Frederick Bowman "Frank" Braid was born in Charleston, South Carolina on March 23, 1876. Braid, an electrician, lived in multiple cities and states over his career. He moved to Black Mountain (Buncombe County) from Canton (Haywood County) in 1913 when he was hired as manager of the local telephone company. By 1918, he was living in Virginia working as an electrician for the DuPont Corporation. He died in Mobile, Alabama on March 1, 1925.