Person:William Britton (4)

William is listed as William A not W. He is listed with wife Christie and daughter Edith aged 10

Date is extrapolation of 1920 census information for Reading, Berks, Pa

1. ↑ Obituary
   Philadelphia Inquirer , 24 Jul 1947.

   Solemn Requiem Mass for William W. Britton, Who died Saturday at his 2731 E. Clearfield St, will be sung at 10 AM tomorrow at Nativity B.V.M.Church, Belgrade and Clearfield Sts. Interment will be in St Peter's Cemetery, Belgrade and Tioga Sts. He was 88.
   
   Mr Britton was the only surviving member of the class of 1879, University of PA. During his scholastic career he organized that institution's orchestra. An attorney, he once served as the city controller at Reading, PA, and was also a musician and music critic. He is survived by a son and seven daughters and seven grandchildren.

2.   Family memories from User:Unkleoskar.

   At the time I initially started this research, my mind was very hazy about my grandfather and was unaware of the trials and tribulations that he went through and what he put his family through. After reading the following article and seeing what I write later after completing some research, you will see the difference between my memories and what actually transpired over a period of years
   
   1994
   At the present time there is very little concrete evidence in my possession on the facts concerning the life of Wm Britton, my grandfather. Just the memories of what my mother told me in my youth. He supposedly had graduated from Harvard University at an early age (16?). He being too young to enter the Pennsylvania Bar, got upset and went to work for the Pennsylvania railroad. At the time of my mother's marriage to Charles Corbit , he was living in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Apparently he was already divorced from Katie Irene Miller. My recollections of him are from the period of time that he lived with us on top of Mt Penn near Reading Pennsylvania. This is the period of time that my father was serving during World War II, approximately 1939 thru 1947. These memories of him are that he was fairly tall and slender, above six feet,(Achild's impression, he could have been shorter). He had gray hair that seemed to tell you in his youth that he was a blond haired person. This man in his early eighties, would daily walk down the mountainside, to get his special bread that no one else could get for him, and return. This was four mile round trip. It was on one these trips that he fell and broke a leg. This was the beginning of the end for him as he developed pneumonia and passed away in a hospital in Philadelphia at the age of 82. This was either in 1945 or 46, I can not remember for certain. I remember him smoking a cigar every evening after the supper meal, just before retiring for the night. Other things that I can remember is his love of blood baloney, his saving the crumbs from slicing his bread (which was very crusty) and then sprinkling them with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar and sharing it with me. I also remember his reading from his missal on a daily basis and saying morning and evening prayers that he called Matins and vespers. He made sure that my brother and I said the evening prayers with him.
   
   Vague memories keep coming back from time to time, I remember that he worked for the Curtis Publishing Co. at one time and that he also had worked for a now defunct Reading newspaper. At sometime in the future I hope that these memories may become clearer and more coherent as search for the answers to his life.
   
   Jan 2000
   The life of William Britton, as I find it after some research. William Britton was born in Philadelphia, PA in 1859 of immigrant parents, Andrew Laird Britton, and his wife Ellen Mulqueen. Apparently young William was very bright and talented because even though when young he suffered from illness and missed quite a bit of school he still graduated from the University of Pennsylvania at the age of 20. But before doing this as a youth he was a choir director of his church. He was the Manager of the University of Pennsylvania's Baseball team. He had formed the University of Pennsylvania's Symphony Orchestra among other things.