Lake County IN Archives Biographies.....Brannon, James 1819 - 1898
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com December 21, 2006, 10:03 pm

Author: T. H. Ball (1904)

JAMES BRANNON.

    James Brannon, now deceased, was a well-known and highly respected citizen
of Lake county, and his life record should form a place in the history of this
section of the state. He was born in Boston, Summit county, Ohio, July 31, 1819,
and was a son of William Brannon, a native of Pennsylvania and of Irish descent.
The father died in Boston, Summit county, Ohio, when his son James was but nine
years of age. The boy afterward lived with an uncle until sixteen years of age,
when he started out in life on his own account. He worked by the month for two
years and never lost a day during that time. When living in Ohio he belonged to
an independent military company and took part in the drills which were common at
that time. Although he earned but eight dollars per month at farm labor, he
managed to save most of the amount, and with the money which he had acquired he
came to Indiana in 1843, establishing his home in Lake county. Here he preempted
a tract of land, first owning a farm of eighty acres, to which he afterward
added forty acres. Later he sold that property and bought a soldier's land
warrant, wherewith he secured one hundred and sixty acres of land in West Creek
township, becoming owner of this property in 1850. As a farmer he was energetic,
practical and progressive. He worked hard year after year, and as his financial
resources increased he extended the boundaries of his farm by additional
purchases until at the time of his death in 1898 he was the owner of seven
hundred and fifty acres of very valuable land, which had been accumulated
through his own industry, perseverance and capable management.

    Mr. Brannon was very well known in the county as an honored pioneer settler
and enterprising agriculturist, and as a citizen he favored public progress and
improvement along material, social, intellectual and moral lines. He served as a
trustee of West Creek township for twenty years, and was a life-long Republican,
heartily endorsing the principles of the party. He held membership in the
Presbyterian church, in which he served as an elder for a number of years and he
was very liberal in his contributions to the cause of Christianity. His life was
at all times actuated by honorable and manly principles.

    Mr. Brannon was united in marriage to Miss Eleanor Foster, on the 17th of
May, 1851. She was born in Bradford county, Pennsylvania, March 25, 1832, and
was a daughter of Elijah D. and Jemima (Nichols) Foster. Her father was born in
Brookfield, Massachusetts, and came to Lake county in 1843, locating on a tract
of land in West Creek township, where he engaged in general farming throughout
his business career. He passed away at the advanced age of eighty-three years
and his wife lived to be fifty-six years of age. Both parents of Mrs. Brannon
had been married before, and the father had two sons by his former marriage, who
were early settlers of Lake county, A. D. Foster coming to Indiana in 1837,
while George S. Foster arrived in 1838. There were but two white families in
this part of the county at that time. The mother of Mrs. James Brannon was
Jemima Nichols, and she was born near Chelsea, Orange county, Vermont, February
7, 1792. She married first Amos Loveland. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary
war, entering the ranks at the age of fourteen. He was present at the execution
of Major Andre. His occupation was that of an agriculturist. He was a Democrat
in his political affiliations. The grandfather Nichols was also a soldier in the
Revolutionary war. Mrs. Brannon s grandmother was a niece of the celebrated
Cotton Mather of historic fame. The parents of Mrs. Brannon had ten children,
and she was but eleven years of age at the time of the removal of the family to
this state. She has since lived in Lake county, making her home here from a time
in which there were no frame houses in the county, all the dwellings being built
of logs. She has, therefore, witnessed the greater part of the growth and
development of this portion of the state and can relate many interesting
incidents concerning pioneer life and experience here. To Mr. and Mrs. Brannon
were born five children: Lucina, the wife of M. E. Belshaw; Julia, the deceased
wife of T. A. Wason; Perry, who lives in North Dakota; George D., who is a
practicing physician at Crown Point; and Melvin, who has charge of the Biology
Department in the State University at Grand Forks, North Dakota.

    Mrs. Brannon is the owner of a valuable farm of one hundred and seventy-one
acres, which she rents. She holds membership in the Presbyterian church at
Lowell and is well known throughout the county, being a representative of one of
the honored pioneer families.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

ENCYCLOPEDIA
OF
Genealogy and Biography
OF
LAKE COUNTY, INDIANA,
WITH A COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY 
1834—1904

A Record of the Achievements of Its People in the Making of a Commonwealth and
the Founding of a Nation.

REV. T. H. BALL
OF CROWN POINT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
ILLUSTRATED
CHICAGO   NEW YORK
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
1904


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