Local historian Harriet Branton dies
Somewhere in the 1970s, Harriet Branton wandered into Washington County Historical Society and stumbled into an avocation.
The wife of an English professor at Washington & Jefferson College, she was looking for something for her husband, and became enchanted by the history of Washington County. She went on to become one of the leading historians of the county, writing a weekly history column for the Observer-Reporter between 1978 and 1986, and eventually gathering the columns together in a four-volume series, “Focus on Washington County.”
Branton died Wednesday in Washington, D.C., following a stroke. She was 92. Branton and her husband, Clarence, left the Washington area in 2006 to be closer to their children in the Washington, D.C., area.
There were few corners of the county’s history that escaped her notice. She wrote about the Whiskey Rebellion, the National Pike, the LeMoyne House and area soldiers who fought in wars, but she also examined the formation of Washington County’s courts, the creation of The Reporter newspaper and the abolitionist movement in the county.
“She didn’t go to school to be a historian,” according to Clay Kilgore, executive director of Washington County Historical Society. “But she was one of the best historians we’ve ever had in the county. People didn’t know about this history, but it was hidden in plain sight.”
Thanks to the essays she wrote for the Observer-Reporter, “readers could view local history with sparkling clarity,” said Park Burroughs, the former managing editor of the newspaper, in the foreword to a 2013 collection of her work, “Washington County Chronicles: Historic Tales from Southwestern Pennsylvania.”
Burroughs continued, “Her writings, painstakingly researched and composed in plain-spoken prose of wit and precision, engendered a new interest in the county’s hardscrabble beginnings, its revolt against federal authority with the Whiskey Rebellion, its position on both the National Road and the Underground Railroad, its mineral wealth and exploitation, its immigrants, heroes and villains.”
When Branton and her husband left Washington County 12 years ago, she bequeathed her vast collection of research to the historical society. It consists of nine to 10 boxes stuffed with letters and other items she used during her investigations of local history. Kilgore said it’s one of the historical society’s largest single collections, and remains an important resource.
Along with being a local historian, Branton also served as a lieutenant in the Women’s Army Corps in the 1950s, and was a commanding officer of a detachment at West Point. She also worked at the Library of Congress, and with the food and agriculture organization of the United Nations in Washington, D.C. In Washington, Branton taught English and history courses in public schools and at John F. Kennedy Catholic School.
Branton was born July 1, 1925, in Pittsburgh. Her husband died in 2007. She was also predeceased by her parents, William A. and Harriet H. Kraus, and a brother, John T. Kraus. She is survived by her brother, Frederick T. Kraus (Gayle Jackson) of St. Louis; sister-in-law Joy N. Kraus of Washington, D.C.; daughter Mary H. Branton (Jeffrey Wilkerson) of Washington, D.C.; son Philip A. Branton (Ellen Lazarus) of Washington, D.C.; granddaughter Emily N. Branton of Chicago; grandson Avery J. Branton of Washington, D.C.; and nieces and nephews.
Her daughter, Mary Branton, recalled in an email message, “She loved cats, dogs and small children, music, especially opera, cooking and travel. As several people have been recalling to me, she had a great sense of humor.”
Services will be in Washington, D.C., Friday.