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Johnson County
<< 1893 Index Portrait and Biographical Record of Johnson, Poweshiek and Iowa
counties, Iowa B Unless otherwise noted, biographies submitted by Dick Barton. Nathan
Hoit Brainerd, a
pioneer settler, honored citizen, and for many years the able and enterprising
editor of the Iowa City Republican, but now retired from active duties, has been
a resident of Iowa from early days, and throughout the changing years has been
intimately associated with the upward growth and progress of Johnson County and
its capital city. Our subject is a native of New England and was born in
Bridgewater, N. H., January 11, 1818. His father, Enoch Brainerd, was also a
native of the old Granite State, and combined the useful occupations of a farmer
and blacksmith. The
paternal grandfather was born in Connecticut but lived for a time in Vermont.
The remote ancestors of the Brainerds were of English birth, but emigrating to
this country in 1630, made their home upon the rock- bound
coast of New England, and became well known as men of sterling worth and
patriotism. The mother of our subject, Theodate (Hoit) Brainerd, was a native of
New Hampshire and a daughter of Nathan Hoit, a soldier of the Revolutionary War,
who served with brave fidelity four long years, suffering the many privations
incidental to those troublous times, replete with heroic deeds. This veteran of
1776 lived to be eighty-five years of age, and, having survived to witness the
prosperity of the American nation, passed peacefully away. Mrs.
Theodate (Hoit) Brainerd was a woman of more than ordinary ability and was born
in Sanbornton, N. H., in 1789, being three years her husband's junior, his birth
having occurred in 1786. Nathan Hoit Brainerd, named in honored remembrance of
his maternal grandfather, passed his youthful days in his birthplace,
Bridgewater, one of the most beautiful spots in the State. He attended the
village schools and later enjoyed the advantage of instruction in the Holmes
Plymouth Academy. When old enough he taught school two winters, and meantime had
learned of his father the blacksmith trade, and, a natural mechanic, soon became
an expert in this line of work. After a time Mr. Brainerd entered the employ of
Collins & Co., the Hartford axe manufacturers, who were running the largest
plant of the kind in the United States. In 1845, our subject received the charge
of forging axes, a responsible position, which he held for eleven years, but in
1856, having long since determined to try his fortunes in the West, he then came
to Iowa City and profitably embarked in the grocery business, which he conducted
for three years. In
1861, Mr. Brainerd received an appointment upon the military staff of Gov.
Kirkwood and served in that official capacity until 1864. December 1, 1863, he
entered upon the ownership of the Iowa City Republican, and up to 1874 gave his
entire attention to the able management and editing of his paper, which,
typographically attractive and containing the reliable and local news of the
day, gained a wide circulation and extended patronage throughout Johnson County
and the adjoining communities of the State. Mr. Brainerd's facile pen long did
active and valuable service, and in all the questions of the hour was ever the
powerful advocate of right and justice. In editorial work he especially
excelled, giving careful consideration to all matters of public interest, and in
a graphic yet practical style presenting the same to the attention of his
numerous readers. It was
upon July 1, 1840, that Nathan Hoit Brainerd and Miss Eliza Hatch, of Blandford,
Mass., were united in marriage. Five children blessed the happy home of Mr. and
Mrs. Brainerd, four now living. Sarah L. is the wife of David S. Barber, Justice
of the Peace of Iowa City; Catherine is the wife of Prof. C. P. Rogers,
Superintendent of Schools of Marshalltown for the past twenty years; Edward E.
is the able editor of the People's Paper, of Phillipsburgh, Kan.; and Ossian L.
is Principal of the High School in Beatrice, Neb. Our subject and his estimable
wife are the proud grandparents of fourteen grandchildren, and in 1890, when
they celebrated their golden wedding, welcomed to their home eleven
grandchildren, whose bright faces gave promise of future usefulness and success
in life. Mr. Brainerd politically was originally a Whig, and on the organization of the Republican party was among the first to join it and has since steadfastly adhered to its principles. During the war he was a stanch Union man. From June 8, 1872, to August 13, 1876, he was Postmaster at Iowa City. The pleasant home residence, No. 120 Market Street, is the frequent scene of social gatherings and happy reunions of friends of other days. During the many years of his residence in Iowa City, Mr. Brainerd has always been prominently identified with local enterprises and improvement, and with word and pen has urged the upward progress and advancement which have made Iowa City the home of culture and refinement, and have aided in the promotion of the best interests of the county and State. A liberal and public-spirited citizen, our subject long since won and yet firmly holds the sincere regard of his fellow- townsmen, and in the evening of his days may well enjoy the pleasing retrospect of a most useful and prosperous life. LUKE BRAVENDER, the subject of the present sketch, is of English birth, but has an attachment for this country deep and abiding, as though it were the land of his nativity. Here he has formed dear and lasting friendships, and here he is held in high repute. Mr. Bravender resides in Grinnell, Poweshiek County , Iowa , to which place he came in 1876, although he has been a resident of the State since 1854. He was born in Yorkshire , near Scarborough , England , May 24, 1820 . His father, Luke Bravender, a farmer, emigrated from England to America in 1822, coming by way of Hull to Quebec . His grandfather, Edward, also born in England , was a carpenter and joiner. Arthur Bravender, the great-grandfather, went from Ireland to England , although the Bravenders were originally from Argyle , Scotland . The trip of the father across the ocean required six weeks and three days. He spent his first years in Canada , then engaged in farming in Clinton County , N. Y., on the shore of Lake Champlain , after which he returned to Canada and bought land in Quebec , across the line from New York . There he farmed until his death, at the age of fifty-seven years. The mother of our subject was Rebecca (Hugill) Bravender, a native of Yorkshire , England , being the daughter of Edward Hugill, a wealthy farmer. Mrs. Rebecca Bravender died at the age of fifty-five years, having had eight children, five of whom are living, our subject being the second, and there being three boys and five girls. Our subject lived in Clinton County until twenty-one years of age, receiving a good common-school education. He went to Canada , remaining at home with the family until he was twenty-eight, when he farmed for himself for three years on a fifty-acre farm. He came to Iowa in 1854, settling in Black Hawk County, which he reached by taking rail and boat to Chicago, thence by rail to Rock Island, and by team from there to Waterloo, at which place he bought two hundred and forty acres of Government land, wild prairie, in Big Creek Township, upon which he built a log house and added other improvements. More land was bought, until he had three hundred and twenty acres, all of which he improved, and seven years after he first came the log house gave way to a nice one of frame. Here our subject carried on a profitable business of general farming until 1876, when he traded for land in Kossuth County , where he now has seven hundred and twenty acres, all of it well improved and farmed by his sons. In 1876 he located at Grinnell, buying eighteen and one-half acres within the city limits. He was married at Westport, N. Y., in 1848, to Miss Jane Clark, a native of Yorkshire, England, who was reared in New York, and bore him six children: Albert, a farmer of Livermore, Humboldt County, Iowa; Bentham B., a miller of Spokane Falls, Wash.; Rebecca, wife of Christopher Yarrow, of Black Hawk County, Iowa; Cyrus, a farmer of Kossuth County, Iowa; Minnie, wife of Henry Allan, of Grand Island; and Frank M., a farmer of Kossuth County. Our subject is an earnest Christian man and a member of the Baptist Church . His political opinions are firm and decided, his affiliation being with the Republican party, to which he gives hearty support. |