George Bradley

George Bradley (c. 1833 – 1879) was an American politician and a former member of the Minnesota House of Representatives. He represented District 7, which at that time included portions of Scott County just southwest of what is now the Twin Cities.

Career Bradley was elected to the position of speaker pro tem of the Minnesota House of Representatives on December 22, 1857, when then-Speaker John S. Watrous took leave to attend to personal business. When, due to Watrous' prolonged absence, the speaker's chair was declared vacant on March 12, 1858, Bradley was elected speaker in his own right. Bradley, at only 25, became the youngest speaker in Minnesotan history.

In 1860 he was appointed receiver of the United States General Land Office in St. Paul. Abraham Lincoln's call for volunteers prompted him to volunteer as a major in the 7th Minnesota Infantry Regiment. He saw action in Minnesota during the Sioux Uprising and then in Missouri, the Battle of Nashville, Tennessee.

Minnesota Legislators Past & Present lists Bradley's party affiliation as "Not Available," while the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library's list of Speakers of the House of Representatives lists "R?," indicating that the MLRL does not know what Bradley's party affiliation was, and is merely guessing that he might have been a Republican; on the other hand, Bradley was elected Speaker at a time when the Democrats held a 55 percent voting majority in the Minnesota House of Representatives, and, in 1860, received a federal civil service appointment from the Buchanan Administration, similar to John S. Watrous.