Lockley, Fred.  "History of the Columbia River Valley, From The Dalles to the
Sea." Vol. 2.  S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1928.  p. 518

E.R. BRADLEY

E.R. Bradley, who is numbered among Hood River's enterprising and successful
citizens, is conducting an up-to-date job printing office and has been actively
identified with various business interests of this community. He was born in
Ontario, Canada, March 18, 1862, and is a son of George W. and Julia Maria
(Carter) Bradley, also natives of Ontario and both now deceased. His father was
engaged in farming and was also a mechanical genius. He made the first known
model of the Ferris wheel, which he operated successfully at the county fair at
Collingwood, Ontario. It carried eight passengers and was operated by man power,
by means of cranks on each side of the frame. He was a wheelwright by trade, and
had a son, Joseph, who was a man of original ideas and attained note as an
inventor. To Mr. and Mrs. Bradley were born ten children, of whom four are
living, namely: Mrs. Charles Hubbard, of Forest Grove, Oregon; Mrs. M. I.
Christner, of Seattle, Washington; George Willis, who lives at Tucson, Arizona;
and E. R.

E.R. Bradley received a limited education in. the public schools and at the age
of fourteen years began to learn the printing trade at Sault Ste Marie, Canada,
where he followed that line of work for several years. Following 1880 for about
two years he devoted his attention to farming. In 1884 he came to the United
States, locating in Sherman county, Nebraska, where he homesteaded one hundred
and sixty acres of land, but soon afterwards sold that place and moved to the
new town of Litchfield, where he embarked in the newspaper business,
establishing the Litchfield Monitor, which he ran for seven years and then sold.
He then went to the new town of Deep-water, about twelve miles from Houston,
Texas, and started the Deepwater Enterprise, which he ran for one year, when it
was discontinued and for about five years he engaged in raising cotton. In 1899
Mr. Bradley came to. Hood River, Oregon, and leased the Hood River Sun, which he
published for a few months and then sold his lease and opened a book store and
job printing office in Hood River, which occupied his attention until 1905, when
he established the Hood River Newsletter, a six-page weekly, which later was
increased to eight pages. Mr. Bradley ran that paper until January 1, 1908, when
he formed a partnership with his brother, George Willis Bradley, and
established concrete brick works in this city, also doing a good deal of
contract work in concrete. They conducted that business for seven years, when
Mr. Bradley sold his interest to his brother, who ran it alone until 1925, when
he sold out and moved to Arizona. In 1919 Mr. Bradley opened a job printing
office, in the conduct of which he has been very successful. He has a well
equipped plant, modern in every respect, and, possessing a thorough technical
knowledge of the business, combined with artistic taste, he has been able to
turn out a high quality of work, which has been his best advertisement. As a
result of his experience in printing, Mr. Bradley has invented a valuable device
known as the Bradley register and gauge, for use on platen printing presses, and
which marks a great advancement in the efficiency of press work, being simple in
construction, quickly attached to the press and easy of adjustment to any sized
job. The gauge has been well received by the trade and Mr. Bradley is building
up a good business in its manufacture and sale.

In 1882 Mr. Bradley was united in marriage to Miss Sarah A. Lanion, who is a
native of Ontario, Canada, and is a daughter of Henry and Matilda J. (Thompson)
Lamon, both of whom are deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Bradley have two children, both
of whom were born in Nebraska. Pearl Estelle, who graduated from Willamette
University, taught school for several years prior to her marriage, and is now
teaching in the school at Riverdale, near Portland, Oregon. She is the wife of
Dr. Carl J. Hollingworth, of Portland, and they have two daughters, Dorothy Jean
and Barbara Ann. Eldon Russell, who took a course in a business college in
Portland and now lives in Hood River, was married in 1913 to Miss Gretchen Maria
Calkins, and they have four children, Eldon Fred, Gladys E. and William Russell
and Florence Ann, twins. Mr. Bradley is a member of the Knights of Pythias and
the Modern Woodmen of America. He has always been an active advocate of
prohibition and while editing the Litchfield Monitor, in Nebraska, came out with
a strong editorial denunciation of the vicious activities of the saloon element.
He was waited upon by a delegation of the men whom he had denounced, who gave
him twenty-four hours to leave town. He told them he was there to stay and to
maintain his principles, and dared them to do their worst. He stayed, too, and
later many of those same men became his best friends. Mr. and Mrs. Bradley are
members of the Methodist Episcopal church, to which they give their earnest
support, as they do to all worthy causes in their community. Mr. Bradley has
stood for all that is best in the life of the town and county in which he lives
and is recognized as a man of strong character and definite influence, and
commands to a marked degree the confidence and respect of his fellow citizens.

 
*******************

Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in November 2006 by Jeffrey L. Elmer.
Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned
above.