Morris Bradt
George M. Bradt
Delphine Bradt had an international reputation as an aviator
Morris Bradt, who came to America from Regasen, Prussia, was among the very few residents of Cameron Hill in the 1850s. He was "an ardent promoter of benevolism, brotherly love and harmony."
He had a home "on the spur" of Cameron Hill with a marvelous view and a vineyard.
Bradt, who was born around 1832, and his wife, Julia, were in New York when their daughter, Anna, was born around 1857. Julia was from Pennsylvania.
Just before the start of the Civil War, Bradt was a clerk in Chattanooga for another Prussian immigrant, Edward Ephraim.
However, the Bradts later bought the home of Michael Swick that was on the northwest corner of Railroad Avenue (Broad Street) and Seventh Street. Swick had built it in the early 1850s. Bradt acquired it early in 1863 for $3,000 in Confederate money. He also briefly owned the stately Rathburn home on Pine Street.
The Bradt home was confiscated for the use of Capt. Adler, provost marshal. Mrs. Bradt was among the volunteer nurses in town during the war.
The Bradts remained in Chattanooga after the war, and in 1867 Morris Bradt was among those who organized a Jewish cemetery.
By 1870 Morris Bradt had accumulated $10,000 in property. His Cameron Hill acreage was due to become increasingly valuable. The former vineyard was laid out in the Bradt Addition.
The couple had more children in the war period and afterward, including boys George, Guy and Gustave. A daughter, Minnie, died in 1874 when she was 12.
In 1870, Bradt was listed as a retired merchant though he was only 38, indicating he may have been in ill health. He survived the cholera epidemic of 1873, but he died on Dec. 9, 1875.
George M. Bradt, moved to Havana, Cuba, where he published the Havana Post. He was a leader in Havana's sports entertainment business and was active in the development of its tourist industry. The Havana Council voted $8,000 for the publication by George Bradt of a special edition to attract tourists.
George Bradt married Lenora Block of Chattanooga. She died in 1911 at the age of 45.
Delphine Bradt, a granddaughter of Morris and Julia Bradt, gained an international reputation as an aviator. Delphine Bradt, who was born in Chattanooga in 1887, was the first woman to fly a plane in Cuba - at Camp Colombia. She also was an artist who studied at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Art. She received two fellowships there. Delphine also studied art in Europe for several years. She met and married William Greenbaum in the Philippines in 1925.
Two years later, in December 1927, Delphine Bradt Greenbaum died soon after giving birth to a daughter. She was just 40. She was buried at the Mizpah Cemetery in Chattanooga.
Her work is included in the collection of the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Art.