Pleasant Hill History Center

D. W. DE BRA, painter; Pleasant Hill. Among the business men of Pleasant Hill deserving of notice is Mr. De Bra; he comes of early settlers of the township.  His father, Daniel De Bra, was born in Huntingdon Co., Penn., in 1812, and when 2 or 3 years old, was brought to this State by his parents; they camped first on the present site of the town of Pleasant Hill; they died soon after coming here with milk sickness.  Daniel was a cabinet-maker and passed the remainder of his life in Newton Township.  He was married to Mary Langsten, of Preble Co., Ohio; she was born in 1815 and still survives.  Daniel died in 1844.  The subject of this sketch was born Oct. 9, 1843, and his early days were passed in the village of Pleasant Hill.  Early in the progress of our late civil war, he enlisted as a member of the 110th O. V. I., Co. G, and participated in all the hard-fought battles which this regiment engaged in till the fight of the Wilderness; here, while at his post of duty, he received a wound which disabled him so that he was unfit for any more active duty; after passing some time in different hospitals, he was honorably discharged at Cleveland, Ohio, on the 6th of February, 1865, having been in the service over two years.  Mr. De Bra finds expression for his political creed in the Republican party, and, although not a politician in the true sense, he was recently elected to the office of Township Treasurer, and is how the present incumbent of this office.  He is a worthy member of the following orders: F. & A. M. and I. O. O. F. Lodges of Pleasant Hill.  His maternal grandparents were natives of North Carolina, and were early settlers of Union Township.  His grandmother died a few years ago at the advanced age of 96 years.  He has been married twice; first to Elizabeth Pearson in 1873; she died Jan. 22, 1875.  He was married the second time, May 4, 1876, to Eliza Graybill, of Juniata Co., Penn.  Two children, Charles Earl and Nellie, have been the issue of this union.