BRAINERD, JEHU – Cleave’s Biographical Cyclopædia of Homoeopathic Physicians and Surgeons By E. Cleave

RAINERD,
JEHU, A. M., M. D., of Washington, D. C., was born in Johnson,
Trumbull county, O., July 5th, 1807, and may now with justice be termed
one of the prominent self-made men of the time. His parents emigrated
from Connecticut about the commencement of this century. His father was
a farmer-one of the pioneers of what was then an almost unbroken
wilderness. Born amid the hardships of a frontier life, with few of the
comforts and none of the advantages of older settlements, and, being
obliged to aid his father upon the farm, his opportunities for education
were exceedingly limited, consisting chiefly of a few terms of three
months each, in a common country district school.

     When seven years of
age, his family removed to the township of Boardman in the same county,
and remained there until Jehu’s maturity. In July, 1825, before he had
reached his eighteenth year, the death of his father left him in charge
of a widowed mother, and a large family of dependent children. He gladly
accepted these sacred trusts, and nobly cared for them until time and
circumstances rendered his further protection unnecessary. During the
winter of 1825-’26, he taught in the district school. In 1828, he
married a daughter of Elder William West, of Youngstown, Ohio. From that
date until 1842, his life was devoted to business, and to the study of
science and medicine.

     In 1842, he commenced
the publication of

The
Ohio Farmer,
as editor and proprietor, at Chagrin Falls, a thriving village, twenty
miles east of Cleveland. While thus employed, his attention was directed
to homœopathy, to which he gave a close and searching examination, and,
in a few months, became a convert to its principles and practice. In the
summer of 1844, he removed to Cleveland, Ohio, and became interested in
the publication of several scientific and elementary works on natural
history, geology, etc., in association with Professor Hamilton L. Smith,
now of Geneva, N. Y. ; Professor Samuel St. John, now of New York
city ; and Professor Jared P. Kirtland, now of Cleveland. To this
last named gentleman, Professor Brainerd acknowledges his great
indebtedness for much valuable aid rendered to him in youth, in the
pursuit of his studies.

     In 1847, he was
connected with the public schools of Cleveland, as Teacher of Natural
History and Drawing, which positions he honorably filled for ten years,
and, during this time, he prepared and published an elementary work on
the art of drawing, which was adopted as a standard text book.

     In the autumn of 1849,
the Western College of Homœopathy was organized in Cleveland. Professor
Brainerd was one of its corporators, and on its full organization was
elected a member of its Faculty. He has successively and ably filled the
chairs of Botany, Medical Jurisprudence, and Toxicology ;
Elementary Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Microscopic Anatomy, and
Histology. The continuance of his relation with the celebrated
institution is not less honorable to this college than it is creditable
to himself.

     In 1858, ’59, ’60, he
was Professor of Agricultural Chemistry in the Agricultural College of
Ohio, and for the two last named years was Professor of chemistry in the
Homœopathic College of Missouri. In all these important positions, he
acquitted himself of his duties with the highest honor to himself and
his colleges.

     From 1867 to 1870, be
occupied the chair of Chemistry in the Woman’s Homœopathic College of
Cleveland.

     In 1861, he removed to
Washington city, and opened an office for the practice of medicine. On
several emergencies, when the Government called for volunteer surgeons,
Dr. Brainerd offered his services, which were accepted. After the close
of the war, discovering that certain laws passed by Congress, in 1838,
worked oppressively against all who practiced homœopathy in the
District, he petitioned Congress for their repeal, and, being joined
subsequently by other physicians, he not only succeeded in attaining the
desired end, but procured a charter for the Homœopathic Medical
Association of Washington City, thus giving to his profession a status
never previously possessed. In 1872-’73, he was the President of this
body.

     His publications are
various. Of these, we will mention, “The Influence of Narcotic
Stimulants upon the Human System ;” “The Chemical
Constitution of the Stratified Rocks ;” “On the Laws of
Health and Physical Development ;” “The Application of
Steam Power in the Cultivation of the Soil ;” “The
Philosophy of the Homœopathic System of Medical Practice.”

     Without the
acknowledged advantages of an academic or collegiate course of study,
Professor Brainerd has been honored with diplomas from several
institutions of high character, in tribute to his great worth and
learning.

Source
: Cleave’s Biographical Cyclopædia of Homœopathic Physicians and
Surgeons By Egbert Cleave