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1861 Nevada Territory Check Signed by Orion Clemens (Brother to Mark Twain) [203947]

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Paper Start Price:150.00 USD Estimated At:300.00 - 500.00 USD
1861 Nevada Territory Check Signed by Orion Clemens (Brother to Mark Twain) [203947]
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Wells, Fargo & Co. check, Nov. 29th, 1861. Issued to Samuel Youngs, a prominent mining man at Aurora. Signed by Orion Clemens, Secretary of Nevada Territory (and brother to Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain). Check has been cancelled by cutting off the upper left and bottom right corners but autograph is intact. Check also has some staining. Rare! Orion Clemens (1825-1897) served as Secretary for Nevada Territory from 1861-64. Clemens worked in the newspaper industry in Missouri and Iowa before joining the election campaign for Abraham Lincoln. When Lincoln was elected, Clemens was appointed Secretary of Nevada Territory. He moved to Nevada with his wife and brother, Samuel. (Twain recounts this journey in Roughing It). Orion served as acting governor when James Nye was out of the territory. He served in such a capacity during the dispute over Susanville and Lake Honey Valley between California and Nevada (the "Sagebrush War"). When Nevada became a state in 1864, Clemens tried to run for Secretary of State. However, his opposition to whiskey (he was a tee-totaler) made him unpopular and he lost. He left Nevada and headed to the Meadow Lake area in 1866. He eventually returned to Iowa and lived out his life practicing law, farming chickens, and working at inventing various gadgets. He died in 1897. His brother became involved in mining and newspapers upon arriving in Nevada and eventually became world-famous author Mark Twain
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Date: 1861
Country (if not USA):
State: Nevada
City: Carson City
Provenance: Douglas McDonald Collection