EDWIN M. BRAY
EDWIN M. BRAY. Edwin M. Bray, proprietor of the El Paso Smelter Store
at El Paso, Texas, was born at La Harpe, Hancock county, Illinois, and is a
son of T. S. and Emma (Leavitt) Bray. The father, now deceased,
was a native of Pennsylvania, but spent the greater part of his life in
Illinois, where the mother still resides. She was born in that state but came
of New England ancestry. At the family home in Hancock county Edwin Bray
remained until eighteen years of age, when he came to New Mexico, locating at
Socorro, where for several years he was engaged in merchandising. In 1895 he
came to El Paso, where he embarked in the same line of business, and here he
has since made his home. He is now the owner and proprietor of the El Paso
Smelter Store, located at the immense works of the El Paso Consolidated Kansas
City Smelting & Refining Company, which constantly employs over fifteen
hundred men. The store is a general one, in which he carries a large line of
clothing and dry goods, as well as groceries and meats. His patronage is
extensive and the business has reached a large figure so that Mr. Bray is now
deriving a good income from his investment. He is also prominently connected
with the business life of El paso in other ways and has been the promoter of
many measures which have had tangible effect upon the upbuilding and
development of the city. He was formerly president of the El Paso Chamber of
Commerce, and he is now the president of the El Paso Young Men's Christian
Association, which has already raised forty thousand dollars for the erection
of a new building and is now engaged in an effort to raise twenty thousand
dollars more.
Mr. Bray was married to Miss Fannie Spaulding, a representative of a
prominent Maine family and they have two children, John Spaulding and
Vonia. The parents are members of the Presbyterian church of El Paso
and Mr. Bray is prominent in Masonry, being past commander of the Knights
Templar and he has also attained the thirty-second degree Scottish Rite. His
interest in his city and the welfare of his fellow men is deep and sincere and
while carefully conducting his business affairs he has also found time and
opportunity for co-operation in those movements, which uplift mankind and
advance the intellectual and moral growth of the city.
B. B. Paddock, History and Biographical Record of North and West Texas (Chicago:
Lewis Publishing Co., 1906), Vol. I, pp. 543-544.
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