Oscar Eugene Learnard was born in 1832 in Fairax, Vermont, the son of Stephen Tracy Learnard. He attended Bakersfield Academy in that same state before attending Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont from 1853-1854. Thereafter he went to law school in Albany, New York and was admitted to the bar in 1855.

In the fall of 1855, Learnard came to Lawrence, Kansas territory. He immediately became involved in events happening in the local area, including the Wakarusa War and fighting against pro-slavery raids on Lawrence and its environs during the border wars between Missouri and Kansas. He was commissioned a Lieutenant Colonel in the 1st Kansas Volunteer Infantry. He resigned this commission in 1863 but continued to fight through the rest of the Civil War with the state militia, including during Price's raid in Kansas, at the Battle of the Blue, and at Westport, Missouri.

In 1862 Learnard married Mary Sophia Eldridge. She had been born in 1842 in Massachusetts to Shalor Winchell and Mary R. (Norton) Eldridge, who relocated their family to Kansas City in 1854 due to her father's work as a railroad contractor. In Kansas City Eldridge bought the American House and operated it as a free state hotel; in 1856, he began operating the Free State Hotel of Lawrence, Kansas. This hotel was burned by pro-slavery forces twice; each time, Eldridge rebuilt.

Oscar and Mary Learnard remained in Kansas for most of the rest of their lives. Oscar Learnard held a variety of public and business positions throughout his career, including organizing Burlington, Kansas in 1857 with other Lawrence-based citizens; serving as a member of the Kansas Territorial Council from 1857-1859; organzing the Kansas Republican Party in 1859; serving as a judge for the 5th Judicial District; serving as a state senator from 1868-1871; publishing the Lawrence Journal newspaper from 1894-1905; serving as Superintendent of Haskell Institute in Lawrence in 1889; and working as tax commissioner for the Kansas City, Fort Scott and Gulf Railroad and special attorney for the Atchison, Topek and Santa Fe Railroad.

Oscar Eugene Learnard and his wife Mary had 6 children: Mary Eugenie, born in 1865 and died in 1868; Clarence, who did not live a a year; Paul, born in 1868 and died in 1914; Lawrence, who did not live a year; Tracy, born in 1872, and Oscard E., born in 1874 and died in 1955.

O. E. Learnard died 1911 in Lawrence. His wife Mary moved to California to join her son Tracy and his wife Georgene (Wilder) Learnard, who had started operating a ranch near Gilroy in 1902. Mary Learnard died in 1932.

Tracy Learnard was appointed postmaster of Gilroy, California in 1922, a position he held for 12 years. Thereafter he served as deputy tax collector for Santa Clara County and moved his family to San Jose, later moving to Palo Alto. Tracy Learnard died in 1959.