the Potomac River in the Commonwealth of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 482,204, making it Virginia's second most populous county. The county seat is the independent city of Manassas. A part ...

in 1749. He first arrived in Kentucky with a surveying party in 1775. He moved his family there in 1784 or 1785. Although he had little experience in printing or editing, he founded the '' Kentucky Gazette'' in 1787. It was the first newspaper printed in Kentucky and had no rivals within 500 miles until 1795. It remains in circulation today. He also printed the first book published in Kentucky, a compilation of the first session of the

Kentucky legislature The Kentucky General Assembly, also called the Kentucky Legislature, is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It comprises the Kentucky Senate and the Kentucky House of Representatives. The General Assembly meets annually in the ...

in 1792, shortly after Kentucky became the 15th state of the United States. Bradford also contributed to the founding of

Transylvania University Transylvania University is a private university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. It was founded in 1780 and is the oldest university in Kentucky. It offers 46 major programs, as well as dual-degree engineering programs, and is Higher educ ...

. He was chairman of the Board of Trustees of that university from 1793 until his death in 1830.

Historical article series

In August 1828, Bradford began a series of 66 newspaper articles that chronicled the history of Kentucky. Most of the articles concern events that occurred before 1800, with the exception of some articles about controversies at Transylvania University. The articles dealt with four main topics. The first was the warfare with Native Americans that had occurred through the 1790s. Bradford cast the settlers in a favorable light in this struggle. The second topic was the effort to secure free use of the

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and port at

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

from

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. This was a valuable outlet for surplus produce during the formation of the state. Third, Bradford chronicled the series of ten conventions that led to Kentucky's separation from

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

and admittance into the union in 1792. The articles concerning events at Transylvania University constitute the fourth topic.

References

External Links

Kentucky Gazette
Lexington Public Library 1749 births 1840 deaths American printers People from Prince William County, Virginia People from Kentucky {{Kentucky-stub

Biography

Historical article series

See also

References

Further reading

External Links