James O. Brayman⁽¹⁾ was born in Buffalo in 1815, and lived there until 1854. He was co-editor of the Buffalo Daily Courier at least as early as 1846, and remained with that paper until 1849, when he became assistant editor of the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser. From 1852 to 1854 he was editor of the Daily Courier. He was also editor of Beadle's Youth's Casket from January, 1853, to the autumn of 1854. It is possible that he had been editor of that magazine from its beginning in 1852, for while the name "Harley Thorne" appears on the early title pages, no such name occurs in the Buffalo City Directory, and it is not improbable that this was a pseudonym under which Brayman was masquerading. In 1852 he published a book, "Daring Deeds of American Heroes, with Biographical Sketches," which dealt with "heroes" of the Revolution and the War of 1812.

In 1854 he removed to Chicago to become editorial writer for the Chicago Democrat, under John Wentworth. In 1861 he joined the staff of the Standard, a religious and family weekly of Chicago, and remained with that paper until his death, October 30, 1887. Even while in Buffalo, Brayman was active in church work and was vice-president of the Young Men's Christian Union. In Chicago he was a member of the Immanuel Baptist Church, of which Dr. Lorimer was pastor.

None of his short stories in the Youth's Casket are signed. They were reprinted in six small volumes by another publisher, not Beadle, and give on their title pages the author as "The Editor of The Youth's Casket."

REFERENCES: Editorial Notes, Publications Buffalo Historical Society, XIX, 1915, 327, with portrait; Chicago Tribune, November 1, 1887; Buffalo City Directories, 1847 to 1854.

†(See Vol. I, page 20, for a portrait)

† Correction made as per Volume 3.

Notes

1	A portrait is given in Part II, Fig. 5.