History of Swansea, Massachusetts, 1667-1917; - citizen hylbom blog

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History of Swansea
November 27, 1855, Mr. Brayton married Sarah Jane Tinkham,
daughter of Enoch and Rebecca (Williams) Tinkham, of Middleboro,
Mass. They had three children: Mary J., who married Dr. Charles L.
Nichols, of Worcester (their three children are Charles L. Jr., Harriet, and
Brayton); Harriet H., of Fall River; and John Summerfield, born in Fall
River, Sept, 16, 1864, who was married June 20, 1894, to Jessie C. Flint,
daughter of the late John D. Flint, of Fall River (their children are John
S. Jr., Flint, Edith, and Anthony). Mr. Brayton died Oct. 30, 1904, at his
home in Fall River, Massachusetts.
(VII) Israel Perry Brayton, son of Israel and Kezia (Anthony)
Brayton, was born May 24, 1829, and died Aug. 10, 1878, in Fall River.
He followed agricultural pursuits and had a well stocked farm in Swansea.
Because of poor health he was never able to engage actively in the business
or political life of Fall River, but for some years served as a director of the
First National Bank. He married June 18, 1863, Parthenia Gardner,
daughter of Peleg Gardner, of Swansea. Mrs. Brayton died Feb. 24, 1882.
To them were born two daughters: Nancy Jarrett Bowers, and Sarah
Chaloner.
(VIII) Nancy Jarrett Bowers Brayton married June 10, 1896, James
Madison Morton, Jr., of the ninth generation of the Morton family, and
to them have been born four children: James Madison, June 10, 1897,
(died May 14, 1908); Brayton, Oct. 28, 1898; Sarah, Sept. 29, 1902;
Hugh, Sept. 10, 1906.
(VII) Hezekiah Anthony Brayton. son of Israel and Kezia
(Anthony) Brayton, was born June 24, 1832, in Fall River, Mass., and
passed his boyhood days at the Brayton homestead in Somerset, in the
schools of which town he acquired his eariy education, furthering it at the
East Greenwich (R. I.) Academy. He taught school one year in the town
of Seekonk, Mass., then for a time was employed in a railroad ticket office,
from which he left for Texas in the capacity of surveyor. Returning to the
North, he was employed awhile in the carding and mechanical engineering
departments of the Pacific mills in Lawrence, this State. In 1857, in
company with his brother Israel Perry Brayton, he went to Chicago and
there engaged in the grain commission business on the Board of Trade, a
line of business he later continued in, on the Produce Exchange in New
York City.
Returning to Massachusetts in 1872, Mr. Brayton was actively and
successfully occupied in Fall River the remainder of his life. He was chosen
vice president and cashier of the First National Bank, and some six years
later, at the time of the failure of the Sagamore mills, he was appointed one
of the trustees of that property. When the business was finally settled and
the corporation was reorganized as the Sagamore Manufacturing Company,
he became treasurer and a director, offices he held up to the time of his
death. He was also president, and a director of the Durfee Mills, and a
trustee of the B. M. C. Durfee High School, which was given to the city by
his sister, Mrs. Mary B. Young. He was one of the most successful miU
treasurers in Fall River. The Sagamore was among the corporations of
that city which have paid phenomenal dividends. In this manufacturing
company, Mr. Brayton, as treasurer made a record in dividends that would
be hard to surpass. He was devoted to his business, which he carried on to
the last, and which seemed to be his one pleasure; and for years before his
decease, he had seldom been absent from Fall River, except to visit his
farm at the west end of Slade's Ferry Bridge, in Somerset. His judgment
was usually accurate, and the results in return to his stockholders most
satisfactory. At the same time he pushed the development of the mills to
the extreme of possibility. When he took charge, the foundation of only one
of the mills was laid. He put up the stone building on this foundation, and