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Heyn--Omaha JOHN BELL BRAIN

John Bell Brain

John Bell Brain, son of Edwin Bell and Melvina Freelove (Leech) Brain, was born at Defiance, Iowa, February 18, 1888. Edwin Bell Brain was born in London, England, March 27, 1852. He settled first in Iowa and then in Nebraska, where he served as county treasurer of Rock County. He was founder and president of the Omaha School Supply Company at the time of his death in Omaha, March 26, 1923. His wife, Melvina Brain, was born in Lucas, Iowa, August 8, 1872.

Educated in the Omaha public schools, Mr. Brain was graduated from Central High School in June, 1907, and attended the University of Nebraska from 1908-11, when he received his LL.B. He is a member of Phi Delta Phi and Phi Gamma Delta.

Upon his graduation from college he entered upon his business career in association with his father. After his father's death in 1923 he became president of the National School Supply Dealers Association. He is president of the Omaha School Supply Company, president of the Omaha Central Radio Company, the Omaha Central Paper Company, the Chicago School Supply Company and the Kansas City School Supply Company.

He was elected to the Nebraska state house of representatives from Douglas County in 1913 on the Republican ticket, and is active in party politics.

He held the rank of sergeant in the Nebraska State Militia from 1915-17, and participated in all Liberty loan drives during the World War. He attends Dundee Presbyterian Church and is a member of the Young Men's Christian Association.

He is a Mason and a member of the Shrine, and also an Elk and Modern Woodman of America. He is a Rotarian and member of the A. B. C. Club and the Chamber of Commerce. His favorite sport is golf and his hobby is philately. He is a member of the Omaha Athletic Club and Happy Hollow Country Club-

On June 4. 1912 he was married to Jessie Spence at Omaha. Mrs. Brain, who is of Scotch descent, was born at Kearney, Nebraska, April 15, 1890. There were three children born to them, two of whom are deceased. Dorothy L., born September 18, 1914, died November 13, 1914; and Robert W., born December 28, 1917, died January 1, 1918. John B., Jr., born December 11, 1915, is living. Residence: Omaha. (Photograph on Page 149).

Alanson Pullman Brainard

Alanson Pullman Brainard was born August 21, 1870, in Saunders County, Nebraska, the son of Henry Harrison Brainard and Cornelia (Pullman) Brainard. His father was born at Norway, Herkimer County, New York, August 14, 1847, and was a farmer and member of the New York Volunteers in the Civil War. He is the eighth descendant of Daniel Brainard, the first of the family of Brainards having come to this country in 1649 and settled near Haddam, Connecticut. Henry H. Brainard came to Nebraska in 1868, and homesteaded near Cedar Bluffs, Nebraska. His brother, Brigadier General D. L. Brainard, was a member of the Greeley Polar Expedition and now resides in Washington, D. C. Henry Brainard was a director in the Farmer's and Merchant's Bank at Cedar Bluffs, was a Mason, a member of the Eastern Star and the Woodman of the World.

Alanson Brainard's mother was born at Norway, New York, July 11, 1844, and died in Cedar Bluffs, January 17, 1922. She was educated in a private seminary, and was the daughter of Isaac and Carolina (Bly) Pullman. She was affiliated with the Episcopal Church of Fremont and was a member of the Woman's Club.

Mr. Brainard attended rural school and the Fremont High School. He was united in marriage to Amelia Frahm Brunner, June 28, 1905, at Fremont, where she was born January 4, 1877. To this union three children were born: Charles, April 11, 1906, who died April 14, 1906; Alanson David, September 15, 1907, is a graduate of Midland College, class of 1928, and is married to Clara Stafford; and Hollis Harrison, February 2, 1910.

Alanson is superintendent of the schools at Carleton Nebraska, and Hollis is a second lieutenant in the officer's Reserve Corps of the United States Army, and was chosen as Saunders County's best young citizen i 1928.

Mr. Brainard is a Democrat. He has lived in Nebraska since 1870, during which time he has engaged in farming. Residence: Cedar Bluffs.

Henry Allen Brainerd

Henry Allen Brainerd, newspaper man and historian was born at Boston, Massachusetts, November 4, 1857, son of Henry Hall and Maria Lucy (Stetson) Brainerd.

The father was born at South Hadley, Massachusetts June 13, 1832, and died at Providence, Rhode Island October 28, 1901. He was a commercial traveler, practically all his life, crossed the Atlantic several times. Lyman Brainerd was a tanner in St. Albans, Vermont who was killed about 1856, from a fall through an elevator. He was a descendent from the 6th child of Daniel Brainerd, the first member of the family in the United States.

Maria Lucy Stetson was born in Greene, Maine, September 16, 1832, and died at Charlestown, Massachusetts, September 14, 1862. She died when Henry Allen Brainerd was four years of age. She was what would be called today a deaconess in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and did much good among the poor of the city. Turner Stetson and Thankful Lombard are her ancestors. Her father was born in 1788, and died in 1847, while her mother was born in 1795, and died in 1848. They were married in 1811.

Mr. Brainerd attended public school in Boston, and Providence, Rhode Island. He attended the Kent's Hill Seminary, in Maine, 1878-79, and Middletown University for a short time. Afterwards he attended the night sessions of Brown University at Providence. He started in the printing business in 1865 at Boston. He was graduated from Bryant and Stratton's Business College at Providence in 1875, the youngest graduate at the university, at that time. For a short time he worked on the newspapers in Boston, Providence, New York, Chicago, and other large cities.

Mr. Brainerd came to Nebraska in 1883, and was a newspaper man in Lincoln, Milford, Sutton, Bennett, Chester and Hebron. At the present time, he is engaged in writing features and short stories for various papers. He is the author of Nebraska Press History, History of the Young Men's Christian Association, 1844-1890, and several short articles, in addition to newspaper stories. A Republican, he was one of the three organizers of the first Blaine and Logan Club at Milford, organized the first Ladies Marching Club at Milford in 1890, and the first Broom Brigade, McKinley Marching Club a' 1896 at Chester.

On August 17, 1892, he was married to Clara Castle at Seward. Mrs. Brainerd was born at Buffalo Prairie, Illinois, November 11, 1868, daughter of Lemuel Melvin and Helen (Moffett) Castle, who were married in Rock Island, Illinois, on November 8, 1866. Mr. and Mrs. Brainerd have five children, Helen, born May 4, 1893, married Raymond J. Ditzler, and they live at Douglas, Wyoming. Gladys LaVerne, born October 16, 1894, married J. M. Kornder, and they live at Armour, South Dakota. Ona Marguerite, born November 16, 1900, is married to William H. Amstutz, and resides at Newark, New Jersey. Marion Lelibeth, born December 23, 1902, married C. J. Rhodes, of Peoria, Illinois. Henry Hall, the youngest child, was born December 13, 1903.

At various times, Mr. Brainerd has held membership in the National Guards of Maine, Rhode Island, and at Nebraska. He was a member of the Lincoln Home

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