Standard History of Georgia and Georgians, Vols. I-V
by Lucian Lamar Knight, published by the Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1917
John B. McBrayer.
Through his ownership and successful operation of
the Lavonia Roller Mills Mr. McBrayer is contributing materially to the industrial
prestige and commercial activities of the thriving village of Lavonia,
Franklin County, and he is known and honored as one of the representative
business men and loyal and progressive citizens of this county.
Mr. McBrayer was born in Forsyth County, Georgia, on July 18, 1861,
and is a son of Samuel R. and Luvinia (Milford) McBrayer, having been the
second in order of birth in a family of eight children. Samuel R. McBrayer
was born in North Carolina and was a child at the time of his parents' removal
to Forsyth County, Georgia, where he was reared and educated and where he
still maintains his home. He became one of the prosperous agriculturists of
the county and is now one of its most venerable and honored citizens, he being
eighty years of age, and his wife being seventy-eight years old. In
the gracious evening of their lives they are enjoying the well earned rewards
of former years of endeavor, and they are surrounded by friends who are real
and loyal, Mrs. McBrayer having been born in Forsyth County, where her
father, James Milford, settled upon his removal from his native State of South
Carolina, both he and his wife passing the residue of their lives in that county.
Samuel R. McBrayer gave most valiant and loyal service as a soldier of the
Confederacy in the Civil war. He enlisted as a member of a Georgia volunteer regiment,
served during the entire period of the war, took part in many
engagements, including a number of important battles, and though he was
slightly wounded he was never incapacitated for duty. He perpetuates the
more gracious memories of his military career through his affiliation with the
United Confederate Veterans, is a stalwart and lifelong democrat and both
he and his wife are earnest members of the Baptist Church.
Reared to the sturdy and invigorating discipline of the home farm, John B.
McBrayer early gained appreciation of the dignity and value of productive
toil and endeavor, and in the meanwhile he duly availed himself of the advantages
of the common schools of the locality and period. In his twentieth year
he engaged in the mercantile business in Gwinnett County, where he continued
to be successfully identified with this line of enterprise for a period of fifteen
years.
In 1912 Mr. McBrayer removed to Lavonia, Franklin County, where he
purchased the Lavonia Roller Mills, the plant being of essentially modem
order and equipped effectively for the grinding of both wheat and corn. He
has since increased to a large extent the business of the mills, the products of
which find a steady and appreciative demand, and his progressive policies have
made this one of the most substantial industrial concerns of Franklin County,
the mills having been erected in 1900 and having since received numerous
improvements.
In politics Mr. McBrayer pays staunch allegiance to the democratic party,
both he and his wife are members of the Baptist Church, and in the local
organizations of the Masonic fraternity he is secretary of the Blue Lodge and
junior deacon of the chapter of Royal Arch Masons in 1915.
In January, 1885, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. McBrayer to Miss
Elsie E. Kirby, daughter of Permelia Kirby, a representative citizen and businessman
of Cumming, Forsyth County. Concerning the children of Mr. and
Mrs. McBrayer brief record is entered in conclusion of this review: Guy
Nolan, who was born in 1886, resides at Forsyth and is employed in the railroad service;
9Fay Julian, who was born in 1890, is in the service of the Western
Union Telegraph Company at Buford, Gwinnett County; Elise, who was born
in 1893, is the wife of Russell D. Kelley, of Atlanta, and they have one child,
Fred; Madge, who was born in 1897, is the wife of Hoyt Thomas and they
reside in South Carolina; and Mary Leslie, who remains at the parental home,
is attending the public schools. All of the children were born at Buford,
Gwinnett County, except the eldest, who is a native of Forsyth County.
This website created October 12, 2011 by Sheryl McClure.
� Georgia American History and Genealogy Project
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