John Lenorah Bramblett was born on April 13, 1835, probably in Laurens County, South Carolina, to Thomas Bramblett and Nancy Childress. His father died around 1838. Bramlett married Francis Jane Boyd in Laurens County on December 24, 1860, and they had at least three children: Emma, born around 1861; Louella, born around 1864; and Lee, born around 1870.
Bramblett enlisted in the Confederate army on September 1, 1861, and mustered in as a private in Company C of the 14th South Carolina Infantry later that day. The regiment took part in the Battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. Bramblett was wounded at Gettysburg on July 1, 1863, and captured by Union forces. He was paroled soon afterward and returned home to Laurens County to recover. By September 1864, he was working in the Commissary Department in Anderson, South Carolina. He was probably discharged in late 1864.
The family moved to Johnson County, Texas, in 1868, and Bramblett worked as a farmer there. He died there on February 19, 1896.