Lawrence Brainerd

Infobox Senator
name=Lawrence Brainerd


width=200px
jr/sr=United States Senator
state=Vermont
party=Whig, Liberty, Free Soil
term=October 14, 1854 – March 3, 1855
preceded=Samuel S. Phelps
succeeded=Jacob Collamer
date of birth=March 16, 1794
place of birth=East Hartford, Connecticut, USA
date of death=May 9, 1870
place of death=St. Albans, Vermont, USA
spouse=Fidelia B. Gadcombe
profession=Politician, Clerk, Merchant, Teacher, Banker, Navigator, Railroad executive
religion=
footnotes=

Lawrence Brainerd (March 16, 1794 – May 9, 1870) was a businessman, abolitionist and United States Senator from Vermont. He was the father of Anne Eliza Brainerd Smith and the father-in-law of Vermont Governor J. Gregory Smith.

Born in East Hartford, Connecticut, he went to Troy, New York in 1803 to reside with an uncle and in 1808 moved with him to St. Albans, Vermont. He completed preparatory studies, taught school, was employed as a clerk in a mercantile establishment until 1816, and engaged in mercantile, banking, navigation, and railroad enterprises. In 1834 he was elected to the Vermont Legislature; he was affiliated with the Whig Party until 1840, when he became a member of the Liberty Party. He was an unsuccessful candidate for Governor of Vermont in 1846, 1847, 1848, 1852, and 1854; he was elected as a member of the Free Soil Party to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of William Upham and served from October 14, 1854, to March 3, 1855. He was not a candidate for reelection, and was nominated for Governor but declined. He resumed business activities and in 1870 died in St. Albans, Vermont; interment was in Greenwood Cemetery.

His son-in-law, J. Gregory Smith, founded and named Brainerd, Minnesota after his father-in-law and wife.

References

External links

* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6887175 Lawrence Brainerd] at Find A Grave