Western Pennsylvania Genealogy
Compiled by Douglas H. Lusher


Family Group Record



picture
Abram R. Braden and Jennette Butterfield




Husband Abram R. Braden 1

           Born: 18 Nov 1855 - near Cooksburg, Forest Co, PA 2
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 


         Father: Jacob Braden (1797-1873) 2
         Mother: Lavinia Bashline (      -1874) 2


       Marriage: 1885 3



Wife Jennette Butterfield 4 5

            AKA: Jane Butterfield 6
           Born:  - near Clarington, Forest Co, PA
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 


         Father: Oran Butterfield (1806-1893) 1 7
         Mother: Elizabeth Spencer (Abt 1841-Aft 1898) 1 4 8




Children
1 M Alexander Caughey 3

           Born: Abt 1879
     Christened: 
           Died: 1913 3
         Buried: 
         Status: Foster Child
         Spouse: Did Not Marry



General Notes: Husband - Abram R. Braden


He spent his boyhood at home, remaining with his parents until twenty years old. He had such educational advantages as the immediate locality afforded, and began to help with the home work at an early age, being only ten or eleven when he was set to driving the oxen, horses or mules, and he worked in the fields before he was able to handle the harrow. When twenty years old he entered the employ of John Baxter, who was lumbering one mile above Cooksburg, and received sixty cents a day for rolling logs. In three weeks' time his wages were raised to eighty cents a day, which was as much as the best men were paid at that time, and later he was advanced to a dollar a day. He continued in Mr. Baxter's employ for four years, during which time he helped to build a dam, and he worked in the water even in the cold weather and snow. Subsequently he was associated with Mr. Baxter as partner in other operations, and after they had been together four years he bought Mr. Baxter's steam mill and moved it to Clarington, just below the bridge on the Jefferson County side of the river. Two years later he moved across the river into Forest County and operated the mill there for five years, not only cutting lumber, but also dealing in it and building boats, which were loaded with lumber and taken down to Pittsburgh, where the boats would be sold for transporting coal. Besides, he would sometimes buy lumber and square timber and run rafts down the river. Mr. J. B. Pearsall, in his time a well known man in that section, offered to aid him with cash whenever necessary, as he owned a store and was anxious to have the mill employ as many hands as possible. Thus Mr. Braden was often able to buy rafts from strangers on Mr. Pearsall's recommendation, and a couple of times the latter even advanced the money required to transact business. Mr. Braden had one heavy loss caused by the failure of a man to whom he had sold boats in Pittsburgh. During one panic he was given accommodation at the Henderson bank in Brookville, and in the course of a few months was able to pay off all his indebtedness. Indeed, though he often had to struggle to come out successfully, he had the comfort and assistance of true friends during all his career. On one occasion, when he had an opportunity to buy some standing timber at Wyncoope, he had only one thousand dollars cash to invest, and had to go in debt for twenty-two thousand. But he lost no time in commencing to cut off the lumber, and when he sold the tract got what he had paid for it, after having cleared eighteen thousand dollars on the timber. This gave him a fine start, and, what was more important, the confidence to handle big deals. Then, in company with Jim O'Hara, he paid seven thousand dollars cash for a stand of timber which they cut the same winter, Dave Thompson, of Brookville, taking the job of putting it into the river and running it to Pittsburgh. Mr. Braden's profits in that spring were fifteen hundred dollars. He next entered into an equal partnership with Mr. Thompson on a job which netted him twenty-two hundred dollars, at its completion buying out his partner and continuing the work alone, lumbering and sawing on the Clarion three miles below Clarington. Frequently he would buy timber tracts and sell the land after it had been cut over, being in partnership with Mr. O'Hara in several such deals. Meantime he built many boats which were sent down the river loaded and sold after the cargo was disposed of.
In 1908 Mr. Braden was actively associated with the establishment of the Greenwood Gas Company, he and his nephew, Leo Braden, leasing twelve hundred or fifteen hundred acres in the vicinity of the Greenwood Church, in Forest County. Leo Braden had been the prime mover in this enterprise. He found he could secure leases if his uncle was willing to back him, and the latter acquired a substantial interest, upon which he realized during his connection with the company and when they sold out for seventy thousand dollars. After a good well had been drilled and it was easy to sell stock the production was steadily increased by the drilling of more wells, until the company had twenty-one in operation. Meantime, the business had been incorporated for thirty-two thousand dollars. After severing his connection with the Greenwood Company Mr. Braden took stock in another company which had been started. The first well they sunk proved dry, and some of the stockholders dropped out, but others were drilled until the production commenced, and then the concern was incorporated as the Braden Oil & Gas Company, which opened several productive wells before Mr. Braden sold his interest, for which he received seven thousand dollars. Subsequently he started the Barlett-Braden Oil & Gas Company, which came to have four producing wells, and he also held stock in another similar company. Mr. Braden's operations were successful, but his earlier experiences in this line were rather discouraging, he having helped to drill sixteen wells before striking one good one. For several years Mr. Braden was interested in a general store at Clarington, and he long owned a little sawmill there. Clarington lay twelve miles north of Brookville, Jefferson County. He had stock in a Trust Company at Warren, Pennsylvania, and encouraged all the enterprises necessary to bring proper facilities for conducting business in his part of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Braden did not have any political or official ambitions, but he was a public-spirited citizen and a good judge of lumber, and when the school board of his district, having contracted for a new schoolhouse, bought some lumber from an old school building for use in the construction of the new one, and he secured an injunction against its use. This action was taken in the interest of about two hundred taxpayers of the same mind as himself. The District court issued an injunction against the school board, and appointed Mr. Braden inspector of material, and in that capacity he rejected all unfit material offered, much to the satisfaction of his fellow citizens generally. [HJC 1917 II, 109]

picture

Sources


1 —, Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People, Vol. II (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Company, 1917), Pg 111.

2 —, Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People, Vol. II (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Company, 1917), Pg 109.

3 —, Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People, Vol. II (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Company, 1917), Pg 110.

4 Kate M. Scott, History of Jefferson County, Pennsylvania (Syracuse, NY: D. Mason & Co., Publishers, 1888), Pg 724.

5 —, Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People, Vol. II (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Company, 1917), Pg 110, 111.

6 —, Commemorative Biographical Record of Central Pennsylvania, Including the Counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion. (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1898), Pg 1341.

7 Kate M. Scott, History of Jefferson County, Pennsylvania (Syracuse, NY: D. Mason & Co., Publishers, 1888), Pg 723.

8 —, Commemorative Biographical Record of Central Pennsylvania, Including the Counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion. (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1898), Pg 1340.


Home | Table of Contents | Surnames | Name List

This Web Site was Created 15 Apr 2023 with Legacy 9.0 from Millennia