Sam Brannan
| Samuel Brannan | |
|---|---|
Samuel Brannan
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| Born |
March 2, 1819 Saco, Maine, United States |
| Died | May 5, 1889 (aged 70) Escondido, California, United States |
| Resting place | Mount Hope Cemetery, San Diego, California, United States |
| Spouse(s) | Anna Eliza Corwin |
| Children |
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Samuel Brannan (March 2, 1819 – May 5, 1889) was an American settler, businessman, journalist, and prominent Mormon who founded the California Star, the first newspaper in San Francisco, California. He is considered the first to publicize the California Gold Rush and was its first millionaire. He helped form the first vigilance committee in San Francisco. He used the profits from his stores and possibly the tithes contributed to him as a leader of the LDS church to buy large tracts of real estate. When he could not account for the tithes given him, he was disfellowshipped from the LDS church. His wife divorced him and he was forced to liquidate much of his real estate to pay her one-half of their assets. He died poor and in relative obscurity.
Brannan was born in Saco, Maine, to Thomas and Sarah Emery Brannan. Because of problems with his abusive father, when he was fourteen years old Brannan moved with his sister (Mary Ann) and her husband (Alexander) to Painesville, Ohio. 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 and hoping to get rich because of said investment, the market crashed and his land was worthless. He made a quick visit to Maine in order to see his ailing mother and then made his way to New Orleans where his brother Thomas was living. The Brannan brothers bought a press and type with what little money they had, but Thomas was taken by yellow fever shortly thereafter. After this tragedy, Brannan made his way back to the North, stopping in Indianapolis to work on the Gazette, but that only lasted for a couple months before he returned to Painesville.
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