USA > Pennsylvania > Beaver County > Genealogical and personal history of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, Volume I > Part 8
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(IV) David Crockett Braden, third son and child of Alfred B. and Celina R. (Boyle) Braden, was born on the Braden homestead, Chippewa township, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, in the stone house now occupied by Frank Partington, March 6, 1855. He first attended the Harbison school- house, later taking up his studies in other schools in Chippewa township, and when he was twenty-one years of age traveled to southwestern Kansas, in that region taking up a claim of two hundred and sixty acres. He had been in that state but thirty days when he met with an accident that while it has to a certain extent disabled him, only put him more on his mettle to prove his worth and to succeed in life despite the handicap thus incurred. When the accident took place he and a cousin were riding upon a wagon heavily loaded with lumber, near Kinsley, Edwards county, Kansas, both carrying shot-guns. The horses drawing the load started suddenly, the jar shifted the lumber, a piece of which struck the hammer of one of the guns and discharged it, the charge lodging in Mr. Braden's arm, amputation of the wounded member following soon afterward. Mr. Braden disposed of his claim after this event and for three years, from 1876 to 1879, hunted in Kansas, New Mexico, and Indian Territory, becoming an expert shot and for a number of years holding the championship of the United States at one armed shooting. Among the game that fell before him in that time were numerous buffalo, while he was equally successful in hunting other wild game, and since that time each hunting season has found him in the field, his skill having mastered revolver, shot-gun, and rifle shooting, in all of which he is adept. For many years he was a well-known figure and his a well-known name in trap-shooting circles, his average being 93%, a degree of consistency seldom attained. While a resident of Kansas he was appointed deputy sheriff and later deputy United States marshal, posi- tions he held for several years and to which he was appointed because of
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his reputation for quickness with a weapon and for accuracy of aim, qualities essential in what the language of that locality and day called "gun play." As the incumbent of these offices he assisted in the capture of many of the law-breaking desperadoes that infested that part of the country in earlier days, menacing the life and property of travelers along the trails and roads, and when so inclined, can relate many exciting and thrilling experiences through which he passed in the performance of the duties of his offices.
Returning to his native county, during Cleveland's second administra- tion of the office of chief executive of the United States, he was for two years a mail carrier in Beaver Falls, and for three years served as jury commissioner of Beaver county, 1903-04-05, and at the expiration of his term of office was appointed tipstaff by Judge Holt for three years. He was then appointed county detective for a like number of years. He is a Democrat in affairs of national political moment, but in local matters promises allegiance to no party or faction, taking, nevertheless, an active part and interest in the politics of his city, which he served for nineteen successive years as precinct committeeman. Mr. Braden's career has com- bined much of the unusual with a large degree of the spectacular, and he has conducted himself through his varied experiences with the straight- forwardness of self reliant manhood, and the uprightness of a true gentle- man.
RAYMER This branch of the Raymer family has no American his- tory extending further into the past than to Henry Raymer, born in Saxony, Germany, in 1825, the first of his line to come to the American shores and to the United States, although in the Father- land the family history is an ancient and honorable one, comprising the lives of men who held high position in the busy industrial world of that greatest of continental countries and responsible place. in the service of the Emperor. The name was introduced into American life by the arrival in the United States of Henry Raymer and his two sisters, Barbara and Christina, in 1845, Henry Raymer being at that time twenty years of age. They came at once to Pittsburgh, Barbara subsequently marrying Charles Seeley, Christina, Henry Henry, both remaining in the city of Pittsburgh, where they resided at their deaths. After his marriage, Henry Raymer moved to New Brighton, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, settling there about 1854, and in that locality operated a cigar store and factory combined, there manufacturing the cigars that he sold in the store. He had learned the cigar-maker's trade in his native land, and while in Pittsburgh had made that his occupation. In 1861 the family residence was changed to East Liverpool, Ohio, later to Illinois for about a year, when Henry Raymer returned to Beaver county, opening a general store in Beaver Falls, which he conducted successfully until 1880, when he became a traveling salesman in
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the employ of a Pittsburgh tobacco house, a business in which he con- tinued until his death. He was a member of the Lutheran Church, his wife a communicant of the Episcopalian religion.
He married Elizabeth Clark, daughter of William Clark and widow of a Mr. Burns, a steamboat captain, operating on the Ohio river, who met his death when the boiler of a ship of which he was in command exploded. By this first marriage Elizabeth Clark was the mother of one daughter, Mary, who married W. C. Hale, of Chicago. They were residents of that city at the time of the terribly destructive fire that laid so heavy a hand upon the life and property of Chicago, and, as a volunteer nurse on the relief corps, performed such valiant and sacrificial service that she per- manently impaired her health and died a year later, the victim of her own heroic spirit. Elizabeth Clark was, as has been stated, a daughter of William Clark, a descendant of an old English family among the earliest in the Virginia colony. He was a physician by profession, his practice being in the vicinity of Morefield, Virginia, and in the Revolutionary War he fought with the courage and determination of a true American for the side whose cause he believed just, and was with General Washington at Valley Forge. His plantation was a large one, and in its cultivation he employed many slaves, Elizabeth, mother of William Raymer, of this chronicle, having as her childhood nurse a colored "Mammy," than whom none was more skilled in the care of children, and whose devotion for her young mistress was as devoted and sincere as was the childish love and regard she received in return. The nearest town of any considerable size was Winchester, and it was there that the family procured their provisions and did their gen- eral marketing. William Clark, through his own generous, obliging nature, which would unhesitatingly prompt him to accept the word of a friend, in his later years lost much of his valuable property. The direct cause was the fact of his complying with the formality of going bond for a friend as a personal favor, by which procedure he was the loser by a large sum, the bill, because of the abscondence of the debtor, coming to him for settle- ment. William Clark was the father of but one child, Elizabeth, although by a later marriage with a Mr. Keady his widow was the mother of: I. William, engaged in newspaper work in Kankakee, Illinois. 2. Samuel, lived in the state of New York. 3. George, a printer, in business in Kankakee, Illinois. 4. Ellen, married John K. Gardener, and lived in Wash- ington, Pennsylvania. 5. Belle, married a Mr. Jones, and resided in Wash- ington, Pennsylvania.
(II) William Raymer, son of Henry and Elizabeth (Clark-Burns) Raymer, was born in New Brighton, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, August 29, 1856. His general education was obtained in the public schools of Beaver Falls, and, after his decision in favor of a medical career, he en- tered the Cleveland Homoeopathic Medical College, graduating in the class of 1878. In the year of his graduation he began practice in Beaver Falls, making his home with his mother, and has there been ever since engaged
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in active and continuous practice. At the conclusion of thirty-five years of practice in Beaver Falls he is the possessor of a reputation of which any professional man might well be proud, for not only has he proven himself the able and competent master of the healer's art, but has become so en- deared to the hearts of those whose bodily ills he treats that without the charm of his cheering presence, his remedies would lose much of their potency. Nor has it been sufficient for him to hold a place among the fore- most of the county's physicians, for in the public life of the town he has dutifully borne his share of whatever of labor there was to be accom- plished and for three years, from 1896 to 1898 inclusive, he served as commissioner's clerk of the county. His presence in the business world of the town is also felt, and as treasurer of the Beaver Falls Building and Loan Association he has capably guarded the finances of that organization for the past ten years. He also served as burgess for three years and gave excellent satisfaction during his term of office. Thus in no department of civic or professional life has Dr. Raymer been found wanting, and in his citizenship Beaver Falls is the possessor of a resident who reflects honor upon her in every walk of life. Dr. Raymer's political views are in sym- pathy with the Democratic party.
In the marriage of Dr. Raymer there was a touch of the romantic that one would not look for in the professional man of parts that he is today, his connubial relations being established by his elopement with Carrie A. Douthitt, on January 3, 1884, a native of Chippewa township, Beaver county, daughter of Shipman and Sarah C. (Power) Douthitt. Shipman Douthitt was a farmer of Chippewa township, his wife, a daughter of Major Power, of New Brighton, Beaver county, Pennsylvania. Dr. Ray- mer and his wife, Carrie A., are the parents of one son, Earl, born in 1885, married Leila Pretherow. Earl Raymer is an electrician of Beaver Falls, where he resides.
To trace the Jamison family even for one generation takes JAMISON the searcher from American shores to Ireland, whence came Robert J. Jamison of this sketch. Continuing the search for generations beyond, and the course of the family is followed to Scotland, where it originated, although Ireland has been its home for many years.
(I) William Jamison, born in county Armagh, is the first of this line whom this record mentions. He was a linen manufacturer, not on the wide scale that the name implies, but one who raised his own flax in the fields, cut it, put it through the processes that the Irish know so well, and finally made it into the finest, sheerest linen imaginable, all of the labor performed by hand and the aid of hand-made implements. In county Down, where they moved from county Armagh, they lived to an advanced age, both he and his wife being lifelong members of the Presbyterian
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Church, strictly observing the tenets of that faith. He married, in county Armagh, Elizabeth Drake, a native of that county, who died in county Down. Children of William and Elizabeth (Drake) Jamison: 1. James, a boot and shoe manufacturer, employed a force of several men in his shop, and conducted an extensive business. 2. William, of whom further. 3. Eliza, married Andrew Cunningham, and lived in county Down, where she died. 4. John, a linen manufacturer.
(II) William (2) Jamison, son of William (1) and Elizabeth (Drake) Jamison, was born in county Down, Ireland, May 13, 1813, died there in March, 1893. He was reared in his native county and as a boy learned, with his lessons, the trade of linen making from his father, so that in his youth he was ready to take a man's place in that art, having absorbed eagerly the immense store of knowledge of the craft that his parent was only too willing to impart. He industriously followed his business, and became the proprietor of a large factory given over to the manufacture of fine linens, the delight of those able to own them, and the admiring despair of those whose reach they are beyond. His enjoyment in his prosperity was only in the increased opportunity it brought him for recreative study, a pursuit in which he found the greatest pleasure and by which he added vastly to an education that, while sound and firm, had never assumed pro- portions that gave him satisfaction or pleasure. His reading, while it car- ried him into classic realms, did not ignore contemporary writers, and there was little that transpired in his day, whether within or without literary circles, upon which he was not fully and exactly informed. His home life was admirable in the affection and devotion of each member of his family for the others, and into this circle he brought none of the vices and in- temperances whose place, if such they have, is anywhere but in a home, never indulging in tobacco or narcotic stimulants of any kind. His religious faith was the Presbyterian, as it was that of his wife, and he scrupulously fulfilled all of his church duties.
He married Sarah M'Combs, born near Market Hill, county Armagh, Ireland, in 1822, died in that country in June, 1868, he surviving her a quarter of a century, daughter of Robert and Isabella (Holland) M'Combs. Both of her parents were born in county Armagh, Ireland, their deaths occurring in Banbridge, county Down, where he was the proprietor of a linen factory of size and considerable output. They were members of the Presbyterian Church; he for a time being in the military service of the land. Children of Robert and Isabella (Holland) M'Combs: 1. Agnes, married James Jamison, son of William (1) and brother of William (2) Jamison, which latter married her sister, Sarah. 2. Sarah, of previous men- tion, married William (2) Jamison. 3. Eliza, married Joseph Lyons, a tailor, and lived in Banbridge, county Down, Ireland. 4. Mary Jane, married a mem- ber of the Burns family, a farmer of county Down, where they lived. 5. Isabella, married John, son of William (1), brother of William (2) Jamison, the third of the Jamisons to marry a M'Combs. 6. James, a linen
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weaver, lived in Banbridge, county Down. Children of William (2) and Sarah (M'Combs) Jamison: 1. William John, immigrated to the United States, and since 1878 his whereabout have been unknown. 2. Robert James, of whom further. 3. Thomas Henry, deceased, lived in Ireland, died aged twenty-five years. 4. David, married Olive McFarland, and lives in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. 5. Edwin, an employee of the Arm- strong Cork Works, married Essie Cox, and lives in Beaver Falls, Penn- sylvania. 6. Mary Jane, died aged three years. 7. Sarah, married William Vandevort, deceased, and lives in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania.
(III) Robert James Jamison, son of William (2) and Sarah (M'Combs) Jamison, was born between Newry and Banbridge, county Down, Ireland, June 18, 1848. In his native county he attended the na- tional schools until he was fifteen years of age. Leaving school he ap- prenticed himself to the bread baker's trade, serving in this capacity for five years, at the end of which time he was adjudged sufficiently skillful at his trade to work thereat independently, which he did in Banbridge, county Down, Ireland, until 1873. In that year he came to the United States, arriving in New York on May 13, proceeding immediately to Pitts- burgh, Pennsylvania, where he was employed at his trade in the Hugh Ward Bakeries for two years, then going to Allegheny City, where he held a po- sition as clerk in a grocery store until February, 1880. The following May he came to Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, and in partnership with Joseph McFerron opened a grocery store on Second avenue, trading for four years. as McFerron & Jamison until he purchased his partner's interest and moved his store to the corner of Third and Sixth avenues. In that place he con- tinued in business until 1911, in that year rounding out twenty-seven years of continuous dealing at that place, being at the time of his retire- ment from the field the oldest established grocer in Beaver Falls. He did not retire at once, but accepted a position as superintendent of dormitories in Geneva College, resigning therefrom in July, 1913, since which time he has contracted no business obligations of any kind. Mr. Jamison has been a lifelong Republican, and has served on the Beaver Falls council, also two terms as a member of the school board of that place. His church is the United Presbyterian, which he has ever served faithfully, for three years officiating as superintendent of the Sunday school and for eighteen years as trustee of the church organization. Mr. Jamison well deserves the years of rest that should reward his industrious activity, and the ap- proval that his straightforward and upright manner of life has won among his associates should bring him great satisfaction in the contemplation.
He married, February 26, 1886, Lida McFarland, born in Butler county, Pennsylvania, daughter of John and Amanda (Bryson) McFarland, both of her parents deceased. Both were of Scotch-Irish descent, he the owner of a. farm. Children of Robert James and Lida (McFarland) Jamison: 1. William Alexander, married Florence Torrence, and lives in West Pitts- burgh, Pennsylvania. 2. Lida, lives at home. 3. Alvaretta, lives at home.
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4. Minnie, died in infancy. 5. Josephine, now (1914) attending high school. 6. A twin sister of Josephine, died when but a few weeks old. 7. Robert Jay, attending school.
TAYLOR Too ardent patriotism and too active participation in the Re- volutionary disturbances in Ireland in 1798 are in all proba- bility, the explanation of the immigration at that time to the United States of James Taylor, who was accompanied to this land by his wife, Margaret. He became a druggist in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and died while following that calling in August, 1827. He and his wife were the parents of nine sons and three daughters, and it was his desire that one of his sons, William Graham, should follow his business, and the training of the youth began at an early age. After the death of James Taylor, his widow married a second time, one of her sons by her second marriage, James B., becoming a minister of the Presbyterian faith. Two of the sons of James and Margaret Taylor, James R. and John R., were engaged in wire manufacturing and weaving in Pittsburgh, first as James R. Taylor & Com- pany and later as Taylor & Dean, while six of their sons died in infancy.
(II) William Graham Taylor, son of James and Margaret Taylor, was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, March 3, 1820, died September 6, 1903. He attended the common schools of the locality, later entering Jefferson Academy, at Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, and in 1847 was graduated from Jefferson College, whence he enrolled in the Western Theological Seminary, graduating from the last named place in 1849. He was of an active, ener- getic temperament and enforced idleness between school terms had no ap- peal for him, in consequence of which he found employment in business houses, working in vacation time until the end of his college course. He was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Pittsburgh in April, 1848, and the following year was ordained as an evangelist, designing to devote him- self to missionary work among feeble churches. Prior to his graduation from the Seminary the excellence of his work had attracted favorable com- ment and he was offered a position as assistant editor of the Prairie Herald Publishing Company, an offer he declined, giving as his reason the need of finishing his education. He later accepted the post and rose steadily in the organization until he was editor-in-chief. The company published two re- ligious weeklies, and from their presses went out two dailies, one monthly and two quarterly journals, in connection with which there was maintained a book store. In addition to directing the work of these varied depart- ments and to writing nearly all of the editorials, Mr. Taylor assisted the pastor of the Third Church, who was in exceedingly ill health. The labor involved would well have occupied several men, but Mr. Taylor, his con- stitution gradually weakening, bore up bravely under his myriad respon- sibilities until an attack of fever precipitated a general collapse, to recover from which he went to New England, there seeking rest and strength,
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obtaining mental exercise by preaching in a small church. It was found, however, that the northern atmosphere and climate were unbeneficial, and had in fact an aggravating effect, and he returned to Pittsburgh, where he recovered from his malady.
Soon after his arrival in his native city he began work on church or- ganization at Mount Washington, there establishing a strong Sunday school and laying the foundation for a vigorous and prosperous church. The membership of the Presbyterian Church at Beaver Falls had fallen to less than a third of its former figure, and Rev. Taylor was asked to take charge thereof until such time as its condition would permit of his depar- ture. He accepted this task, indeed a grave one, and so stimulated the spiritual life of those members who had remained faithful and furnished them with so glowing an inspiration that under his leadership they were incited to fresh efforts with renewed strength, and where had been only weakness and decay a spirit of faith and growth was apparent. This work completed he was given another and, if possible, a more difficult mission, the upbuilding of the church at Tarentum. The fault here had been that jealousy, bitterness and discord had crept into the heart of the organization, nullifying the most devoted work of the pastor and so weakening the church that at length it was unable to pay for the services of a regular minister. Into such a troubled atmosphere Rev. Taylor entered. He at once dis- covered the real trouble, the impediment to service, and began work in enrolling the aid of the greatest malcontents, winning some by a frank accusation of their fault, shaming others by his own beautiful spirit of un- selfishness into a confession of their delinquency and a plea for advice. The result of his sojourn in this place was that an unknown era of pros- perity and progress appeared, and that, not only independent itself, the church supported a mission in the outlying country.
In May, 1861, he went to the Mount Carmel Church, Beaver county, a church that for twenty years had been unable to support a minister even on half time, and there accomplished the same miracle of rejuvenation. His methods would probably have failed had they been adopted by one of less strong personality, less spiritual strength, or less faith in the sustaining power that comes from above. As an organizer in church work he stood without a peer, his efficiency being not only in his own limitless capacity for hard and strenuous effort, but in his ability to enlist the interest, sym- pathy and support of those in a position to grant him needed aid.
He was called to a noble work in the organization of the Phillipsburg Soldiers' Orphans School, of which he was appointed president, manager and superintendent. The difficulty in getting a work of this kind under way will be vaguely realized when it is stated that the organization, such as it was, possessed neither site nor buildings, finances nor support. Despite these almost unsurmountable obstacles Mr. Taylor set himself resolutely to the task, secured a location, erected suitable buildings, and established a temporary routine, donating to the project fifty thousand dollars from his
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private purse. This much accomplished, the next difficulty was the scarcity of teachers and matrons competent to be placed in positions where they would have in their power the sacred trust of shaping and moulding the young lives all about them so that the product of the school might be Christian men and women. The great undertaking was at last achieved and Mr. Taylor was connected with this school, enjoying the benefits of his labor until it was destroyed by fire in 1876, when, for reasons known only to the trustees, it was decided to discontinue its existence.
Mr. Taylor had deep feelings on the subjects of slavery and Civil War, and during the terrible conflict between the North and South was an indefatigable worker in "The Christian Commission," both at home and at the front. Twice during the war he went to the scene of action for service, the first time being taken ill after a few months, the last time remaining with the army for a longer period. He was in charge of the work of the commission in Beaver county, and turned over to the central organization sums so large that the statistics of Dr. Boardman, United States secretary, showed that Beaver was the banner county of the United States in the amount raised in proportion to the population. To any project possessing possibilities of real benefit to his locality he lent his sturdy support, many an enterprise being accorded a generous welcome because his name was mentioned as one of its backers. He was one of the seven organizers of the Beaver County Agricultural Society, and was prominently identified with the establishment of the Beaver Female Seminary (now college), and was, with Professor Bliss, the first to publicly advocate the necessity for a county superintendent of public schools, conducting the first Teachers' Institute for the Hon. Thomas Nicholson, county superintendent. When the Pitts- burgh & Lake Erie Railroad proposed passing their line through that vicinity he was energetic in disseminating knowledge and information concerning its benefits, and in securing right-of-way and stock subscriptions. He was also one of the promoters of the street railway from Freedom to Beaver, and at the time of the Beaver County Centennial Celebration was one of the vice-presidents of the celebration committee.
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