EDWARD HENRY BRAINARD, of Canadian, Hemphill county, is one of the cattlemen and ranchers of the Texas Panhandle to whom success has come in almost lavish amount and has made him one of the foremost men of his section in material affairs and financial substantiality. Mr. Brainard began his career with practically nothing, except that he was industrious, rugged, ready to take advantage of whatever opportunity should offer and from humble beginnings less than twenty-five years ago, much of which subsequent time was spent in the employment of others, he has attained a commanding position among the extensive and prosperous ranchers of northwest Texas.
He was born in Massachusetts on July 4, 1860, but in infancy was taken by his parents to Orange county, New York, where he was reared. He was a son of Peter H. and Eliza Brainard, and his mother died when he was a child. His father, a native of Ireland and a tanner by trade, lived in Massachusetts and New York, and in 1880 came out west and is now living with his son in Canadian, being retired from active pursuits.
At the age of nineteen Mr. Brainard went west and has been identified with the cattle business ever since. In Colorado he did all kinds of work connected with ranch life, such as cooking, herding horses, punching cows, etc. In the spring of 1882 he came down into the Texas Panhandle, in the very early days of that region, and located in Hemphill county, which has been the principal scene of his operations ever since. For a time he did about the same kind of work in the Panhandle that he had been doing in Colorado, and for twelve years he was in the employ of the Cresswell Land and Cattle Company, during the last eight years of which time he was foreman for the company, which was one of the largest cattle ranching corporations of the time. When he left the service of this company he had accumulated a considerable bunch of cattle, and since about 1895 he has been ranching on his own account, with constantly increasing success. That he has made good use of his time and opportunities and his business ability is evident form the fact that he now owns twenty-three thousand acres with enough more leased to make forty thousand acres under fence. This land is in two ranches, one in the corner of Hemphill and Lipscomb counties and the other is in the corner of Lipscomb and Hutchinson counties.
Mr. Brainard is not only prominent as a cattleman but also as a citizen, and he has shown great interest in all matters, pertaining to the welfare of this part of the state. He is one of the trustees of the public school system of Canadian, and is secretary of the Panhandle Cattle Raisers’ Association.
Mr. Brainard was married in Orange county, New York, to Miss Kitty Fullerton, a member of one of the old and prominent families of that part of New York state.
Source: B. B. Paddock, History and Biographical Record of North and West Texas (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1906), Vol. I, pp. 643-644.