Lewis County, West Virginia Biography of Edward Arnold BRANNON This biography was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: The submitter does not have a connection to the subject of this sketch. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 412 EDWARD ARNOLD BRANNON, a member of the West Vir- ginia bar since 1894, continues the high prestige enjoyed by the name Brannon in the bench and bar of the state, a prestige long associated with his honored father, the late Judge Henry Brannon. Judge Henry Brannon, who was a justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals from 1888 to 1913, was born at Winchester, Virginia, November 26, 1837, member of a prominent family of Old Virginia and a son of Robert and Catherine (Copenhaver) Brannon. Robert Brannon was also a native of Winchester, and an influ- ential citizen of that locality, being a planter and a hotel proprietor. His children were named John, Harriet, Stuart, Morgan M. and Henry. Judge Henry Brannon was reared on a farm and had all the advantages of a liberal education in the years before the war. He graduated A. B. from the University of Vir- ginia in 1857. He was admitted to the bar in 1859, and began his career as a lawyer in Lewis County, West Vir- ginia, before the war, having studied law with his brother- in-law. He was in active practice at Weston from 1859 to 1881. He was prosecuting attorney of Lewis County from 1860 to 1864, was a member of the West Virginia House of Representatives in 1870-71, and for eight years, from 1880 to 1888, was judge of the Circuit court. Then fol- lowed his long career of a quarter of a century as justice of the Supreme Court of Appeals. His last term on the supreme bench expired December 31, 1912, and he died November 24, 1914. He was a democrat until 1896, and after that a republican. Judge Brannon was author of "Treatise on Rights and Privileges Guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitu- tion." December 28, 1858, he married Hetta Jane Arnold, of Weston. Of their six children five are living: Ida J., widow of Dr. John I. Warder, of Weston; Ella V., wife of Frank J. Flannery, of Baltimore, Maryland; Mamie B. Whelan, of Huntington, West Virginia, widow of James J. Whelan; Gertrude, wife of J. Hoffman Edwards, of Weston; Edward A.; and Henry, Jr., deceased. Edward Arnold Brannon, only living son of the late Judge Brannon, was born at Weston, April 4, 1870, and grew up in his native town, acquiring a public school edu- cation, attending a preparatory school at Baltimore, finish- ing his literary education in the University of West Vir- ginia and Princeton University, and attended the law schools of the University of Maryland and of Washington and Lee University. After graduating LL. B. he was admitted to the bar in 1894, and now for almost thirty years has been associated with much of the important practice in his home state, having many cases before the Supreme Court. He has been city solicitor of Weston, was representative of Lewis County in the House of Delegates in 1910-11, and was democratic nominee for attorney general of the state in 1920. While he has participated in politics, his primary ambition has been satisfied within the strict limits of the law. He is one of the local attorneys for the Baltimore & Ohio Railway, and a director of the Weston Electric Light, Power and Water Company. He is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America. February 10, 1909, Mr. Brannon married Irma K. Cowey. Mrs. Brannon is a graduate of the high school of Middle- port, Ohio. They have three children: Henrietta H., born July 8, 1910; Alice J., born August 3, 1913; and Edward A., Jr., born October 18, 1915. Mrs. Brannon and her daughters are members of the Episcopal Church.