Luther Bradish

Infobox Lt Governor
name=Luther Bradish

---

order=18th
office=Lieutenant Governor of New York
term_start=1839
term_end=1842
governor=William H. Seward
predecessor=John Tracy
successor=Daniel S. Dickinson
birth_date=September 15, 1783
birth_place=Cummington, Massachusetts, USA
death_date=August 30, 1863
death_place=Newport, Rhode Island, USA
party=Whig, Republican
profession=Politician, Lawyer
spouse=Helen Elizabeth Gibbs Bradish
footnotes=

Luther Bradish (September 15, 1783 Cummington, Hampshire County, Massachusetts - August 30, 1863 Newport, Newport County, Rhode Island) was an American lawyer and politician who served as Lieutenant Governor of New York from 1839 to 1842.

Life

He was the son of Col. John Bradish and Hannah Bradish (née Warner). He served in the U.S. Army during the War of 1812. He married in 1814 Helen Elizabeth Gibbs.

In 1819, Bradish was commissioned by U.S. President James Monroe's United States Secretary of State John Quincy Adams to pursue a treaty with the Ottoman Empire. Up till that point, Philadelphian David Offley was interceding, on behalf of American shippers, with the Empire's regencies along the Barbary Coast, i.e., Algiers, Libya, Tunis, etc., but his effectiveness was limited because the U.S had no official relations with the Empire, even after the conclusion of the Barbary Wars. The treaty terms demanded by Halet Effendi, the Ottoman foreign minister, were unacceptable to the U.S. Any future attempts at negotiations with Halet became moot when he 'offended' the Sultan and was first banished from Constantinople (Istanbul), and then killed. A treaty was eventually completed during President Andrew Jackson's term in office.

He was a member from Franklin County of the New York State Assembly from 1827 to 1830, and from 1835 to 1838. During his last term in the Assembly he was Speaker. As a Whig, he was Lieutenant Governor of New York from 1839 to 1842 under Governor Seward. When Seward declined to run for re-election in 1842, Lt. Gov. Bradish ran for Governor, but was defeated by William C. Bouck.

From 1850 until his death he was the President of the Historical Society of New York.

In 1855 Williams College conferred on him the degree of LL.D. During President Fillmore's administration he was Assistant United States Treasurer at New York.

In 1862, Bradish was elected president of the American Bible Society (ABS). He died in office and was succeeded in February 1964 by then ABS vice-president James Lenox.

He died at the Ocean House Hotel in Newport, R.I., and was buried at the Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, N.Y.

References

* Michael B. Oren, (2007), "Power, Faith and Fantasy: America in the Middle East, 1776 to the present" ISBN 0-393-052826-3 (p. 107)
* [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/bradby-bradish.html#RPP1ADZB1] Political Graveyard
* [http://jasoncrews.name/main/showsource.php?sourceID=S253628&tree=main] Bio of Notable Americans
* [http://www.americanbiblehistory.com/leaders.html American Bible Society - Leaders]