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Andrew Calvin Bratton spent his early life in Brown County on his
father's ranch, and attended the local schools up to the time he was
seventeen. He then learned the trade of carpenter, and after serving
a thorough apprenticeship and proving his adaptability for that line
of work he also learned the trade of engineer, and worked for a time
as a journeyman in Brownwood. He next moved out to Hereford, Texas,
where he was engaged as superintendent for the Hereford Construction
Company, and continued in that employ for three years. After that he
turned his attention to his present vocation as contractor and
builder in Hereford, and during the three years of his work there,
constructed some of the most creditable buildings in that locality.
In 1906 Mr. Bratton returned to Brownwood, where he has since been
prominent both as a manufacturer and contractor and builder. He
established and is the proprietor of the Brownwood Planning Mill,
the first business of its kind to be established at Brownwood or in
Brown County. His ability and management have made it a very
successful and growing concern. Some eight or more skilled workmen
are on the payroll, and the factory has space of about ten thousand
square feet, is equipped with the best of modern machinery, and has
facilities for turning out woodwork of every kind used in the
building and cabinet making trade. Aside from these mills Mr.
Bratton is probably the best known and most successful building
contractor in the county. Among the various contracts which he has
handled successfully may be mentioned the New Southern Hotel, which
was put up at a cost of seventy-four thousand dollars; the Walker
Smith Candy Factory and Coffee Boasting establishment, and also many
of the finest residences in Brownwood were planned and built through
his organization.
Mr. Bratton, while exceptionally
successful in business, has had probably more than his share of
life's troubles. His discouragements would have broken many men of
less determined character, but he has proved his ability to endure
as well as to accomplish. He was first married on the 4th day of
January, 1898, to Miss Willie Jane Crawford, who was born in Kaufman
county, Texas. She died in 1900, about two years after their
marriage, and left one child, Elsie Beatrice. In August, 1903, Mr.
Bratton married Miss Annie Cordelia Jones of Brown County. She died
in 1908, and of the two children born to their union Ethel May is
now living. -- History
of Texas and Texans, Volume 3, Francis
White Johnson, 1914. |
