OHIO STATEWIDE FILES - Know your Ohio: Cleveland's Last Surviver of RevWar
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by
Darlene E. Kelley
http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374
July 3, 1999
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Historical Collections of Ohio
The Kelley Family Collections
Newspaper article, Plains Dealer
compiled by S.J. Kelley-- 1925
And Then They Went West
by Darlene E. Kelley  1998
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In another of his series of Cleveland's Revolutionary War hero's, Mr.
Kelley discusses Jabez Brainard, last of the suviving veterens.

The Last Leaf--

    Jabez Brainard, forebear of Cleveland's musical family,born in
Connecticut in 1758, died in Cleveland in 1852, probably was the cities
last surviving veteren of the Revolutionary War. He was buried in Erie
Street Cemetery to the right of the main drive, until his remains were
removed to Lake View Cemetery.
    Ninety-four when he died, his life was a story of military service,
family life in a New England town, as leader of a church and, finally of
residence in Cleveland, where he marched with other white-haired
veterens on Public Square. The date of his death, as entered by Ohio's
Military Register and approved by the State, is at variance with the one
I give. But mine, from cemetery records, undoubtedly is correct. Honah
Hanchett is said by these military records to have died here in 1860.
An orderly, in the Revolution, he lived to be 92. But his buriel place
is listed unknown and there is no record showing he lived here.
    Jason Robbins of Solon, lived to be 90, and Obidiah Cooper,buried in
Warrensville, to be 92. Josia Wicox of Brecksville lived to be 91, while
Jared Farrand, buried in Fairview, and John Sheppard of North Royaton,
passed the century mark, but these lived without the city limits.

The " Deacon "--

    Jabez Brainard was the son of Simon and Hepzibah Spencer Brainard of
Chatham, Conn. His brother, Simon, was Lieutenant in the Continnentials
with whom brother Asa was a marine.  With peace, Jabez wedded Lucy
Bingham, daughter of Deacon Elijah and Sarah Jackson Bingham, and for
many years resided in Lemsted, N.H. Leader of the Presbyterian Church,
he was " Deacon Brainard." His son, Nathan, came here in the
mid-thirties and opened a music store on Superior Street.  He bought
land on the east side of Sheriff (E. 4th) Street an with his four sons,
built a home. Like myself, many will recall the later quaint Brainard
brick terrace with mounting steps and areas on the site of McCrory's
west entrance.
   When his wife died in New England, Jabez came here to pass his last
years with son Nathan. " Deacon" Jabez Brainard was of slight build and
medium height with humorous, inteligent blue eyes. He possessed a
Puritanic manner of speaking with the piety and religious convictions of
a day when there were few churches.  His ornamental colonial desk was
long treasured in the library of his grandson. Prof. George Brainard.
    His desendants were many. The late Miss Annie Brainard, a prominent
member of Trinity Cathedral congregation, whose home was on Kenilworth
Drive, was a great granddaughter. Her father, Silas, and her
grandfather, Nathan, built Melodeon Hall on the site of the Wilshire
Building.  Later they renamed it Brainard's Hall. All four grandsons
married, had families and were well known. Silas married Emily C. Mould,
daughter of Henry Mather, married her sister, Laura V. Mould. Prof.
George W., noted organist and music teacher, married Louise Hills,
daughter of Nathan C. Hills; Joseph Mather, the fourth granson, married
Helen Cushmen Hills, her sister, and their only child, Nelly Brainard,
became Mrs.Wilson Black Chisholm and all their decendants are all sons
and daughters of the Revolution.  
    Amos Brainard, buried in old Brookmere Cemetary, Brooklyn, settled
in the southwestern part of the city.  Mrs. Perry Geller,1637 Holyrood
Road, tells me she is directly descended from a brother of Jabez.  Her
ancestry traces back through her father, George Brainard, to Enoch
Brainard, veterinary surgeon in the Civil War.  His father, Enoch
Southworth Brainard, settled in Newburg and married his cousin, Abigail
Brainard, daughter of Silas, a son of the Revoluntion.
    The removal of Jabez Brainard's remains to Lake View Cemetery took
place in 1915. He rests in his original Tombstone, near the man
entrance. 
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