Orion Clemens
| Orion Clemens | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Secretary of Nevada Territory | |
|
In office 1861–1864 |
|
| Nominated by | Abraham Lincoln |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
July 17, 1825 Tennessee, United States |
| Died | December 11, 1897 (aged 72) Keokuk, Iowa, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Spouse(s) | Mollie Clemens |
| Relatives | Mark Twain (brother) |
| Profession | Journalist |
Orion Clemens (1825–1897) was the first and only Secretary of Nevada Territory. He is best known through his relationship to his younger brother Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known by the pen name Mark Twain.
Born in Tennessee, Orion Clemens was the oldest of seven children. Four of his six siblings died before reaching the age of twenty, leaving only his brother Samuel (1835–1910) and their sister Pamela (1827–1904). In 1839, the Clemens family moved to Hannibal, Missouri, a port town on the Mississippi River which was to eventually inspire some of his brother Sam's stories.
As a young man, Clemens worked in his father's general store, and later as an apprentice at a local newspaper, before moving to St. Louis, Missouri. In St. Louis, Clemens began studying law under attorney Edward Bates, who later served as Attorney General for President Abraham Lincoln. After his father's death in 1847, Clemens returned to Hannibal and purchased the local newspaper, then became the owner of The Hannibal Journal where Samuel worked for him. Unable to make a successful living as a journalist in Hannibal, Clemens relocated to Muscatine, Iowa, in 1853 and to Keokuk, Iowa, in 1854. In Keokuk, with his new wife Mollie Stotts, Clemens began running the "Ben Franklin Book and job printing office". In 1855, he hired his brother Samuel Clemens at $5 a week to move there and assist him; Samuel stayed for a year and a half before growing restless and moving on.
Clemens had come to the conclusion that slavery was morally wrong and had worked for the election of Republican Abraham Lincoln. Following Lincoln's election as President in 1860, Clemens was appointed Secretary to the new government of the Territory of Nevada at a salary of $1,800 a year. His younger brother Sam accompanied Clemens to Nevada Territory in the summer of 1861. Sam would later write about this journey in his semi-autobiographical book, Roughing It. Sam drifted into mining and newspaper work, while his brother served as Territorial Secretary and often as acting governor when James W. Nye was outside the territory. It was while acting as temporary governor that Clemens gained political popularity by avoiding a "Sagebrush War" with California over disputed state boundary lines. Clemens built a home in Carson City and brought his wife, Mollie, and young daughter, Jennie, to Nevada a year after his arrival. Jennie would die there in February, 1864. Clemens offered strong support of the newly formed government in Carson City, paying out of his own pocket for the printing of the House and Senate Journals and to furnish the two territorial legislative chambers.
...
Wikipedia