Erastus Brainerd was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 journalist and art museum curator. During the Yukon Gold Rush, he was the publicist who "sold the idea that Seattle

Seattle, Washington

Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

 was the Gateway to Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

 and the only such portal".

Born in Middletown

Middletown, Connecticut

Middletown is a city located in Middlesex County, Connecticut, along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state, 16 miles south of Hartford. In 1650, it was incorporated as a town under its original Indian name, Mattabeseck. It received its present name in 1653. In 1784, the central...

, Connecticut

Connecticut

Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

 to Norman and Leora (Campbell), Brainerd attended Phillips Exeter Academy

Phillips Exeter Academy

Phillips Exeter Academy is a private secondary school located in Exeter, New Hampshire, in the United States.Exeter is noted for its application of Harkness education, a system based on a conference format of teacher and student interaction, similar to the Socratic method of learning through asking...

 and Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

, from which he graduated at the age of 19. He served as curator of engraving

Engraving

Engraving is the practice of incising a design on to a hard, usually flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an intaglio printing plate, of copper or another metal, for printing...

s at the Boston Museum of Arts

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the largest museums in the United States, attracting over one million visitors a year. It contains over 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas...

, then traveled to Europe, where he promoted a tour for "lecturing showman" W. Irving Bishop. He was a social success in Europe, and became a Knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, a Knight of the Red Cross of Rome, a Knight Templar, and a Freemason.

Back in America, he wrote editorials for the New York World

New York World

The New York World was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 until 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers...

, where he also became assistant night editor, then served as associate editor at the Atlanta Constitution and Philadelphia Press

Philadelphia Press

The Philadelphia Press is a defunct newspaper that was published from August 1, 1857 to October 1, 1920.The paper was founded by John W. Forney. Charles Emory Smith was editor and owned a stake in the paper from 1880 until his death in 1908...

. As in Europe, he continued to be a gregarious joiner, becoming a member of the Union League, Penn Club, the Authors Club of New York and the Press Club of New York and numerous others. During his stay in Atlanta

Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...

 he went to Richmond, Virginia

Richmond, Virginia

Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...

 to marry Mary Bella Beale, Jefferson Davis

Jefferson Davis

Jefferson Finis Davis , also known as Jeff Davis, was an American statesman and leader of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, serving as President for its entire history. He was born in Kentucky to Samuel and Jane Davis...

's granddaughter, on 31 May 1882. Their first child, Mary Beale, was born the following year but died several months later. They named their second child Mary Beale too when she was born in 1886; Elizabeth came in 1888.

In July 1890, after recovering from three severe bouts of influenza

Influenza

Influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae , that affects birds and mammals...

, he headed west to become editor of the Seattle Press and the Press-Times, a role he held until September 1893. He left to focus on the office of State Land Commissioner, to which he had been appointed March 15, 1893. He joined the Rainier Club

Rainier Club

The Rainier Club is a private club in Seattle, Washington; Priscilla Long of HistoryLink.org calls it "Seattle's preeminent private club." Its clubhouse building, completed in 1904, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was founded in 1888 in what was then the Washington Territory...

 and organized a local Harvard Club. In 1897, as secretary and executive officer of the newly founded Bureau of Information of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce

Seattle Chamber of Commerce

The Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce is a private, membership-based organization that promotes economic prosperity in the metro region of Seattle, Washington, and provides businesses with tools to grow....

, he became the most prominent figure in the publicity campaign that established Seattle's preeminence as a mercantile and outfitting center for the miners headed to the Yukon. He also convinced the federal government to open an assay office

Assay office

Assay offices are institutions set up to assay precious metals, in order to protect consumers. Upon successful completion of an assay, Assay offices are institutions set up to assay (test the purity of) precious metals, in order to protect consumers. Upon successful completion of an assay, Assay...

 in Seattle. He briefly and unsuccessfully attempted to make a living as a "mining consultant" before becoming editor of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Seattle Post-Intelligencer

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is an online newspaper and former print newspaper covering Seattle, Washington, United States, and the surrounding metropolitan area...

. He was not a great success in that capacity: the P-I under his leadership was a definite second to the Times

The Seattle Times

The Seattle Times is a newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, US. It is the largest daily newspaper in the state of Washington. It has been, since the demise in 2009 of the printed version of the rival Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Seattle's only major daily print newspaper.-History:The Seattle Times...

.

In the 1910s, he led the Anti-Prohibition

Prohibition in the United States

Prohibition in the United States was a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol, in place from 1920 to 1933. The ban was mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and the Volstead Act set down the rules for enforcing the ban, as well as defining which...

 Association of Washington in its unsuccessful fight to keep alcoholic beverage

Alcoholic beverage

An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol, commonly known as alcohol. Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and spirits. They are legally consumed in most countries, and over 100 countries have laws regulating their production, sale, and consumption...

s legal in Washington; Washington "went dry" at the beginning of January 1916. Brainerd died in Tacoma, Washington

Tacoma, Washington

Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...

in 1922.

External links

• Preliminary Guide to the Erastus Brainerd Papers Circa 1880-1919, University of Washington Libraries.