Monday, August 9, 2010

2 Groups Photos, one with Sherman Braley; the other with Gracie Braley, probably of Benton, Maine




Group photo of schoolchildren that includes Sherman Braley, according to a handwritten entry on reverse.   No photographer's imprint or location given.




The second group photo of schoolchildren includes Gracie M. Braley, according to a handwritten entry on the reverse, the same handwriting as in the photograph with Sherman Braley.  Again, no photographer's imprint or location given.




Researching online, I find that Sherman and Gracie M. Braley were the children of Elijah and Ila (Reynolds) Braley of Benton, Maine.  Sherman Braley was born in Maine, 11 May 1888, according to his World War I draft registration card.  Gracie M. Braley was born in Maine, in August of 1883.  


Elijah Braley or Brailey, as I found it sometimes indexed, was born in July of 1856, the son of Hezekiah and Elsie (Reynolds) Braley.  Ila (Reynolds) Braley was born about Dec 1862, the daughter of Richard Reynolds and possibly his wife Martha.


I found an entry for Sherman Braley in the Maine Marriages online database; if this is the correct Sherman Braley, he married Ruth Withee in 1913.   I haven't yet found him in the 1920 or 1930 Censuses; hopefully, if he served in the World War I, he survived it.  


I believe that Ruth Withee was born in August of 1893 in Madison, Maine, the daughter of John and Frances (Howard) Withee, born in Winslow and Lee, Maine, respectively.  If this is the correct Ruth Withee, her father was dead by the 1900 Census, and his widow and daughters were boarding with the Thompson family in Waterville, Maine. 


In 1910, according to the Census, Ruth was living in Vassalboro with her mother and sister Emily; they are indexed incorrectly as Wither, not Withee.  The record of the 1913 marriage of Sherman Braley and Ruth Withee indicates that she was living in Vassalboro, so that is a hopeful sign.


As for Gracie M. Braley, she was living as a servant in the Owen Salley family of Fairfield, Maine, in the 1910 Census.  I haven't yet found her in the 1920 Census, but in 1930, she was living as a servant in the household of Orrin Learned family, also of Fairfield.  She perhaps never married.


If you have any information on the Braley or Withee families of the central Maine area towns of Waterville, Fairfield, Benton, Vassalboro or Unity, I would be very pleased to hear from you.


Below is a map of Waterville, Maine.  If you zoom out, you will find Benton, Fairfield, Vassalboro and Unity.



View Larger Map





Thanks for stopping by!


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