The Wellcome family of Freeman, Maine : Israel Riggs Bray, 1808-1890. Henry Solomon Wellcome, 1853-1936 / [George Burbank Sedgley].

  • Sedgley, George Burbank, 1872-
Date:
1939
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The Wellcome family of Freeman, Maine : Israel Riggs Bray, 1808-1890. Henry Solomon Wellcome, 1853-1936 / [George Burbank Sedgley]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    bcg'an hauling' lumber. The third day the work of building' a house was in aetive progress. He died in the wool house. Mr. Bray was a man of great sociabilty and would often talk until midnight with a neighbor or some of his workmen and arise at three the next morning and write letters until breakfast then go into the field with the workmen. A nephew who worked for him some time said: “Bray was a whirlwind at manual labor.” When he drove into a villag'e people would run and gather around him to hear what “Old Bray” had to say. Speaking in the street in the city of Lewiston he had gathered such a crowd that the street was blocked, and a policeman said to him, “We have a place over the river for just such fellows as you.” Bray answer- ed: “l would like to look that little building over as I loaned the county the money to build that jail.” At another time he appeared in a store at Lewiston just after he had been paid by the mill owners for the year’s shipment of wool and asked for a g'rip. The proprietor, judging by his rough dress, handed out a large low-priced one—the kind usually sold to woodsmen. Bray took the gri]:» and without saying a word opened it and began taking' money from the big pockets he al- ways had in his clothes and to the amazement of all filled it with money. At the time of his death one manufacturer owed him $36,000 for wool. A citizen of the countj^ who was accustomed to hearing public speaking at large gatherings told the writer, “The greatest ovation I ever saw or heard any speaker get was given Mr. Bray at a muster in Kingfield after he told a story to illustrate a point in his speech. ’ ’ The following shows how Bray could make the most of what would have been an embarrassing'position to many: One morn- ing he drove into Kingfield village and stopped in front of AVin- ter’s store and in jumping' from the carriage a bottle of liquor was thrown out of his pocket and broke on the ground. On the platform of the store at the time the two ministers of the town —the Universalist and Methodist—were eng'aged in conversa- tion. Bray addressing the clergymen said: “Brethren, you have observed my misfortune. I need the prayers of both denomina- tions.’ ’ He used liquor the last half of his life and possibly earli- er in life, but liquor (rum as he called it)nevcr g'ot the better of
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