Edward Bradford Whitehead (1893-1934)

Photo above:  Edward Bradford Whitehead stands between two men in the back row at the 1920 Game Warden Conference in Washington, D.C. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Museum and Archives.

Biography

Edward Bradford Whitehead was born on July 22, 1893, in Tallahassee, Florida, and he was raised in Bradfordville, Florida, alongside several siblings and stepsiblings. On March 29, 1921, Whitehead married Myrian Scott. However, less than 2 months into their marriage, she died after a medical operation in Thomasville, Georgia. He married his second wife, Anne Cooper, the following year. Before his marriage, he began working as the first game warden of the southern district in Leon County, Florida, and on March 12, 1919, the Bureau of Biological Survey (Bureau) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, one of the predecessor agencies of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, appointed Whitehead as a game warden. After serving as a game warden for several years, the Bureau appointed Whitehead as a game protector for the Division of Refuge Law Enforcement in Savannah, Georgia, and he dutifully enforced the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 and the Lacey Act until his death. 

Cause of Death

On December 8, 1934, Whitehead, accompanied by his wife, stopped two hunters on the highway near Savannah, Georgia. He approached the hunters to examine their game bag, which contained illegally killed ducks. While he attempted to search the game bag, one of the hunters, William Sheldon, shot Whitehead’s chest at close range before threatening to kill Whitehead’s wife. She retreated behind a car, and Sheldon fled and resisted arrest. Within an hour, Chatham County police shot and killed Sheldon. Chatham County police later arrested the other hunter. Whitehead received treatment at a Savannah hospital for the gunshot wound in his chest, but on December 10, 1934, he died from pneumonia complications.

Sources: 

Certificate of Death: Edward B. Whitehead. Filed 11 Dec. 1934. Georgia Department of Public Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Savannah, Georgia. 

Certificate of Death: Myrian Whitehead. Filed 25 May 1921. Georgia Department of Public Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Thomasville, Georgia.

City Directory. Savannah, Georgia, 1934. 

Department of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of the Census. “Department of Agriculture.” Official Register of the United States, 1928. 

Department of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of the Census. “Fifteenth Census of the United States: 1930 Population.” National Archives, 1930. 

Department of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of the Census. “Twelfth Census of the United States.” National Archives, 1900. 

“E.B. Whitehead to be Game Warden.” Tallahassee Democrat, 3 Oct. 1917. 

“E.B. Whitehead Dies of Wounds: Former Local Man to Buried in Savannah.” Tallahassee Democrat, 11 Dec. 1934. 

“Edward Bradford Whitehead.” Find A Grave, www.findagrave.com/memorial/124247242/edward-bradford-whitehead.  

“Federal Game Warden Dies After Being Shot By Negro At Savannah.” The Butler Herald, 13 Dec. 1934. 

Pigman, Edna A. “History of the Savannah Audubon Society.” The Oriole: A Quarterly Journal of Georgia Ornithology, vol. 3, no. 2, June 1938. 

“History of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.” U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, www.fws.gov/history-of-fws.

“Letter About U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Enforcement Personnel Who Have Been Killed in the Line of Duty.” Received by Craig Floyd.   

“Marriage License: E. Bradford Whitehead and Myrian Scott.” Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., Marriage Index, 1885-1951. Philadelphia County Pennsylvania Clerk of the Orphans' Court. 

“Summary of Assaults on Federal Agents, 1918-1964.” U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Museum and Archives. 

“U.S. Game Agent Edward Bradford Whitehead.” Officer Down Memorial Page, www.odmp.org/officer/14106-us-game-agent-edward-bradford-whitehead.