John M. Brayer

The financial and commercial history of Henry County would be very incomplete and unsatisfactory without a personal mention of those whose lives are interwoven so closely with the industrial and financial development of this section of the State. Prominent among this class of citizens is Mr. Brayer, who was for several years engaged in the manufacture of staves in Holgate, and is now officially connected with the Holgate Commercial Bank.

Mr. Brayer was born in Rochester, New York, March 21, 1855, and in that city was reared and educated. His father, Michael Brayer, was a native of Alsac, Germany, crossed the Atlantic when a young man, and in Rochester, New York, married Miss Elizabeth Wackerman, also a native of the Fatherland. They became the parents of ten children - six sons and four daughters - of whom John M. is fifth in the order of birth. Both parents died in Rochester.

In his native city John M. Brayer remained until 1874, when he arrived in Henry County, Ohio. Some time previous, his father, in company with two other gentlemen, had come to the county and erected a stavemill in Holgate, where our subject was employed until 1882, when he and his two brothers, Jacob W. and Nicholas W. Brayer, purchased the mill, which they successfully operated until 1891, selling out at that time to G. W. Walker, the present owner. Mr. Brayer has since been connected with the bank, now known as the Holgate Commercial Bank, which was organized by our subject, his brother, Nicholas W., and F. H. Voight, the firm name at the time being Brayer Brothers & Voight. As the founder of what has become one of the most reliable financial institutions of the county he deserves special credit. His success has been the result of honest, persistent effort in the line of honorable and manly dealing, and he is justly numbered among the leading and influential businessmen of his adopted county. Socially he affiliates with the Masonic fraternity.>/p>

In Flat Rock Township, Henry County, March 21, 1886, Mr. Brayer married Miss Caroline Eberly, daughter of Henry and Eve Eberly, who were among the early settlers of Henry County. Her father is now deceased. To this union was born six children: Carrie who married E. G. Peper and parents of the late Robert B. Peper, Atty. of Napoleon; Thomas Brayer, farmer; Miss Nellie Brayer, Henry County Health Nurse for many years; Jeanne Brayer who married Carey G. Laub, clothing merchant in Holgate 1916-1961 and was Republican Co. chairman for thirty years and is known as Mr. Republican. They have two daughters, Mrs. Michael Marko of Toledo - they have four children, and Mrs. Janet Olson, Brattleboro, Vermont, - they have three children. There are seven grandchildren and four great grandchildren.

John M. Brayer III married Miss Myrtle Tonquet of Toledo and have two children, John M. IV, of Phoenix, Arizona, and Mrs. Dr. H. E. Randolph of Los Angeles, California. They have two children.

Josephine Brayer who married Louis Schimenauer of Toledo and she and Mrs. Laub are the only living members of the John M. Brayer family.

Submitted by the Family