Bradlee Family of Altamonte Springs

Thank you to member Marla Pickelsimer for doing much of this research in 2018

The Bradlee family were the first owners of the Bradlee-McIntyre House. They began construction of the home in 1885, then in Altamonte Springs, and the finishing touches were completed in 1888. The Bradlees were wealthy New Englanders with a large summer home near Boston. They constructed their winter cottage in Altamonte Springs to escape the cold, like many of the early residents did in those days.

Nathaniel Jeremiah Bradlee: builder and first owner….

Nathaniel Jeremiah Bradlee (June 1, 1829 – December 17, 1888)
  • born April 17, 1826 into a prominent Boston family
  • an early ancestor, also named Nathaniel Bradlee, participated in the Boston Tea Party along with Paul Revere; a sister to this Nathaniel helped dress the “Indians” and kept water boiling to remove the paint from their faces.
  • started his architectural career at seventeen as draftsman for a leading Boston architect
  • designed Harvard College’s Gray” Hall which is still standing
  • at age 26, in 1856, married Julia Weld, daughter of a well-to-do Baltimore merchant
  • designed numerous structures including over 20 residences in Boston
  • participated actively in Boston public affairs, including the Boston Water Board
  • moved the seven-story Pelham Hotel several feet back on its lot to allow for the widening of adjacent streets; hotel covered 5200 square feet and weighed an estimated 10,00 tons.
  • reported in the 1860 census with a family unit including a daughter, Caroline (1 1/2 years) and three servants from Ireland
  • moved in 1866 into the Alva Kittredge House, an enormous Greek rival mansion built in 1826
  • listed in 1870 census with a second daughter, Eleanor (3 yrs) and his second wife to-be, Anna Vose as a “domestic”
  • personal income reported in 1870 census as $80,000; personal estate as $60,000
  • shown in 1880 census with a third daughter, Helen, (4 yrs); two children had died in infancy—Joseph William in 1858 and Julia Rebecca in 1860
  • first wife, Julia, died August 11, 1880
  • married Anna Vose December 29, 1881
  • contracted in 1885 by Henry Herman Westinghouse  to design and build “cottages” on several lots Westinghouse had bought near the Altamonte Hotel  
  • apparently designed and built the house we now call the “Bradlee-McIntyre” for his own use as a winter vacation home
  • died suddenly in December of 1888 of  “apoplexy” while on a train travelling for business between Boston and Keene, New Hampshire
  • buried in Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts in Mount Auburn Cemetery
  • provided in his will for his wife, three daughters, several relatives and the following charities—Young Men’s Christian Union, Children’s Hospital, and the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association (an organization for promoting the “mechanic arts” such as engineering and architecture)

Wikipedia article on Nathaniel J. Bradlee…

Julia Rebecca Weld: first wife of Nathaniel Bradlee’s

  • born in 1836 into a wealthy Boston family known for its philanthropy
  • first documented in the wealthy Boston suburb of Roxbury, Massachusetts as the fourteen year-old third child of George and Lydia Weld
  • married Nathaniel J. Bradlee April 17, 1855/6 in Roxburry
  • gave birth to five children: Elizabeth Lydia, Eleanor Callermore, Helen Curtis lived to adulthood but Joseph Williams and Caroline Louisa died in infancy
  • received $20,000 in her father’s will in 1875
  • appeared in the 1880 census and the 44 year-old wife of Bradlee with her three surviving daughters still included in the household
  • died August 11, 1836 at age 44 of “apoplexy” (cerebral hemorrage or stroke)
  • buried in Cambridge, Massachusetts

Anna Mehitable Vose: second wife of Nathaniel Bradlee

  • born about 1835 in Maine; father-Josiah Hayden Vose, mother-Mary Tucker Vose
  • orphaned at age 10; mother died in1837, father died in 1845
  • recorded in 1850 census at 15 years old, as part of the household of, presumably an uncle, S.J.S. Voss, in Lancaster, Massachusetts
  • recorded in 1870 census, at age 34, as “keeping house” in the household of Nathaniel and Julia Bradlee
  • recorded in 1880 in a separate household as widowed
  • married Nathaniel Bradlee December 29, 1881 not quite a year andd 5 months after the death of his first wife, Julia
  • in 1892 leased her winter home in Altamonte, the present day Bradlee-McIntyre to U. S. Grant, Jr. for the winter season (four years after the death of her husband)
  • died February 7, 1899 in Manhattan, New York; buried in Cambridge, Massachusetts in Munt Auburn Cemetery
  • in her will divided the bulk of her estate among her stepdaughters, Bradlee’s daughters, Elizabeth, Eleanor, and Helen
  • her heirs or estate sold the Bradlee-McIntyre to Mr. Henry Green of Cambridge, Massachusetts some time prior to January of 1900