Henry Braithwaite

## Biography

### Arrival in Lemoyne and war against the Grays

Henry Braithwaite was born at some point in the 1820s, he is of english decent but it is unknown at the moment if he himself did the trip or if he was born in America, he arrived in his late 20s in Lemoyne, seeking for opportunities, and discovered the Scarlett Meadows, if instantly fell in love with the region and decided to stay there, he lived in Rhodes's hotel before having meaningful relationships in town, the people he talked to were welcoming and encouraged him to set here but to be aware of the current situation with the Gray family. He was a very ambitious man that dreamed of becoming a respected leader so he wanted to become the most important man in town, he used his oral skills to befriend most of the inhabitants and slowly ruled them against the Gray family, he didn't like fights so he always prefered a debate but the Grays weren't as good as him in speaking so they used more violent methods, a few persons died and a war was declared by Henry, he and his allies used an economic embargo so that the Grays couldn't sell their merchandises in Rhodes to make them lose money, they also used intimidation to scare them and soon the Grays had enough, a last showdown occured in Rhodes main street where Henry ended up shooting the Gray patriarch in what was recognized self-defense, the family was considered defeated and was pressured to give out their land to the people of the Scarlett Meadows, which they did.

### Success in Rhodes and financial development

At this point Henry was already seen as more important than the sheriff and was very popular, he used that notoriety to get involved in the Gray plantation selling, he asked for a fee for every portion of land sold, it was a win-win as everybody could have land for a good price and Henry was becoming both rich and popular, with his money he invested in many places in town that would later make him even richer and, after a few years, he bought a big land south of Rhodes where he built the Braithwaite Manor. Before that he met a woman named Isabelle that was in Rhodes for a few weeks, he was instantly seduced and was determined to try something with her, he showed her every bit of the Scarlett Meadows, spent a lot of time with her and when her stay ended he asked her to stay with him, she eventually accepted and they ended up together, they married once the manor was finished and lived somewhat happy together.

### Family history until 1887

A year later Isabelle was pregnant of ..., who would later be the father of Jeremy, three years later they had a daughter, ..., later the mother of Raphael and two years later Catherine, mother of Bastian. Twenty-one years later Isabelle died of what would later be found to be tuberculosis, Henry was absolutely crushed and couldn't take care of his daughters that were the only children present as ... was living his life in New-York, they reunited for the funeral, a few months later all his children left to live their life and Henry was alone in his manor except for the employees and slaves, he stopped being so ambitious and decided to stay with the status-quo, he focused on the property business and maintaining good relationships with Rhodes folks that never stopped supporting him. In the 1860s his children married, he happily proposed to host the wedding but it didn't happen with the two eldests, he was still invited and went to the weddings as a guest and was still happy to do so. In 1868 he became a grandfather as his son had a child, Jeremy, that event cheered him up and made the family closer, his children regularly came to the Manor to visit him and to spend a good resting time in that rural place, a few months later his youngest daughter, Catherine, married Charles ..., the wedding happened at the Manor this time and that was probably the happiest Henry ever was. A year later his daughter ... gave birth to Raphael and a year after that Catherine gave birth to Bastian, since the three cousins frequently came to the Manor, living like brothers under Henry's watch, he always made sure that they had fun but was pretty strict about not messing with the employees, they visited a few times every year until the early 1880s when he decided to write his will that favorised his grandsons compared to his own children, they rebelled but he was adamant and even decided to give more to his grandchildren, the news didn't go well with his kids and they turned their back on him, stopping visiting him until 1883, when ..., his daughter, killed herself and her husband in a psychotic crisis, it was one of the saddest moment of his life alongside with his wife's death, but he did his best to accept it and took care of Raphael like a father since, it was a rough time of his life as he had to take care of Raphael, his property, Rhodes and his own mental state, that environment wasn't the best for Raphael and he slowly turned to delinquence, four years later Raphael left the Manor as he turned eighteen and went back to Chicago, Henry didn't approve but he couldn't do anything about it.

### End of life

In the 1890s his son and daughter came to visit him rarely, most of the time it didn't end well as his will decision didn't pass easily but he was still happy to see them, however his grandchildren still came a few times a year as vacations, he knew that Raphael and Bastian had a rough life with traumas but they seemed happy when they came by, the three of them still did some mischief in Rhodes, meaning a lot of fights with alcohol often involved, and that attitude was a dark spot on his reputation but he didn't care anymore as he knew he was close to death. In the early 1898, Henry died in his bed at the Manor, a big funeral was organized in Rhodes with all of the family reunited in town, it was both sad and happy as Rhodes folks were determined to glorify him one last time, the cousins parents didn't stay long but the cousins spent some time at the property and in Rhodes to prepare the ground as Henry's will said that they would become the landlords upon his death.

## Career

### Presence in Scarlett Meadows

Henry was present in a lot of Rhodes businesses, he invested in the train station, the hotel, the parlour house, the bank and the industrial woolen mill, his investments allowed these businesses to transition to more modern technologies and construction materials, the bank for example was completly redesigned in a greek revival architecture, just like the Braithwaite Manor, suggesting Henry had his word to say during the construction. He was also seen as a judge alongside the sheriff and a mayor, if someone wanted to build a house in Rhodes they had to have Henry's permission to do so or they would be sabotaged by Rhodes people. He was also considered the boss of the farmers of Caliga Hall as it was his decisions that made them able to buy the lands, they would come up to him if they had complaints and he would always do his best to fix them.

### Ownership of a plantation before the Civil War

When he successfully built his mansion on his property, Henry decided to use his acres of land to grow crops, as it was a normal decision at that time he bought slaves for the farmlands, he engaged construction workers to build cabins a hundred meters from the Manor where the slaves would live. It is hard to to be empathic towards a slave owner but Henry always made sure that his slaves were well treated, he saw them as human beings and wanted them to be treated as such, going as far as firing the guards who would disrespect them. Henry treated them as employees, except his investment wasn't in wages but when buying them. Obviously it was still slavery so the slaves didn't gain any money for their hard work and only had the right to be thankful for being housed, fed and overall taken care of, but freedom wasn't considered in Henry's mind. At the end of the war Henry accepted his fate and tried to financially help some of the freemen and women but some of them couldn't forgive him while some other were sad to leave the places that they eventually considered home. The lack of free labour had a massive impact on the property and made Henry lose a lot of money, his account books would show that he never got richer than when he possessed slaves, he ended up engaging people from Lemoyne to replace them, they lived in the same conditions as the slaves except that they were paid and had a lot more rights.