Charles Henry Branscomb (June 16, 1822 – January 3, 1891) was a member of the New England Emigrant Aid Society who, along with Charles L. Robinson, helped found the city of Lawrence, Kansas in 1854.
Charles Branscomb | |
|---|---|
| Kansas Territorial representative | |
| Member of the Missouri House of Representatives | |
| In office 1867–1869 | |
| United States consul to England | |
| In office 1869–1874 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | June 16, 1822 Newmarket, New Hampshire |
| Died | January 3, 1891 (aged 68) Denver, Colorado |
| Political party | Republican Prohibition[1] |
| Spouse(s) | Georgia Hubbard Branscomb (first) Emily Taylor Branscomb (second)[2] |
| Education | Dartmouth College (B.A.) Cambridge Law School (J.D.) |
Biography
editCharles Branscomb was born on June 16, 1822, in Newmarket, New Hampshire.[3][4] He attended Phillips Exeter Academy for his secondary education, graduating in 1839.[5][6] Afterwards, he graduated from Dartmouth College (1845) and the Cambridge Law School (1848).[5] After passing the bar, he served for a time as a lawyer in Holyoke, Massachusetts.[5][7] In the 1850s, he became a member of the New England Emigrant Aid Society, at one point serving as its secretary pro tempore.[8]
In 1854, he and Charles L. Robinson surveyed Kansas Territory, looking for suitable land upon which the Emigrant Aid Society could found a town dedicated to the free state cause.[7] Later that year, he led the first group of colonists supported by the Emigrant Aid Society to the territory and helped establish the city of Lawrence.[9][10] Until 1858, Branscomb worked for New England Emigrant Aid Society, after which he founded a private law firm in Lawrence. Branscomb later served in the territorial legislature and voted on the Leavenworth Constitution.[5]
In the 1860s, he moved to St. Louis, where in 1866 he ran for a seat on the Missouri General Assembly against Francis Preston Blair Jr.[11] The election was contested, but in the end, Branscomb won out after the Missouri Attorney General Robert Franklin Wingate ruled that votes cast after sundown were valid.[12] When Ulysses S. Grant ascended to the US presidency, Branscomb was appointed consul to England and served in Manchester.[2] In 1874, Branscomb returned to Lawrence, and in 1886 he ran for Kansas governor as the Prohibition Party nominee, coming in third (with 2.96% of the vote).[2][1] In 1890, Branscomb and his family moved to Denver, Colorado, where he died on January 3, 1891, of pneumonia.[6][2][13] He was buried at Holyoke.[2]
Election history
edit| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | John Martin | 149,715 | 54.74 | |
| Democratic | Thomas Moonlight | 115,667 | 42.29 | |
| Prohibition | Charles Branscomb | 8,094 | 2.96 | |
| Total votes | 273,476 | 99.99 | ||
| Republican hold | ||||
References
edit- ^ a b c "KS Governor [1886]". Our Campaigns. Retrieved August 7, 2018. Note: the website misspells Branscomb's last name as "Brancombe".
- ^ a b c d e "Charles H. Branscomb". Lawrence Daily Journal. February 21, 1891. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
- ^ "Newmarket Town Records". The New Hampshire Genealogical Record. 6 (1): 158. 1909. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
- ^ Chapman, George (1867). Sketches of the Alumni of Dartmouth College. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Riverside Press. p. 354.
- ^ a b c d Blackmar, Frank, ed. (1912). "Branscomb, Charles H.". Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Embracing Events, Institutions, Industries, Counties, Cities, Towns, Prominent Persons, etc. Chicago, IL: Standard Publishing Company. p. 230. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
- ^ a b General Catalogue of the Phillips Exeter Academy: 1783-1903. Exeter, New Hampshire: News-Letter Press. 1903. p. 47. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
- ^ a b Cordley, Richard (1895). A History of Lawrence, Kansas: From the Earliest Settlement to the Close of the Rebellion. Lawrence, KS: Lawrence Journal Press. p. 3-4.
- ^ Kansas Historical Society. "Charles Robinson to Eli Thayer". Kansas Memory. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
- ^ Cordley, Richard (1895). A History of Lawrence, Kansas: From the Earliest Settlement to the Close of the Rebellion. Lawrence, KS: Lawrence Journal Press. p. 4-5.
- ^ Connelley, William (1918). A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans. Chicago, IL: Lewis Publishing Company. p. 360.
- ^ "A Good Candidate". Daily Kansas Tribune. October 23, 1866. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
- ^ "St. Louis: Frank Blair Defeated—Radical Delegetes [sic] Receive their Certificates". Evansville Journal. November 20, 1866. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
- ^ "Chas. H. Branscomb Dead: One of the Earliest Settlers of Lawrence Dies at Denver". Lawrence Daily Gazette. February 4, 1891. Retrieved August 7, 2018.