Wilfred, second son of John Braun, was taken into
the firm in 1927, following a course in architectural
engineering. He continues to lay out drawings for the
buildings being constructed by the firm. Wilfred and
three of his sons, William H., John and Joseph,
together with James W. Braun, son of Albert, continue
to operate two retail building services at Athens and
Milan.
John Braun married Emma Haelke in 1893. They
had six children - Edward, Irene, Harry, Wilfred,
Matthias and Mercedes. John died at the age of 80 in
1947.
Martin Nowicki
Reference detail - See "Century Farms"
Martin Nowicki, who was a violinist in Europe
came to this country in 1877 with his wife the
former Kathryn Socha. They had nine children-
Johanna (Zobrak), Pauline (1st wife of Andrew
Miller), Michael, Anna (Kreft), Josephine (Teresin-
ski), John, Frank, Andrew and Antonette (Wojcie-
chowski). From him, some of his children acquired
an interest in music namely, Michael, John and
Andrew. A family orchestra came into being con-
sisting of Martin as 1st violinist; Michael a clarinet
player; John 2nd violinist, Andrew a coronet player
and a cousin John Wichlacz a Cello player. They
practiced many an evening usually after all the evening
chores were finished and played for many weddings in
the surrounding areas.
As John's son Art recalls, his father told him
that it was usually proper in those days for the
orchestra to lead the bridal couple with music to
church. The musicians had a horse driven surrey,
and at one particular wedding the horses stopped
unexpectedly. Andrew with his trumpet, did not ex-
pect this, - lost his balance, fell into the new big
Cello and broke it. For the moment, a few sad
moments followed, but they quickly went back home
to get their old Cello and they proceeded with their
playing. There were home weddings held all day
and all night until about three or four in the morning,
with lunch served just before their departure. Most of
the invited guests walked home in time for the
morning chores. The musicians sometimes continued
on to the next wedding with the horses being their
only transportation.
The talent of music in the Nowicki family had
touched many descendents who have pursued their
talent to some degree. The following chart illustrates
this by generations. Note that the musically gifted
parents are in parenthesis next to their children. If
parents were not gifted, geneology is tracked back to
Martin's children with the parent beneath.

Mlcnae; NOWICKI
Clarinet and other
instrument player

Violinist

Coronet Player