 Brady did not get along well with his step-mother, and at the age of eight ran away from home to avoid beatings from his drunken father.He was found living on the streets of New York City by Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. a well-known and popular New York City philanthropist and the father of future US 26th President, Theodore Roosevelt.Many years later, as an adult, Brady would approach the younger Theodore Roosevelt, then governor of New York, at a 1900 conference in Portland, Oregon.