W.C. Bradley Papers

Collection

Identifier: MC 453

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Dates

Creation: 1897-1941

Creator

Bradley, W.C. (William Clark), 1863-1947 (Person)

Biographical / Historical

William Clark Bradley was born on June 28, 1863 in Oswichee, Russell County, Alabama. He was the son of Forbes Bradley (1809-1890) and Theresa Ann Clark (d. 1871). W.C. Bradley moved to Columbus, Georgia in 1885. He married Sarah Hall, the daughter of Henry Thomas and Elizabeth Howard Hall, in 1887. She died on December 30, 1936. Bradley died in Columbus, Georgia on June 26, 1947. Both are buried in Linwood Cemetery.

By the 1930s W. C. Bradley controlled or invested in many businesses in and around Columbus, Georgia including: W.C. Bradley Company, W.C. Bradley Manufacturing Company, Bradley Farms, Coca-Cola, CB&T,Columbus Grocery and Supply Company,Columbus Iron Works, Columbus Savings Bank, Columus Textile Manufacturers Association, Eagle and Phenix Mills, Eufala Grocery Company, Merchants and Planters' Steamship Company, Salem Grocery Company (Alabama), and the Third National Bank.

Extent

8.5 Linear Feet (25 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement

The Bradley Papers were found when the records of the Eagle & Phenix Mills (MC 13) were being re-processed as a result of the move of the CSU archives around 2015. The re-processing of the Eagle & Phenix Mills was begun by Jesse Chariton. During his work on the corporate records, he identified the Bradley papers. His work was completed by Tom Converse in 2023.

The Bradley papers are arranged in 4 series

Series 1 – Daily planners and calendars These include information on his daily activities which inevitably mix business and personal events.

Series 2 – Personal Finances of the Bradley Family (FIN) This series includes check stubs, cancelled checks with monthly statements, bills and receipts (mostly from the 1920s through 1940), and Balance Sheets or Statements of Accounts for various members of the Bradley family. Balance sheets of his various businesses are included in the business records section. Also included in the Finances series are papers relating to a personal loan extended to Byron C. Good in the 1930s

Series 3 – Bradley business interests and professional organizations (BUS) This series includes documentation of businesses he owned or in which he had significant investments, as well as professional organizations to which he belonged. The records of the Eagle & Phenix Mills, however, are held separately as MC 13.

Series 4 – Executor This series documents his activities as executor of several last wills and testaments, as well as the guardianship and later Power of Attorney of Minnie Hunt Hall. This series includes records of his fiduciary relationships with:

His brother-in-law, Henry T. Hall, who died in 1903

His wife’s niece, Minnie Hunt Hall, whose guardian he was made by her father, Henry T. Hall

His brother-in-law, James Thornton Nuckolls, the husband of his sister Emma Jemima Bradley Nuckolls, who died in 1910

His sister, Emma Jemima Bradley Nuckolls, who died in 1924

His wife, Sarah Hall Bradley who died in December of 1937

His nephew, James Terry Nuckolls, the son of Bradley’s sister, Emma J. Bradley Nuckolls, who died in 1940. His nephew actually appointed his wife, Willie Chaney Nuckolls as the official executrix, but Bradley was deeply involved in administering the estate to the extent of being the de-facto executor.

Related Materials

Eagle and Phenix Mills Records, MC 13

Nuckolls and Bradley Family Papers, MC 137

General

Processors notes on several of the businesses:

Coca-Cola: According to Dr. John Lupold of the CSU faculty: “In 1919 when the Coke deal was born, Bradley went to New York to finance the deal. Bradley became chair of the executive committee of Coke. He oversaw the legal defense of the company’s name in a case brought by Kola of America that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Before the end of 1919, he became the chairman of the board, a position he held for 27 years. In 1923, Bradley helped make Robert Woodruff the president of Coke. D. Abbott Turner had become a director of Coca-Cola by 1923.

Columbus Textile Manufacturers Association: this was an association of executives of several textile-related companies on both sides of the Chattahoochee River. Bradley was a longtime member.

Eagle & Phenix Manufacturing Company/Eagle & Phenix Mills: In 1896, W. C. Bradley invested in G. Gunby Jordan’s Eagle & Phenix Mills and the Columbus Manufacturing Company. In 1916, Bradley became president of the Eagle & Phenix Mills, and in 1921, he succeeded Jordan as president of the Third National Bank and the Columbus Savings Bank, which Bradley merged into the CB&T in 1930.