The son of John N. McBrayer and Nancy Jane Wharton. His parents were baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on 14 February 1883 and later the family moved west and arrived in Mesa, Maricopa County, Arizona on 1 Jan 1888. On 20 Dec 1917 he married Minnie Marie Womble in Florence, Pinal County, Arizona. John's struggle with alcoholism was the cause of trouble both mentally and financially within his social life, marriage relationship and his family. In 1933 his wife, Minnie died at the State Hospital in Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona and his three sons were sent to live with local relatives. In the last years of his life he lived behind his son James Leroy whose family then resided in the house that John had built at 448 South Robson in Mesa, Maricopa County, Arizona. His alcoholism continued to be a factor in his later life and at age 77 he died from a coronary as he was being transported to a hospital in Phoenix.

OBITUARY:

John O. [sic] McBrayer Funeral Pending

Funeral arrangements are pending at Meldrum mortuary for John Young McBrayer, 77, a Mesa resident for many years who died in a Phoenix hospital.

Survivors include three sons, James L., Mesa, John N. and Bill M., both of Tempe, and five grandchildren. (Mesa Tribune Mesa; Maricopa County, Arizona, Monday 2 December 1957, page 1, column 2)

McBrayer Rites Set for Tomorrow

Last rites for John Young McBrayer, 77, a Mesa resident for many years, will be held at 2 p.m. tomorrow in the Meldrum mortuary chapel with Rev. Manfred L. Geisler of the Tempe Presbyterian church officiating. Interment will follow in Mesa cemetery.

McBrayer died in a Phoenix hospital. Friends may call at the Meldrum mortuary between 3 and 7 p.m. today. (Mesa Tribune, Mesa, Maricopa County, Arizona, Tuesday 3 December 1957)