educator, author, b. Paris Township, Kenosha County. She attended Oshkosh State Normal School (1875-1876) and taught in the Kenosha schools (1874-1875, 1876-1878, 1882-1894). From 1894 to 1906 she was a supervising teacher for the grammar grades and principal of the practice school at Stevens Point State Normal School, and from 1906 to 1909 taught at Stout Institute, Menomonie. She was supervisor of practice teaching at Whitewater State Normal School (1909-1910), and in 1910 became city superintendent of schools for Kenosha, a position that she held until 1921. In this capacity she was responsible for much of the modernization of the Kenosha school system, introducing, among other things, the kindergarten and the industrial and household arts courses. She served as president (1911) of the Wisconsin State Teachers' Association, and was the author of numerous books on education, as well as the Memoirs of Mary D. Bradford (1932) and Pioneers! O Pioneers! (1937), a book depicting pioneer schooling on the Wisconsin frontier. Kenosha Evening News, Feb. 4, 1943; F. H. Lyman, City of Kenosha ... (2 vols., Chicago, 1916); J. G. Gregory, ed., S.E. Wis. (4 vols., Chicago, 1932); M. D. Bradford, Memoirs .. . [Evansville, Wis., 1932].

The Wisconsin Historical Society has manuscripts related to this topic. See the catalog description of the Mary Davison Bradford Biographical Information for details.

View a related article at Wisconsin Magazine of History Archives.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]