Sam Brannan: Builder of San Francisco

by Jouis G. Stellman

Book by Stellman, Jouis G., Stellman, Louis J.

256 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1996

Reviews

[Riley Lewis]

The story of Sam Brannon’s conversion and leadership of the New York saints to California on the Brooklyn is inspiring. He was a visionary who saw the opportunity in California and couldn’t support Brigham Young stopping in Utah. Instead Sam stayed and used his visionary pioneering attitude to build up San Francisco and the Sacramento Valley and became California’s first millionaire. His role in civilizing San Francisco, developing the city and cleaning up crime is underrated.

He left the church and his womanizing and drinking drove his family to Europe. In order to finance their big living he made poor business decisions and later in life his projects in Calistoga Springs and Sonora Mexico were interesting but led to his financial downfall.

I was most interested in his owning a ranch and land near Yuba City on the Feather River.

The style of the book is loose and fun but lacks sourcing and reads as Stellmans idealized historical fiction despite being portrayed as a history.

[Jake]

Sam Brannon’s intention was to bring a group of Mormon settlers to San Francisco to establish a colony independent of the United States. His timing was off, so he just made the city as part of the US and became California’s first millionaire. When the church came for his tithing he asked for God’s signature on the receipt. So he was cursed by an Apostle who said he would die penniless. He died with a 20 dollar gold coin saved so he could have a good laugh. As far as the book goes, it was a weird mix of biography and historical fiction. Fairly amateur writing, but the subject matter was interesting.

[Linsey]

Very interesting book about the man who helped establish California, created Calistiga and had impact on quite a bit of California history. If you are interested in California or western US history, this would be an interesting read.

[Anthony]

This book is outstanding. "Brannan printed San Francisco's first newspaper and its first book that transcended the proportions of a pamphlet; he was a defendant in its first trial by jury; he performed its first marriage ceremony... He was the state's first millionaire; he made it one of the world's great wine-growing regions. Sam Brannan did more, perhaps, than any other man to organize the historic vigilance committees of 1851 and 1856," and the list goes on. Sam Brannan is my hero, and this book is absolutely riveting.