CHARLES BRADSHAW, the editor of the Carrollton Patriot, and the president of the Illinois Press Association for the year 1904, was born in Sheffield, Illinois, December 30, 1856. His father, James F. Bradshaw, was a native of Kentucky, learned the cabinet maker's trade in early life and in connection with following that pursuit became a furniture dealer. He married Mary M. Smith, who was born in Fulton county, Illinois, and his death occurred in 1895. Mrs. Bradshaw resides with her son.

In the common schools Charles Bradshaw acquired his education, attending at Kirkwood, where the parental home was established in his early boyhood. A natural predilection for journalistic work was manifest in his early life. He was local correspondent for the country papers and afterward became local reporter for a town paper between the years 1876 and 1881, and on the 1st of January, 1882, he purchased a half interest in the Kirkwood Leader at Kirkwood, Illinois, of which he subsequently became sole owner. He continued the publication of that paper until the spring of 1888 and on the 9th of April of the same year he purchased from Clement L. Clapp The Patriot of Carrollton. Careful management enabled him in a few years to pay off all indebtedness and his ownership of The Patriot has proved a profitable investment. With a fair local advertising patronage and a constantly growing circulation he has made his business a success, at the same time giving to the public a journal which is creditable alike to the city and the district.

In April, 1892, he was elected to fill a vacancy in the Carrollton board of education and in April, 1893, was re-elected for the full term of three years. He joined the Illinois Press Association in 1883, the earliest date at which he was eligible to membership, and he has attended every annual meeting of the association with one exception in twenty-one years. He was elected its president at Cairo in May, 1903, and presided at the Galesburg meeting in February, 1904. His political affiliation he has given to the Republican party and his religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Baptist church.