Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1915
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 654
JUDGE D. E. BRAINARD

This pioneer gentleman was county judge of Harrison county, Iowa, from 1857 to 1862. He was a member of the state board of education several years, held the office of county treasurer and recorder from 1856 to 1858, and was special agent for the postoffice department at Washington, looking after delinquencies. He held this latter position four years with headquarters usually at Iowa City, but was much of the time out in the field examining into postal matters in Iowa.

D. E. BRAINARD was a native of Rome, New York, born in 1808. When grown to manhood he came west and engaged in merchandising and in running various stage routes for the government. One line of stages was from Springfield, Illinois, to St. Louis. He was well educated and a wonderful good story teller. In 1837 he settled in Van Buren county, Iowa, and in 1840 his son, George R. BRAINARD, so well remembered in Harrison county, was born there. In the spring of 1855, the elder BRAINARD (the judge) fitted up two covered wagons, one drawn by horse team and one by oxen. They started for California, but while halting in Council Bluffs for the grass to become large enough for the teams to subsist upon, they chanced to meet one Moses F. SHINN, who caused them to look Harrison county over, with the result that they settled at Magnolia and there ever afterwards called it their home.

The last years of Judge BRAINARD's life were spent in Chadron, Nebraska, with his daughter. The son, George R., when nineteen years old, in company with his brother Orville, bought a newspaper which had been conducted at the town of Preparation, Monona county. With this outfit they established the Magnolia Republican, the first Republican organ established in this part of the state. He later, in 1871, established the Dunlap Reporter, and after four years sold that paper and engaged in farming in this county. He also carried the mail between Logan and Magnolia several years. In later years he served as postmaster at Magnolia. The BRAINARD family at Magnolia and elsewhere in Harrison county have been strong, high-minded and true characters.

Return to 1915 Biographical B Surnames Index

Back to 1915 Biographies Index