Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 4.djvu/76

 twenty-five miles of sewers. He has taken a deep interest in the schools of that city, serving on the board, and is secretary of the Ericson Free Public Library.  NATHAN H. BRAINARD, pioneer journalist, was born in Bridgewater, New Hampshire, January 11, 1818. After acquiring an elementary education he was employed in an ax factory. He came to Iowa in 1856, taking up his residence at Iowa City. In 1861 he was appointed military secretary to Governor Kirkwood. He purchased the Iowa City Republican in 1863 which he conducted until 1874. He was an able and independent editor and was a trusted and confidential friend and adviser of Governor Kirkwood. He died in Iowa City, July 31, 1901. ISAAC BRANDT was born near Lancaster, Ohio, April 7, 1827. He was reared on a farm, receiving only a common school education. He came to Iowa in 1856, locating in Des Moines, where for several years he was engaged in selling dry goods. During antislavery days he was a friend of John Brown and cooperated with him in aiding slaves to freedom by the “underground railroad.” In 1867 Mr. Brandt was appointed deputy State Treasurer, serving six years. In 1873 he was elected a Representative in the House of the Fifteenth General Assembly, serving on the committees of ways and means and cities and towns. In 1883 he was appointed by the President one of the commissioners to inspect fifty miles of the North Pacific Railroad, and was chairman of the commission. In 1890 Mr. Brandt was appointed postmaster of Des Moines and during his term of four years introduced many reforms in the service. For more than thirty years he has been one of the influential working members of the Republican party, exercising large influence in State and congressional conventions. It was through his untiring personal efforts that the permanent State Fair grounds were secured in Des Moines. He has long been an officer of the Pioneer Lawmakers' Association. JOHN BRENNAN, a notable Irish-American orator, rose from a lowly position to a national reputation. He was born at Elphin, county of Roscommon in Ireland, on the 14th of July, 1845, and was educated in the schools of his native town. While a boy he imbibed a strong aversion to the English Government for the wrongs it had inflicted upon his countrymen and, seeing no hope for escape from oppression, he determined to emigrate to America where he arrived in 1865, without money or friends and was employed as a railroad grader, teamster, porter and farm hand, for the first four years, and while thus earning a living he determined to study law. In 1867 he was employed by A. J. Poppleton, a prominent lawyer of Omaha, and found time evenings to begin his studies. He persevered until he was admitted to the bar and entering