Brained Bliss Thresher was a noted artist from Dayton, Ohio. His father was Joseph Thresher, who came to Dayton to work for his uncle, Ebenezer Thresher. Ebenezer was a former Baptist clergyman who later in life founded the railroad car company that would become Barney and Smith when he turned it over to E. E. Barney, his fellow Baptist and protege. Joseph owned a varnishing company, and was married to Sarah Bliss. Brainerd may have been named for the great early American missionary to the Native Americans, David Brainerd, through his family's spiritual devotion and interest in mission work. Brainerd married Mary Low Colby, daughter of the prominent pastor of the Threshers' First Regular Baptist Church of Dayton, Rev. Henry Francis Colby. The chandeliers in that sanctuary remain a tribute to Brainerd's craftsmanship, as his metalwork was combined with Tiffany glass for the expansive room's lighting.

Brainerd was inspired by the artist Edward Colonna, who spent several years in Dayton designing railroad cars at the company founded by the Thresher family. He became a craftsman, and specialized in metalwork, jewelry, and various other designs.

From Carol Boram-Hays, "Bringing Modernism Home": Joseph's son Brainerd Bliss Thresher (1870-1950) "inspired by the craftsman ideal of the importance of art making, took up metalworking as a hobby. In his spare time he created works that emphasized sinuous, organic lines and rich surfaces, such as the screen inlaid with the figure of a peacock [now at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston]."

A partial Thresher timeline from Boram-Hays' book shows his Arts & Crafts roots:

1892 Graduated from Denison University, Granville, OH
1902 Cofounded Dayton Society of Arts and Crafts, Dayton, OH
1903 Lectured at National Arts Club, New York
1919 Cofounded Dayton Art Institute
1927 Exhibited at Friends of Art House, Baltimore, MD
1934 Published A Brief Introduction to Japanese Art

(see https://www.smpub.com/ubb/Forum10/HTML/000465.html).