Samuel Brannan

Brannan was born in Saco, Massachusetts (now Maine), to Thomas and Sara Emery Brannan. In order to escape his abusive father, Brannan moved with his sister (Mary Ann) and her husband (Alexander) to Painesville, Ohio, when he was fourteen years old. It was there that Brannan learned the printer's trade. During their journey to Ohio, the trio found themselves listening to two men whom they would later know as Orson Hyde and Heber C. Kimball. Brannan's brother-in-law bought a copy of the Book of Mormon from these street corner missionaries. In the neighboring town of Kirtland, Ohio, Brannan, Alexander, and Mary Ann all joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 1842. After his father's death, Brannan inherited a decent sum of money, bought himself out of his last year of his apprenticeship, and invested the rest in a patch of land near Cleveland. Soon after making his investment, the market crashed and his land became worthless. From Connecticut they went to New York City, New York, in 1844, and started to print The Prophet (later The New-York Messenger), a Latter Day Saint newspaper. Shortly after the paper began, news spread that the prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were murdered and Brigham Young had taken over the position as prophet. Brannan worked closely with Smith's blood brother William and advocated for William to take his "rightful place" as prophet. After word of Brannan and Smith's opposition reached Nauvoo, both men were disfellowshipped from the church. A year later, Brannan went to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, leaders of the LDS Church, pleading for reinstatement as a member of the church; it was granted in May 1845. == Travel to California ==

After the assassination of their leader, the Prophet Joseph Smith, rising hostilities, attacks on their homes and religious persecution, in the east, the Mormons decided to relocate their center from Nauvoo, Illinois, to the western region outside of the United States border. The plans for the large exodus began and Mormon leadership moved westward, leaving Brannan the highest ranking religious leader in New York. As such, he was faced with the large responsibility of evacuating the eastern Mormons to California. Brannan chartered the ship Brooklyn and persuaded the Mormons of New York to join the expedition to California. The Brooklyn set sail for upper California via Cape Horn in January 1846. Brannan was in charge of the expedition and the highest presiding religious leader on the ship. He brought along an antiquated printing press and a complete flour mill to make colonization easier. While the living conditions aboard the Brooklyn were strenuous for many, Brannan lived lavishly in the ship's officers' quarters. The ship stopped on June 20, 1846, in Honolulu, Hawaii, to resupply and be inspected by Commodore Stockton. Brannan expected the inspection to go badly but instead Commodore Stockton spoke to Brannan about the United States' planned assault of the Mexicans at Monterey. This information along with Commodore Stockton's quiet encouragement led Samuel Brannan to the idea of taking the Mexican port town of Yerba Buena. Brannan's dreams of religious freedom and success were underway and after leaving Hawaii, the Brooklyn changed routes, landing on July 31, 1846, at Yerba Buena. Upon arrival they were met by Commander John B. Montgomery and the Portsmouth, who had taken Yerba Buena only a few days before, much to Brannan's dismay. The Mormons began settling into the area (present-day San Francisco) and tripled the population of the pueblo. == California career ==

After settling in Yerba Buena, Brannan consulted with natives who were familiar with the region and decided that the land down by the Sacramento River, which they named "New Hope", would be the next Nauvoo of the Mormons, but with real refuge and religious freedom. After disputes between members over land and other affairs, the city of "New Hope" quickly failed. In June 1847, Brannan traveled overland to Green River, Wyoming, to meet with Brigham Young, the head of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who was leading the first contingent of Mormon pioneers across the plains to the Great Basin region. Brannan urged Young to bring the Mormon pioneers to California as was previously planned, but Young rejected the proposal in favor of settling in what is present-day Utah. Brannan returned to northern California frustrated with how the meeting had gone. San Francisco and Sacramento In 1848, Brannan decided that he was going to use all of his resources in order to help build up California and its connection with the east. He planned on building that connection through the California Star Express, which would deliver mail from San Francisco to Independence, Missouri, and had its first route on April 1, 1848. In a few accounts of Brannan's dealings with the LDS Church it is said that Brigham Young sent the apostle Amasa Lyman to collect the tithing money that Brannan had withheld from the church's institution. When Lyman arrived, Brannan was unable to account for the tithes that Brigham Young and other Mormons claimed were given to him or that he owed from his own personal income. He reportedly told them, "You go back and tell Brigham Young that I'll give up the Lord's money when he sends me a receipt signed by the Lord", although historians, such as Will Bagley, have found that this is likely just legend. In another account, Lyman was sent to gather $10,000 of owed tithing from Brannan (or more if he was willing). After a couple of visits all of Brannan's debts to the LDS Church were considered to be paid in full. In order to continue the settlement of the west, Brannan purchased California's first steam locomotive in an effort to hasten the building of the first western railroad. He also teamed up with other local capitalists to construct the first wharf in San Francisco. Around this same time, Brannan made known his feelings about slavery and spoke out against it. On August 25, 1851, he was disfellowshipped from the LDS Church for "a general course of unchristianlike conduct, neglect of duty, and for combining with lawless assemblies to commit murder and other crimes." Anecdotes claim that in 1858, Brannan paid $1,500 (~$ in ) for lumber salvaged from a ship that foundered in waters near San Francisco, and on the basalt the headlands of the San Francisco Peninsula overlooking the mouth of the Golden Gate. The story further claims that he used the material to build the first Cliff House, which is a popular restaurant and recreational area. There is no historical evidence to support this claim. Calistoga After Brannan visited the hot springs in the upper Napa Valley in 1859, he planned a new resort for the area. He bought land containing the springs in the northern portion of the Rancho Carne Humana in 1861 and founded the town of Calistoga, said to be a combination of the words "California" and then-fashionable Saratoga Springs in New York. Brannan also founded the Napa Valley Railroad in 1864 in order to provide tourists with an easier way to reach Calistoga from the San Francisco Bay ferry boats that docked in the lower Napa Valley at Vallejo. The railroad was later sold at a foreclosure sale in Napa County in 1869. Many poorer Calistoga residents were angered by Brannan's take-over of the region. At one point the opposition was so intense that Brannan was shot eight times. Brannan survived, but used a cane for the rest of his life. In 1870, Anna Eliza Corwin divorced Brannan. They had grown apart as Eliza lived in Europe for quite some time while Brannan remained in California. In the aftermath of the divorce, the judge ruled that his wife was entitled to half of their holdings in cash. The majority of Brannan's holdings were in real estate and he had to liquidate the properties to pay the full divorce settlement. ==Later years, death, and legacy==

Following the divorce, he became a brewer and developed a problem with alcohol. Leaving San Francisco, the city he helped develop, he moved south to Mexico. Brannan set up a small ranch near the Mexican border in the state of Sonora. Brannan's body lay unclaimed in the San Diego County receiving vault for over a year until it was recognized by chance. He was given a Christian burial and for many years, only a stake marked his grave. Legacy American historian Hubert Howe Bancroft described Samuel Brannan's achievements saying: His other legacies included: • Brannan Street in San Francisco was named after Samuel Brannan. • California cities that claim Brannan as their founder include Calistoga and Yuba City. • In partnership with John Augustus Sutter, Jr. and with William Tecumseh Sherman and Edward Ord as surveyors, Brannan laid out the unofficial subdivisions that became the city of Sacramento. • Author of the forever known shout, "Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold from the American River!". == See also ==