FRANK J. BRAFORD, now of Solon township, Kent county, Mich., was born in Plainfield township, September 22, 1859, and is the eldest living child of Abner S. and Martha (Jubb) Braford, who were the parents of five sons and two daughters, of whom but two, beside the subject, are now living, viz: Emma, with her mother in Solon township, and Elbie, wife of N. N. Pringle, the well-known hardware merchant of Sand Lake. Abner S. Braford was of English descent, was born in Cayuga county, N. Y., March 6, 1831, was educated in the common schools, and at the age of fourteen years came to Michigan with his father, Hosea Braford, and here learned the cooper's trade. He first lived in Genesee county, where in early manhood he made his first purchase of land, and later removed to Livingston county, where he married Miss Jubb, also a native of New York and a daughter of William Jubb, who was born in England, and came to America when a young man. Mr. and Mrs. Braford came to Kent county early in 1859, and purchased eighty acres of partly improved land in Plainfield on whichthey lived two years, then moved to Cannon township, where they lived fifteen years, and finally, in I876, settled in Solon township, where they purchased 122 acres. In politics Abner S. Braford was a strong republican, and died, a member of the Wesleyan Methodist church, December 30, 1888. His wife still survives him and resides on the homestead, four miles west of Sand Lake, and is also a devout member of the Wesleyan Methodist church. Frank J. Braford has passed all his life in Kent county as an agriculturist. He was educated in the public schools, completed his studies with the eighth grade, and remained with his parents until twenty-nine years of age, when he married, January i5, I889, Miss Hattie Freeman, a native of Kent county, and to this marriage have been born three sons and two daughters, of whom, however, only one -daughter, Lila M., and two sons, Frank O. and Archibald S., are living. Hazel B. died in infancy, and Dale J. died at five years. Mrs. Hattie (Freeman) Braford, was born in Wyoming township, Kent county, Mich., July 26, I870, and is a daughter of Otis and Anna Josephine (Salmon) Freeman, of whose family of two sons and three daughters the following-named still survive: Clara A., who is the wife of James Carmichael, of Alpena, Mich.; Archibald V., who is a resident of Menominee, Mich., and is superintendent of the cedar lumber company known as the Watson & Taber company, of Chicago; Hattie, now Mrs. Braford, and Blanche, the youngest, who, for a number of years, has been a schoolteacher-for three years in Alpena, and now at Sand Lake. Otis Freeman, father of Mrs. Braford and now residing in Sand Lake, was for several years a lumberman, and also lived many years in Grand Rapids. His wife's father, Archibald Salmon, was the first cabinetmaker of the Valley city, and made many coffins for the early settlers. He acquired considerable wealth in his day, and at one time owned the land on which the Grand Rapids court house now stands. Although Mrs. Braford was born in Kent county, she has passed the greater part of her life in Newaygo county, where she received her education and was for several years an acceptable teacher. Mr. Braford has always been a republican in politics, and cast his first presidential vote for James A. Garfield. He is an ardent advocate of free education, and for a number of years was a school director. Fraternally, he is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, and religiously is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. His farm of sixty acres lies four and one-half miles west of Sand Lake, is in a high state of cultivation, and he and wife are classed among the most respectable residents of Solon township, and number their friends by the score.