His mother, Anne Devens, wife of Thomas Rand, was "probably daughter of Philip Devens" and nearly related to the family to which Judge Devens belonged.
Another patriotic ancestor, John Hicks, of Cambridge, was slain by the British in the retreat from Lexington, April 19, 1775. The Hon. Charles Saunders, former Mayor of Cambridge, first president of the Sons of the American Revolution, is also a descendant of John Hicks and second cousin to Miss Brazier.
Marion H. Brazier was born in Charlestown on the day that California was made a State, and was graduated from the Bunker Hill Grammar School at the close of the Civil War. This completed her schooling, but not her education, which has come through her c^)n- tact with the world, her ambition leading her to associate with her superiors in intellect, to keep up to date, and never to look back. After Miss Brazier had filled positions of trust as accountant and cashier for a number of years, her health became so seriously impaired as to demand a change " of scene and occupation. She crossed the continent in 1888, and while in Santa Fe a sudden inspiration came to her to write of the scenes in that picturesque city. Thus it happened that, in the room where General Lew Wallace had written "Ben-Hur," Miss Brazier wrote her first article for publication. While in California her pen was kept busy in supplying the local and New England papers with breezy specials on many topics. She was for a long time society and club editor of the Boston Sunday Post, regular contributor to the Boston Transcript, editor of a New York society magazine, and space writer for innumerable newspapers. She is a journalist of the wide-awake type, and has been the biographer of many noted people.
Her writing has been largely devoted to patriotic matters. The Patriotic Review, founded, edited, and published by Miss Brazier, is a fine example of historical literature. It has a good circulation and a host of appreciative readers. Miss Brazier is at present (1904) society editor of the Boston .Journal and a regular contributor to the Sunday Hirald and the Globe. She holds membership in the following organizations: New England Woman's Press Association; Charity Club; Actors' Church Alliance; Daughters of Veterans; U. S. W. V. Auxiliary; Daughters of New Hampshire and of Massachusetts; Woman's Club House Corporation; and in the National Society, D. A. R., in which she has founded two chapters — Bunker Hill and Paul Jones. Through her efforts the naval hero of the American Revolution is honored in Ma.ssachu.setts, and a handsome schoolhouse bears his name in East Boston.
ELIZA ANN BRADBURY was born in Augusta, Me., March 18, 1815. Her father, Thomas Westbrook Smith, was born in Dover, N.H., in 1785. He was a grandson of Thomas Westbrook Waldron and a great -great-grandson of Colonel Richard Waldron, who came to New Hampshire from England in 1635, and who was killed by Indians at his garrison in Dover in 1689. The Waldrons were among the oldest inhabitants of Dover, and bore prominent part in its early history.
Thomas Westbrook Smith came to Augusta in 1805, and for fifty years was one of the leading business men of that city. He died in March, 1855. His wife was Abigail Page. They had one son, Henry R. Smith. Their youngest child, Elizabeth Westbrook, died in infancy. Eliza Ann, the only surviving daughter, was married November 25, 1834, before she was twenty years of age, to the Hon. James Ware Bradbury, who was twelve years her senior. For a long period Mr. Bradbury was one of the leading members of the Kennebec County bar. Elected United States Senator in 1846, he served in Congress through the term ending March 4, 1853. Two of the four sons born to Mr. and Mrs. Bradbury died before their mother, an affliction from which she never quite rallied. Mrs. Bradbury died January 29, 1879. Her memory was always very precious to her husband. Nothing seemed to please him more than to have a sympathetic listener while he recounted the many pleasant reminiscences of his happy married life. The anniversary evenings of their marriage were always sacred to him. He would watch the clock (which had stood in the corner of the
