John A. Bridgland

Colonel John Alexander Bridgland (December 3, 1826 − July 29, 1890) was an American diplomat, businessman and soldier. He was a colonel in the Union Army during the American Civil War, and served as consul of the United States to the port city of Le Havre in France. Bridgland also was in the wholesale tobacco business, the street railway business, and the horse breeding and importing business in Indiana.

He also went by the names J.A. Bridgeland, and John Alexander Bridgeland. As a result of his father's untimely death he was limited in the liberal education many of his relations was afforded. He was referred to in the Richmond Dispatch newspaper as "One of Morton's Pets". Bridgland worked to organized and outfitted Union Army troops prior to his military enlistment in the war. By March 1862, health issues caused Bridgland to leave his regiment early, and he was succeeded by Edward Cook.

Citizens' Company (or the Citizens' Street Railway Company), an Indianapolis street railway enterprise was incorporated in 1864 with Bridgland as president, and R. B. Catherwood as the organizer.

In 1869, Bridgeman was appointed a supervisor at the Internal Revenue in Austin, Texas, serving under chief clerk William O. Avery. He resigned from the role in March 1871, and was replaced by Kennett R. Cobb. In 1876, Bridgland was investigated by the Committee on Expenditures in the United States State Department, with charges on his official conduct. In addition to selling horses in Europe, Bridgland two stallions, three colts and two fillies from some of the best stables in England.

In the 1880s, Bridgeman was president of Oakwood Stock Farm, a horse importing and breeding business in Indianapolis, and Thomas G. Barry was the secretary.

Family

Bridgland married Caroline Elizabeth Gilbert (1826–1880) on June 14, 1849, at Richmond, Indiana. She was originally from Pennsylvania. He never remarried after her death in 1880, but in his retirement had a live-in companion named Mary Hannegan.

Bridgland had one child, Harriet Augusta Bridgland born in 1853. Harriet Bridgland married Carlos Rodríguez de Trujillo y Malibrán in Seville, Spain with whom she had two children, John Alexander Rodríguez de Trujillo and Caroline Rodríguez de Trujillo. She and her family resided in London, England, and Seville, Spain. Bridgland's descendants are not known to have ever returned to the United States.

Death and burial He died on July 23, 1890, in Fairland, Indiana, and is buried at Earlham Cemetery in Richmond, Indiana.