Peter Rainsford Brady

Peter Rainsford Brady (August 4, 1825 – May 2, 1902) was an American military officer, surveyor and politician. Following a short service in the United States Navy he joined the Texas Rangers, where he served during the Mexican-American war and along the western frontier. From Texas he moved westward where he became an early settler and political office holder in Arizona Territory.

Background

Brady was born to Peter and Ann (Rainsford) Brady on August 4, 1825, in the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C..[1] He was educated at Georgetown College before enrolling at the United States Naval Academy. Following his graduation in 1844, he served a single voyage aboard the USS Plymouth in the Mediterranean Sea and then resigned from the navy.[2] After leaving navy, Brady went to San Antonio, Texas where he joined the Texas Rangers.[3] During the Mexican-American War he served in the Rangers with distinction as a lieutenant.[4] At the end of the war he lived for a short time in Jalisco, Mexico before returning to Texas.[3]

In 1847, Brady served as a member of a surveying company working the Fisher-Miller Land Grant. During November of the same year, Lt. Col. Peter Hansbrough Bell recruited him to serve in a Ranger company protecting Texas' western frontier. He remained with the Rangers till September 30, 1848 when he joined the California Gold Rush. Brady returned to the Texas Rangers in 1850, serving as a company's first lieutenant.[1]

Brady left the Texas Rangers in 1853 to become captain of Andrew Gray's survey team searching for a railroad route between Indianola, Texas and San Diego, California.[3] When the team disbanded the next year in San Francisco, he formed the Arizona Mining & Trading Company and returned to the Gadsden Purchase, settling Tucson.[1][4] In addition to his work as a miner, Brady became an interpreter for the Boundary Commission in 1855. The following year he signed a petition seeking territorial status for Arizona.[3] In 1859, Brady married Juanita Mendibles. The marriage produced four sons before her death in 1871.[4]

With the outbreak of the American Civil War, Brady found himself one of the few Union supporters in the area. He spent much of the war in Sonora gathering supplies and intelligence for Union forces.[1] At the end of the war he returned to Tucson where he served as an Indian interpreter and two terms as sheriff. Governor Anson P.K. Safford also appointed him a military adviser at the rank of major. In 1871, Brady represented Pima County, Arizona as a Council member during the 8th Arizona Territorial Legislature.[3] Later the same year he ran for Territorial Delegate to the United States House of Representatives but was narrowly defeated by Richard Cunningham McCormick.[4]

Following the creation of Pinal County in 1875, Brady moved from Tucson to Florence.[3] There he engaged in farming, ranching, and mining. Brady remarried in 1878. The second marriage, to María Antonia Ochóa, produced three sons and a daughter.[4] Brady served briefly as chairman of the board of prison commissioners in 1889. The same year, he was appointed a special agent by the United States Department of the Interior to help with investigation of James Reavis' land grant claim. He later returned for two additional terms in the territorial council, being elected to both the 16th (1891) and 19th (1897) sessions.[3]

Brady moved back to Tucson in 1899. He remained there till his death on May 2, 1902.[3][5] Brady Avenue in Tucson is named in his honor.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Smiland, Marilyn Carroll. "Brady, Peter Rainsford". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved July 16, 2011.
  2. ↑ Farish, Thomas Edwin (1915). History of Arizona. Vol 2. Phoenix: Filmer Brothers Electrotype Co. p. 283. OCLC 13763720.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Goff, John S. (1983). "Brady, Peter Rain(e)sford". Arizona Biographical Dictionary. Cave Creek, AZ: Black Mountain Press. pp. 13–4. OCLC 10740532.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Farish, p. 284
  5. ↑ Farish, p. 286
  6. ↑ Leighton, David (January 29, 2013). "Street Smarts: Brady Ave is short; namesake had stature". Arizona Daily Star.
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