The surname Bradford is derived from the name of a place,
Broadford or Bradenford. There are two very ancient towns of
this name, one in Wiltshire, England, near Bath, and one in
Yorkshire, near Leeds. Near the latter was the home of the
ancestors of the American family. The family dates back in
England, doubtelss, to the beginning of surnames, in the
eleventh or twelfth centuries. One of the first martyrs burned
at the stake during the reign of Bloody Mary was John Bradford,
Prebend of St. Paul and a celebrated preacher. He was born in
Manchester, Lancashire, 1510, and was executed July 1, 1555. He
was a friend of Rogers, Hooper, Saunders, Latimer, Cramner, and
Ridley, who also died at the stake about the same time. The
Bradford coat-of-arms is: Argent on a feese sable, three stags'
heads erased or. Right Reverend Father in God, Samuel Bradford,
Lord Bishop of Rochester and Dean of Westminster, bore these
arms as well as those of his Episcopal see. The ancestry of
Governor William Bradford has not been trace