[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
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