Walter Horace Bradish was born on April 24, 1848, in New York, the son of Horace Clark Bradish and Elizabeth Coventry (Wade) Bradish. His two siblings were a younger brother Charles and a sister Mary Libbie. His mother died when he was quite young, and his father remarried and had two daughters from his second marriage, Nellie and Ella.
By 1875, Bradish had moved to Springfield, Illinois, the place that would become his permanent home. On May 3, 1876, he married Mary Alice Hill (1854--) of Orleans, Ill. and had several children. He enjoyed a measure of financial success and stability for much of his adult career in manufacturing as Vice President of Springfield Woolen Mills until the mill closed in 1912. However, he found it necessary to be a financial support to his father and half-sisters. In his immediate family, he had serious problems with his one of his sons. Around 1900, Walter T. Bradish (1886-1961) was sent to the John Worthy School, a juvenile reform school in Chicago.
Bradish became deeply interested in the genealogy of the Bradish and Coventry families. He corresponded with relatives and strangers with the surnames of Coventry and Bradish sharing information about family history. He also served as an officer of the Illinois Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.
From the guide to the Walter H. Bradish papers, 1862-1906, 1862-1906, (The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.)
