John Bradbury

John Bradbury (20 August 1768 – 16 March 1823 ) was an English botanist noted for his travels in the United States Midwest and West in the early 19th Century and his eyewitness account of the New Madrid earthquake.

Early life Bradbury was born at Souracre Fold near Stalybridge in Cheshire in August 1769, In the United States he met with Thomas Jefferson during 1809, who recommended that he should base his investigations in St. Louis, Missouri rather than New Orleans, Louisiana.

Pacific Fur Company While in St. Louis, Bradbury explored the area and sent seeds back to Liverpool. In 1811 he and naturalist Thomas Nuttall joined Wilson Price Hunt and other members of the Pacific Fur Company (PFC) bound to travel the Missouri River. This group is sometimes referred to as the Astorian Expedition, named after the financier of the venture, John Jacob Astor. The main group of Astorians spent the previous winter on Nodaway Island, at the mouth of Nodaway River in Andrew County, Missouri, just north of St. Joseph. After reaching their camp, Bradbury and the expedition departed on 21 April 1811.

Ramsay Crooks led Bradbury and two French-Canadian voyageurs to the Platte River on 2 May ahead of the main expedition. While the four men reach the outskirts of a major Otoe tribe village, the inhabitants were not present, being out on a hunting sojourn. Bradbury noted that two Omaha men had seen him in St. Louis, at the printing office of Joseph Charless, who published the Missouri Gazette.

Later life Bradbury had intended to return to England but the War of 1812 delayed the return and he was to study the states east of the Mississippi and published an appendix to his Travels book entitled Remarks on the States of Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana, with the Illinois and Western Territory, and on the Emigrations to Those Countries. He died in Middletown, Kentucky, after a brief illness.