David Bradlee
David Bradlee, a 31-year-old tailor, participated in the Boston Tea Party along with three of his brothers, Nathaniel, Thomas, and Josiah, and his brother-in-law, John Fulton.
The group gathered at brother Nathaniel’s home in Boston, Massachusetts, before and after the “destruction of the tea”. Their sister, Sarah Bradlee Fulton, and Nathaniel’s wife, Ann, helped with their disguises.
Prior to the Boston Tea Party, David Bradlee actively took part in early revolutionary acts. He was served a warrant to appear in court and sued for damages for taking part in the tarring and feathering of a man named George Gailer on October 28, 1769. Bradlee and others targeted Gailer for presumably informing upon John Hancock for smuggling. A merchant named Elizabeth Cuming wrote that the attack on Gailer had been carried out by “a large crowd of those who call themselves gentlemen”. Gailer filed suit against his attackers but failed to appear in court; therefore, David and the others were not required to pay two thousand pounds sterling in damages.
The following year, Bradlee assisted a town watchman in carrying a corpse after the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770. In addition to his participation in the “destruction of the tea” with members of his family in 1773, Bradlee served as a Captain in the Massachusetts Train of Artillery from 1777 to 1780 under Col. Thomas Crafts, Jr., during the Revolutionary War.
David Bradlee died in Boston, Massachusetts, on March 6, 1811. He is buried in the Central Burying Ground in Boston, Massachusetts.
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