He was the guardian of Rosemary Garthwait upon the death of her mother Anna Dillon.
John Edwin Brainard (August 27, 1857 – September 8, 1942) was an American politician who was the 80th Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut from 1925 to 1929.
He married Lizzie C. Bartholomew and they had three sons, Halstead, Norman, and Spencer.
He resigned to go into the bicycle business on Church street, Brainard and Wilcox, which continued until 1817, when he sold out to his partner and took a position with the firm of Ives, Uphani and Rand until 1898, when he was appointed street superintendent.
Elected as a member from Branford of the Connecticut House of Representatives, he served in that office from 1919 to 1920.