H. F. Brayton was born in Jefferson county, New York, November 22, 1812. He obtained a good academical education, and at the age of eighteen went to New York city and engaged as a clerk in a dry goods store, where he remained six years. During that time he became secretary of the first total abstinence society ever organized in that city. He was also treasurer of the Young Men's Anti-Slavery Society in that city, so far back as 1834, when Abolition doctrines were very unpopular. He it was that engaged the noted Theodore D. Weld and sent him out to the Western Reserve to lecture on the subject, and who succeeded in a very marked degree in bringing the masses over on to Abolition ground, and from which, in this section, they never receded until every bondman's fetter was broken. John Jay, our present minister to Austria, was, at the same time, one of the directors of the Society. He also connected himself with the Liberty party, being associated with Salmon P. Chase, in its early history. He next glided into the Free Soil party, and from that to the Republican. In 1836, Mr. Brayton left New York and came to Cleveland, and very soon became book-keeper of the old Bank of Cleveland, and remained in the same position three years. He then went to Columbus and became cashier of a bank. After one year he resigned and came back to Cleveland, where he engaged in private banking, and continued the same for about ten years. In 1850, Mr. Brayton became the first agent of the Continental Insurance Company, in this city, and still retains the office. This has been one of the most successful companies in the country. He is also the agent of the Washington Insurance Company, and the peculiarity of the two companies is, that the assured participate in the profits. In January, 1869, his son, H. G. Brayton, became interested in his father's business, under the firm name of H. F. Brayton & Son. H. F. Brayton is also a partner in another insurance agency in the city. About six years since he went to New York and took charge of the agency department of the Columbia Insurance Company, and continued in the discharge of the duties of the office for one year, when the agency business was discontinued in that company, and Mr. Brayton accepted a like situation in the Resolute Insurance Company, where he remained about two years, and then returned to Cleveland, where his business had been carried on as usual during the three years of his absence. Mr. Brayton has not devoted his entire attention to banking and insurance since his residence in Cleveland. From 1854 to 1857, he was connected with the firm of I. C. Pendleton & Co. in the coal trade, and previous to this he was the secretary of the Ohio Coal Company, which dealt principally in Pittsburgh coal for gas purposes. He is also at present engaged in the foreign passenger and real estate business.