Samuel Brackett

Overview
Samuel Bracket (1813-1898) was a pioneer prospector. Bracket was a farmer in Indiana who moves his family out West to California in and discovers gold in the Del Oro River in 1852, bringing the Gold Rush to the new settlement of San Angelo.

Description
Text.

History
On March 21, 1850, Brackett packs up his family and sets out from Indiana to win his fortune in California. The family joined a wagon train in Independence, Missouri, bound for the gold fields.

On September 19 the wagon train containing the Brackett family arrives at the river confluence near the abandoned Mission San Angeles. The settlers found a town, named after the nearby mission, but cartographers mistakenly record it as "San Angelo" and the altered name sticks.

On January 18, 1852, Samuel Brackett discovered gold in the Del Oro River after 18 months of fruitless panning. Word of the discovery spreads, and prospectors flock to San Angelo.

He was an honored guest at the first San Angelo city council session in January, 1898. He died two days later at the age of 84.

Appearances
San Angelo: City of Heroes (1998)