Bios: WILLIAM HENRY BRABY, 20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County Pennsylvania and Representative Citizens
  
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      WILLIAM HENRY BRABY,*  not proofed by submitter
  
  [p. 998] a retired merchant, residing at Wampum, was born in Kingston,
  Canada, July 23, 1848, and is a son of William and Marion (Witherspoon)
  Braby.
  
  The father of Mr. Braby was born February 2, 1806, in the city of
  London, England. For twenty-one years he has served in the British Army,
  leaving with the rank of sergeant. He was subsequently made a gamekeeper
  in the royal forest preserves, and he remained in his native land until
  1828. In the meanwhile he had married Marion Witherspoon, who was born
  at Aberdeen, Scotland, and was a daughter of a powder manufacturer
  there. After crossing the Atlantic Ocean, William Braby and wife settled
  in Northern Canada, near Stratford, where they spent their means in the
  purchase of a pioneer farm from the Government. Their nearest neighbor
  was a lone bachelor and the nearest family was five miles distant, so
  their social life was somewhat limited. Their time was fully occupied,
  however, in clearing enough land on which to raise a crop of wheat and
  in putting up their log cabin. Farm work was done entirely with oxen,
  but when Mr. Braby wished to sell his butter and eggs he preferred to
  walk the ten miles to the market at Stratford rather than to make use of
  the slow-going beasts of burden. He succeeded in clearing up his farm
  and lived on it until 1872. The death of his wife on May 22, 1871,
  brought about a desire for change and in the next year he sold his farm
  of 125 acres and spent the remainder of his life in visiting his
  children, on several occasions coming to Lawrence County, Pennsylvania.
  The English Government rewarded his military services by a pension. He
  died in October, 1882. His family numbered sixteen children, eleven of
  whom survived infancy, these being: Hannah and Harriet, both of whom are
  deceased; Margaret, wife of William Cotterell; and William H., James,
  George, Edmund, Emily, Emma, David and Banjamin, both daughters being
  deceased.
  
  William Henry Braby remembers 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 is now
  carried on under the style of C. C. Cunningham & Co.'s General Store.
  Mr. Cunningham is also interested in the Wampum business and attends
  largely to Mr. Braby's affairs. The latter is one of the most
  substantial citizens of this place. He owns stock in the Crescent
  National Cement Works and is vice-president of the First National Bank
  at Wampum. In partnership with J. A. Oatman, he owns fifty acres of land
  in Beaver County, and has many subsidiary interests.
  
  On November 23, 1870, he was married to Jennie E. Wilkison, who is a
  daughter of William Wilkison, and they have three children?Maude M.,
  Lillian May and Mayme. The eldest daughter married C. C. Cunningham,
  mentioned above, and they have two children, Lewis and Clara. The family
  residence is a commodious frame house of fourteen rooms, which is
  beautifully situated on the corner of Clyde and Main Streets, Wampum.
  Mr. Braby has practically retired from business. As a recreation he is
  engaged in the raising of fine poultry, giving special attention to the
  Rose Comb Black Minorca variety. In politics he is a Democrat of the old
  type and served for eight years as postmaster at Wampum, under President
  Cleveland's administration. He belongs to the order of Elks at New
  Castle and formerly was identified with the Odd Fellows. Mr. Braby is
  one of Wampum's most public-spirited and useful citizens.
  
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  
  20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County Pennsylvania and
  Representative Citizens Hon. Aaron L. Hazen Richmond-Arnold Publishing
  Company, Chicago, Ill., 1908
  
  Co. Histories <http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/lawrence/>
  Updated: 15 Feb 2002