Henry Bradford was the second child and first surviving child of Alexander Keith Bradford and Margaret Moore. He was born May 7, 1954 (date from Matilda Bradford's Bible, though his headstone says 1858) in Dandridge, Jefferson County Tennessee. He died May 9, 1924 in Fackler.

Henry came from a family of lawyers, politicians, and generals. His family was on the wrong side of the war in Unionist Jefferson County, and moved to Barnardsville in Roane County, TN where his father, Alexander Keith, too old to be a active Confederate soldier, operated a ferry and rode for a time with Weckler's Battalion. His sourthern sympathies and involvements were prominent enough that when the Northern army took Roane County, the family was forced to flee.

Their exact route in not known. Henry's brother AK Jr. was born in 1866 in Texas, and his youngest sister Maria was born in Senatobia, MS in the midst of a typhoid epidemic. His mother died 3 days after Maria's birth and is buried in Senatobia. Under cover of night at the end of the Civil War with a wagonload of little children, including a motherless infant, AK Bradford arrived in Jackson County, AL with his children. He lived on land owned by his first cousin, General John Coffey, and was joined by his brother Theodoric who adopted and raised his youngest daughter.

The entire family is found in the 1870 Jackson County census, where Henry is 15 years old at listed "at school." His father died September 1, 1875, and his younger brother and sisters were spread among family member. His little brother Alex came to live with him.

Henry married twice. His first wife was Elizabeth Holder. They were married in Jackson County, December 3, 1876.

Henry and Elizabeth are found in the 1880 census for Beat 6, Jackson County AL with their first child, Charles Keith, four months old:

Elizabeth died February 10, 1890. Henry married Molly Ledbetter in June 2, 1892.

In the 1880 census, the Henry and Elizabeth live one house away from Lizzie Ledbetter, who is 8 at the time. Lizzie is the daughter of J.P and Lucy Ledbetter. Molly is the daughter of Pleasant and Elizabeth Ledbetter. She is 8 years old in the 1870 census, so she was born in 1862. JP is a brother to Pleasant. So Mollie is Lizzie's aunt.

Henry and Mollie are found in the 1900 Jackson County, AL census living in Fackler.

Mollie died two years before Henry, in 1922, according to her headstone. Henry died May 9, 1924 and is buried beside Mollie in Old Baptist Cemetery in Hollywood, AL at the age of 68.

Here are the children of Henry Bradford and Elizabeth Holder:

Charles Keith Bradford born July 22, 1880
Sally L. Bradford born August 02, 1882
Theodoric I. 'Buster" Bradford born March 5, 1885
John R. Bradford born September 15, 1888

Here are the children of Henry Bradford and Molly Ledbetter:

Alexander Bradford born April 22, 1893
Janie Bradford born August 10, 1895
Henry M. born March 22, 1898
Joe W. "Ned" Bradford born September 10, 1900
Forest Bradford born July 1, 1903
Napoleon "Nip" Bradford born May 15, 1905
Steven Bradford born November 7, 1907
Harold "Major" Bradford born January 7, 1911