Mathew B. Brady’s date and place of birth are uncertain. No records of Brady’s birth have been discovered.1
Date of Birth
According to one source, it is generallybelieved that he was born in 1823 and that the Library of Congress accepts 1823 as his date of birth.2
The 1830 U.S. Census recorded Andrew Brady’s household, which included his wife and six children—four boys and two girls. The census record classifies the family by sex and in age group ranges. It provides the following information concerning the children:
| Age Group | Sex | Total |
|---|---|---|
| 5 – 9 | Male | 2 |
| 5 – 9 | Female | 1 |
| Under 5 | Male | 2 |
| Under 5 | Female | 1 |
Mathew’s younger brother, John A. Brady, was born in New York in 1829, placing him in the under-5 age category in the 1830 census. If Mathew was the other male child under 5, his birth year would likely fall between 1825 and 1830, which is later than what most Brady research suggests.
The 1850 U.S. census indicates that Mathew Brady was 30 years old suggesting that he was born in 1820.3
A 1851 article states that Brady is “now” about 30 years old.4 If accurate, this suggests Brady was born in 1820 or 1821.
The 1855 NY State census indicates that Brady is 33 years old, i.e., born in or about 1822.
A Civil War draft registration record, dated June 1863, indicates that Mathew B. Brady is 44 years old, thereby suggesting that he was born in 1819. Civil War Draft Registrations Records, 1863-1865 (as of 1 July 1863) identify Brady’s age as 44, and birth year as about 1819.
Mathew died on January 15, 1896, and his death certificate lists his age as 72, indicating he was likely born in 1823 or 1824.5
It appears that Mathew B. Brady was born between 1819 and 1824.
Place of Birth
1Pre-Civil War census records list Brady as being born in Ireland. Brady’s birthplace and birth year has been identified by one source as Cork, Ireland in 1823.
The 1830 U.S. Census records the household of Andrew Brady, Mathew’s father, which included Andrew, his wife, and their six children—four boys and two girls. Of the eight members in the family, five were listed as aliens, meaning they were not born in the U.S. It is widely accepted that Brady’s parents were born in Ireland, accounting for two of the five aliens.
John A. Brady, a brother of Mathew B. Brady, died on August 9, 1851, at the age of 22.6 John was born in 1829 in New York shortly prior to the 1830 census.7 This suggests that John was one of the two males recorded as under five years old at the time. Consequently, three of the remaining five children were born outside the U.S. The two other children in the under 5 age category, i.e., born between 1825 and 1830, were native-born—one a girl and the other a boy. As mentioned earlier, it is unlikely that Mathew was born between 1825 and 1830. If he wasn’t born during this period he would be one of the remaining three children, ages 5 to 9, who were foreign born.
The 1850 U.S. census,8 the 1860 U.S. census9 and the 1855 NY State census10 indicate that Mathew Bradywas born in Ireland. The 1855 NY census identifies Brady as “naturalized”. Brady’s Civil War draft registration record, dated June 1863, indicates that Mathew B. Brady was born in Ireland.
The 1855 NY State census states Mathew resided in this city or town (New York City) for 32 years. The census indicates that he is 33 yeaers old. As it is generally accepted that he moved to New York City as a young man in about the 1840s, it is probable that he had resided in the U.S. (not just in New York City) for 32 years, since 1823 . If so, he could have immigrated to the U.S. in 1822 as a one year old.
A 1911 magazine article11 quotes a further source which states that Mathew B. Brady was born at Cork, Ireland, not in New Hampshire, in about 1823.
One author observes that Mathew Brady was born in 1823, near Saratoga Springs, New York.12 Another author states that Brady was born in Warren County, New York, around 1823.13
Brady appears twice in the 1870 U.S. census; both indicate that Bradywas born in New York and that he is 40 years old.14
In a later life 1891 interview, Brady states that he was born in Warren County, New York, in the woods about Lake George in about 1823 – 1824.15
Brady died in 1896. Although difficult to read, his death certificate records his birthplace as the “US.”16 However, this information is considered unreliable, as the certificate also incorrectly lists both his parents’ birthplaces as the “US,” when they were actually born in Ireland.
Mathew Brady was born in either Warren County, New York or in Cork, Ireland.
It was only after Brady became famous that he declared himself to have been born in New York, something many biographers have repeated ever since.
However, one author who previously wrote that Brady was born in New York, has changed her opinion. She subsequently concluded “[t]he issue now seems to have been resolved … Bradywas most likely born in Ireland and became a US citizen.”17 Based on evidence that she uncovered, she concludes: “From the new documents, I have no doubt that Mathew Brady was born in Ireland.”18
There are compelling reasons to believe that Brady was born in Ireland. In pre-Civil War census records and 1863 draft forms, his birthplace is consistently noted as Ireland.
Records of Brady’s birthplace changed from Ireland to New York sometime after 1863.
Some historians speculate that Brady changed his birthplace after he became famous due to anti-Irish sentiment.
“One possible answer lies in the politics of the day and Brady’s financial situation . . . signs reading ‘No Irish need apply …’ were commonplace in New York and Boston at the time. The Irish were hated and discriminated against.”19 Anti-Irish sentiments in 19th century United States stereotyped the Irish as violent and alcoholic. After 1860, many Irish sang songs about signs and notices reading “Help wanted – no Irish need apply” or similar. Historians have debated the issue of anti-Irish job discrimination in the United States. Nineteenth-century Protestant American “Nativist” discrimination against Irish Catholics reached a peak in the mid-1850s when the Know-Nothing Movement tried to oust Catholics from public office.20 “In the mid-nineteenth century, many Americans perceived a threat to their national racial and religious identity. New immigrants—from eastern and southernEurope, as well as from Portugal and Ireland—were arriving on American shores. They were swarthy and spoke strange languages. They worshiped differently than the native Protestant majority. And they were coming in droves. Between 1880 and 1910, a nation of fewer than 100 million saw the arrival of more than six million Irish and nearly two million Italians.
Nativists had deep reservations about the quality of the ‘racial stock’ of these immigrants. Their bigger concern, however, was with the faith of these new arrivals, as Catholic loyalties were presumed to lie several thousand miles acrosstheAtlantic—inRome.The Know-Nothingmovement that sprang up before the Civil War, for instance, was founded in large part “to resist the insidious policy of the Church of Rome and all other foreign influence. It sent dozens of its members to Congress.”21
1. Kunhardt, Dorothy Meserve & Philip B., Jr., Mathew Brady And His World, Time-Life Books, Inc. (1977), p. 36.
2. Sullivan, George, Mathew Brady His Life and Photographs, Cobblehead Books (1994), p.7.
3. 1850 Census Record (9/6/1850).
4. Lester, C. Edwards, “M. B. Brady and the Photographic Art,” The Photographic Art Journal, v. 1 (Jan. 1851).
5. State of New York, Certificate and Record of Death, No. 1747 (16 January 1896).
6. New York Herald, Death Notice, August 11, 1851.
7. Reference is also found to Brady’s “younger” brother named John “Andrew” by Hoobler, Dorothy and Thomas, in Photographing History The Career of Mathew Brady, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1977, p. 54.
8. 1850 U.S. Census, Town of Southfield, County of Richmond, NY, lines 13-14 (enumerated 20 Aug 1850).
9. 1860 U.S. Census, Town of Middleton, County of Richmond, NY, lines 9-10 (enumerated 18 Oct 1860).
10. Id.
11. Wilson’s Photographic Magazine (1911) states: “… in the American Review of Reviews for March 1911 mathew b. brady was born at Cork, Ireland (not in New Hampshire, as is generally stated), about 1823. …” The article attributes bibliographical information to Charles E. Fairman of Washington D.C. – American Review of Reviews for March 1911, p. 306, fn.
12. Pritzker, Barry, Mathew Brady, JG Press, World Publications Group, Inc. (1992), p. 7.
13. Panzer, Mary, Mathew Brady and the Image of History, p. 9.
14. 1870 U.S. censuses: (1) County of New York, 18th Ward, District 5, p. 9, line 10 (enumerated 21 June 1870); and (2) Washington 2nd Ward, Washington, District of Columbia, p. 151, line 19 (enumerated 25 June 1870).
15. Townsend, George Alfred, “Still Taking Pictures,” The World (New York) (12 April 1891):
16. State of New York, Certificate and Record of Death, No. 1747 (16 January 1896).
Endnotes
17. “Mystery of birthplace of Mathew Brady, American Civil War photographer resolved (PHOTO)”, http:www.irishcentral.com/roots/genealogy/americas-most-famous-civil war-photographer-was-likely-born-in-Ireland-photos (9/15/2016).
18. “Mystery of birthplace of Mathew Brady, American Civil War photographer resolved (PHOTO)”, http:www.irishcentral.com/roots/genealogy/americas-most-famous-civil war-photographer-was-likely-born-in-Ireland-photos (9/15/2016). Author who changed her opinion is Hoobler.
19. Id.
20. Wikipedia contributors, “Anti-Irish sentiment,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Anti-Irish_sentiment&oldid=1108280770 (accessed September 25, 2022).
21.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-real-origins-of-columbus-day_b_57f8fad7e4b0b665ad8180f c (accessed October 12, 2022)
