William Henry Braby and Jennie E. Wilkinson

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Husband William Henry Braby ^{1 2}

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            AKA: W. H. Brady 3
           Born: 23 Jul 1847 or 1848 - Kingston, Ontario, Canada 2 4
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         Father: William Braby (1806-1882) 2 4
         Mother: Marian Witherspoon (      -1871) 2 4

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       Marriage: 23 Nov 1870 4 5

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Wife Jennie E. Wilkinson ^{3 4}

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            AKA: Jennie E. Wilkison 5
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         Father: William S. Wilkinson (      -      ) 4 6
         Mother: Mary E. Robinson (      -      ) 4

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Children

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1 F Maude M. Braby ^{4 5}

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            AKA: Maud Braboy 7
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         Spouse: Charles C. Cunningham (      -      ) 7 8

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2 F Lillian May Braby ^{4 5}

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3 F Mayme Braby ⁵

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            AKA: Mary Braby 4
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General Notes: Husband - William Henry Braby

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He was the fifth of a family of sixteen children. His residence in Canada terminated at the age of sixteen, when he started on the journey that found its end in Clinton, Beaver County, Pennsylvania. For two years he was with his uncle, William Somerville, who dealt extensively in coal. He then became a clerk in the store of Pierce, Somerville & Co., in the same town, and remained with that firm a period of two years, and later with the Clinton Coal Company sixteen years, during which time his salary was gradually increased from $20 to $150 per month. In 1877 he decided to branch out for himself in commercial life, so he opened a hardware store in Wampum, and as his business grew to large dimensions during the next four years he built a store-room and added a stock of dry goods. In 1888, he again increased his facilities and branched out still farther by adding the departments of furniture and undertaking to his other successful ventures. On Jan. 1, 1897, he sold all of his mercantile interests, retaining only the furniture store. In 1894 he opened a livery barn, being associated in this venture with his son-in-law Charles C. Cunningham. In 1896, he negotiated for the large sandstone quarries that lie two miles south of Wampum, and after satisfactory terms and arrangements for payment had been made took possession, and began developing the resources of his new venture.
He was a Democrat of the Jacksonian type to the very backbone. He served multiple terms as postmaster of Wampum, and he was a member of two secret societies-Wampum Lodge, No. 4, I. O. O. F., and New Castle Lodge, F. & A. M. [BOBLC, 546]

He remembered a happy boyhood mainly spent in the Canadian green woods. Up to the age of sixteen years, when he left home, he went to school whenever he could be spared, the teaching being carried on in a rude log house hastily put up for the purpose. William Summerville, who had married his aunt, Catherine, was engaged in the coal business in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, and when he was sixteen years old he accepted their invitation to visit them. Thus, on Christmas night, 1863, he reached their home, coming by way of the Pennsylvania & Lake Erie Railroad, which had been completed from New Castle to Erie in the previous year. He then took a hack from Girard to New Castle, and the Pennsylvania line again, that then ran a branch to Clinton from New Castle. He found work in the mines which were under the direction of Pierce, Summerville & Co., and remained more or less connected with his uncle's interests for eighteen years, working as a miner for only eighteen months. He was made a clerk in the company store at a salary of $20 per month, and was steadily advanced until he was made bookkeeper, and then paymaster, when he was given $150 per month, with free house rent and the keeping of his horse.
In 1876 Mr. Braby embarked in the hardware and tinware manufacturing business at Wampum, and after it was well started he hired a man to look after it and went back to his old firm for six months, when he resumed the operation of his own store. This he conducted for many years, and then disposed of that business in order to open a dry goods and notion store, owning the property on which he located it. This he continued alone for five years. He then took in Frank E. Major as a partner, and five years later took in H. J. McCready, when the business was conducted under the firm style of the Beaver Valley Supply Company. Mr. Braby also engaged in the stone business for eight years, selling out to the Clydesdale Stone Company in April, 1906. In the same year, in association with his son-in-law, C. C. Cunningham, he bought the Davidson Company store at West Pittsburg, and the business was carried on under the style of C. C. Cunningham & Co.'s General Store. Mr. Cunningham was also interested in the Wampum business and attended largely to Mr. Braby's affairs. Mr. Braby owned stock in the Crescent National Cement Works and was vice-president of the First National Bank at Wampum. In partnership with J. A. Oatman, he owned fifty acres of land in Beaver County, and had many subsidiary interests.
The family residence was a commodious frame house of fourteen rooms, which was situated on the corner of Clyde and Main Streets, Wampum. As a recreation he was engaged in the raising of fine poultry, giving special attention to the Rose Comb Black Minorca variety. In politics he was a Democrat of the old type and served for eight years as postmaster at Wampum, under President Cleveland's administration. He belonged to the order of Elks at New Castle and at one time was identified with the Odd Fellows. [TCHNCLC, 998]

1 Editor, Book of Biographies, Lawrence County, PA (Buffalo, NY: Biographical Publishing Company, 1897), Pg 471, 546.

2 Aaron L. Hazen, 20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., 1908), Pg 998.

3 Aaron L. Hazen, 20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., 1908), Pg 503.

4 Editor, Book of Biographies, Lawrence County, PA (Buffalo, NY: Biographical Publishing Company, 1897), Pg 546.

5 Aaron L. Hazen, 20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., 1908), Pg 999.

6 Aaron L. Hazen, 20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., 1908), Pg 502.

7 Aaron L. Hazen, 20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., 1908), Pg 877.

8 Editor, Book of Biographies, Lawrence County, PA (Buffalo, NY: Biographical Publishing Company, 1897), Pg 471.