James Ware Bradbury
(1802-1901) a U. S. Senator from Maine was born in Parsonsfield, June 10, 1802, attended the common schools and Gorham Academy. He was graduated from Bowdoin College in 1825.
Bradbury was principal of Hallowell Academy and founder of the first normal school in New England, at Effingham, New Hampshire in 1829. He studied law, was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Augusta, in 1830.
A prosecuting attorney (1834-1838), he was elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1847 until March 3, 1853 when he declined to be a candidate for reelection. As a Senator he was chairman of the Committee on Printing (Thirtieth Congress) and a member of the Committee on Retrenchment (Thirty-first and Thirty-second Congresses).
Bradbury served as a trustee of Bowdoin College in 1861 and as president of the Maine Historical Society 1867-1887. He died in Augusta on January 6, 1901, with interment in Forest Grove Cemetery.