BRANNAN, Thomas S.

BRANNAN

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 5/30/2021 at 19:41:43

Thomas S. Brannan

Thomas S. Brannan, attorney-at-law, Ida Grove, Iowa, has been identified with the legal profession for the past eight or nine years; he has been a resident of Ida County since 1879, and is deserving of more than a passing notice on the pages of this book. Thomas S. Brannan was born in Keyesville, Clinton County, New York, August 15, 1839, and was reared in Canada East until he was fourteen years of age. He is the son of James and Esther Brannan, and is of Irish extraction; his father and mother were born in the North of Ireland, and came to Canada East about the year 1825. James Brannan was a trapper and guide for the Hudson’s Bay Fur Company for a number of years in the Northwest; in 1854 he came to Benton County, Iowa, being one of the first settlers of that county; he subsequently moved to Cherokee County, Iowa, where he died in 1878, at the age of seventy-nine years. He was a Dunkard by faith for a number of years before his death.
Our subject’s mother was a daughter of Peter Maber and Esther Maber; the former was for a number of years a Lieutenant Colonel in the British army, and was wounded while serving in India.James and Esther Brannan had eleven children, who are now scattered over various portions of the United States; and one , the last heard of, was on the west coast of Africa. Two of the boys, James I. and Edward, were killed by the Sioux Indians, in September, 1866; James I. on the Little Powder river, and Edward at Cimarron, New Mexico. Mr. Thomas S. Brannan attended paid school in his youth, but the chief portion of his education has been gained in the practical school studies at home. When he was seventeen years of age he went West with two brothers to the Territory of Kansas, which was at that time in the heat of the Kansas war, in which he took part, under James Lane, the Free State leader. After the close of the Kansas war, he, in 1858, enlisted and went to Salt Lake, to assist in quelling the Mormon outbreak, after which he employed his time in hunting and guiding trains and outfits of gold-seekers across the plains to western Kansas, or what is now called Colorado.
In July, 1861, being in the State on a visit, he enlisted in Company C, Tenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and re-enlisted in the same company and regiment, in January, 1864, and served until the close of the war, and was mustered out of the service at Davenport, Iowa. He was twice slightly wounded. Following are the battles in which he participated: Charleston, Missouri; New Madrid, Missouri; Siege of Corinth, Mississippi; Port Gibson, Mississippi; Raymond, Mississippi; Jackson, Mississippi; Champion Hills, Mississippi; Siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi; Decatur, Alabama; Missionary Ridge, Tennessee; Savannah, Georgia; Salkenhatchie, North Carolina; North Edisto, Cox Bridge and Bentonville, besides many other small engagements, which did not amount to a general battle. Four hundred and fifteen of his regiment were killed and wounded, and 149 died of disease. After the close of the war, Mr. Brannan located in Johnson county, Iowa, where he engaged in contracting for masonry work; in 1868 he went to Benton county, and the following year to Cherokee county, where he owned a farm of 160 acres; he, however, devoted his time to his trade, that of a mason, contracting and building. He came to Ida Grove in 1879, and for a short time continued working at his trade; in 1883 he turned his attention to the law, and has since devoted himself to that profession, and was admitted to the practice of law by the Supreme Court of Iowa. While in Cherokee county, Mr. Brannan held the office of Justice of the Peace for a number of years, and while in Ida Grove held the same office for nine years.
A staunch Republican and an active worker in the ranks of his party, he served as Chairman of the Republican Central Committee in 1890 and 1891; for the past four years he has been Chairman of the Soldiers’ Relief Commission of his county. He is a member of the G. A. R., Matthew Gray Post, No. 93, of which he is Past Commander; he has served in the various offices of the Post, and is now Quartermaster. He is also a member of Kane Lodge, No. 377, A. F. & A. M., of which he is past Master. Mr. Brannan was married at the close of the war, to Miss Rachael Tiser, a native of Ohio. They have had five children, of whom one died. Those living are: James E. of Fort Omaha, Nebraska, musician Second Infantry, United States Army; Emma E., wife of S. W. Kiner, editor of the Ida County Watch; William F., a blacksmith and machinist; Agnes May, deceased; Esther M., at home with her parents. Mr. Brannan is at present Clerk of the district Court, Ida county.
Source: Biographical History of Crawford, Ida, and Sac Counties, Iowa, 1893, p.480