E.H. (Ed) Brainard

E.H. (Ed) Brainard went to Colorado in 1880s to work for the Pollard and Piper cattle firm. He accompanied the Pollards to the Texas Panhandle and worked for a time on Robert Moody’s PO Ranch. After Henry Cresswell added the Triangle to his Bar CC range Brainard went to work for him, and in 1887 Cresswell promoted him to range foreman.

The following year Brainard acquired a 480-acre tract on John's Creek in Roberts County. His parents and sister, Mary, who later became the first schoolteacher in Canadian, moved from Sparrowbush to Canadian to be near him. Although he had begun purchasing land and cattle of his own, Brainard continued as foreman of the Bar CC until 1895. He afterwards made his home in Canadian, where he became involved in banking.

In 1901 he married Kittie Belle Fullerton, daughter of a family of Dutch and Irish extraction from Sparrowbush. They had two children. Over the next several years Brainard took pride in his high-grade Hereford cattle, which bore his Lazy B brand. He served on the executive committee of the Texas Cattle Raisers Association (now the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association) and for eight years was a member of the Canadian City Commission.

By 1940 the Brainard family had acquired 50,000 acres of ranchland. Brainard died on August 20, 1942, and was buried in the Canadian cemetery. Decades later the family continued to operate the Lazy B. The old Brainard home remained a landmark in Canadian.