The Muchly Married Lyman Brannack

Santa Cruz Sentinel, 8 Jun 1889, page 3, Col 4, from the California Digital Newspaper Collection - https://cdnc.ucr.edu

Last we saw of Lyman Brannack, he had recently settled a law suit in Santa Cruz, California.  To catch up, see my blog post, 'Here a Court Case, There a Court Case.

​Shortly after he settled a lawsuit in Santa Cruz, Lyman decided to take a trip to Pontiac, Michigan, perhaps to see family.  In any event, while he was there, he met a Mrs. Hagerman and after a whirlwind courtship they decided to get married, notwithstanding his marriage to Sarah.   They were to have been married in Pontiac, but were worried about Mrs. Hagerman’s former husband, so they stole away and were married at Niagara Falls.[1]  They left for England.  It was there that the new Mrs. Brannack learned that her husband had a legal wife in California.  Upon her return from England, she writes to James Briggs, a friend of Lyman Brannack from Santa Cruz:

"Mr. James Briggs, Most Respected Sir. – It is with humility and under the most painful circumstances that I attempt to address you as I am the lady upon which Mr. L. H. Brannack practiced so much deception.  I married Mr. B. in good faith that he was all he represented himself to be.  I was wholly innocent in this matter and while I feel most deeply humiliated yet I committed no sin or crime.

"I had been, as I supposed, his legal wife just four weeks to a day, when a letter came from my dear children informing me of the fact that Mr. B. had a living wife.  I asked him if the statement were true and he said it was.  I never lived with him another hour as his wife after that, but immediately acted upon the advice of my dear daughter and sailed alone by first homeward bound steamer for New York.  While I greatly deplore the step I took, yet I feel that I was not to blame.  I am very proud and my family has ever stood above reproach and we feel all this very keenly.  It has subjected me to much newspaper notoriety which is very mortifying to us all.  I feel very sorry for all Mr. Brannack’s people, especially his present wife and his children.  It is a most lamentable thing all around.  I have returned to my own city and my many friends who crowd around me and say “You have our sympathy, we know you were not to blame.”  Now Mr. Briggs, Mr. Brannach told me to write to you and ascertain from you what his reputation and standing had ever been in Santa Cruz, and where he had lived.  Of course, after Mr. B. had so grossly deceived me I could not place much confidence in anything he told me and he referred me to you.  Did Mr. Brannack own certain property in Santa Cruz, some lots described as follows?

"Now, Mr. Briggs, I wish to know if Mr. Brannack was the bona fide owner of these lots when he left Santa Cruz for his trip to Europe and if he still owned them up to July 1st, 1889, and if there was any incumbrance [sic] on the same, and will you please give me your estimate of their value.  Mr B. told me to write to you as soon as I arrived home, and said you would give me any information I might wish concerning him.  How much is Mr. Brannack considered worth as to property?  Please make immediate reply, as I am very anxious to know.
​
Respectfully yours, Frances M. Hagerman[2]"

While the former Mrs. Hagerman is “deeply humiliated” she’s also quite curious about just how much money she might have come into on her marriage to the deceptive Lothario whom she wed so quickly.  In fact deeds sent by Mrs. Hagerman to the Santa Cruz  County Clerk were filed on 24 July 1889.  They were deeds for two pieces of property from Lyman Hibbard Brannack to Frances M. Hagerman, dated July 1, 1889 and were made in the city of London, England, describing property in Santa Cruz including several lots in one area, as well as another parcel with a house and improvements.  According to the paper, “the entire property deeded by Brannack to Mrs. Hagerman is worth from $2,500 to $3,000. [3]

The legal Mrs. Brannack had filed for divorce when she determined that Brannack did apparently go through with the marriage to Mrs. Hagerman.[4]  In late August, Mrs. Hagerman-Brannack traveled to Santa Cruz to see “her” property.   She sat down for an interview with The Daily Surf, and bore a letter from her attorneys in Michigan, supported by the signatures of many leading citizens of Pontiac.  Interestingly, the supportive letter notes that she had been married to Francis Hagerman for a number of years until he became intemperate and abusive of her, but fails to mention that she had spent a term at the Kalamazoo Insane Asylum (where she was at the time the 1880 census was taken) and lectured publically about her time in the asylum.[5]  In October, Mrs. Sarah Brannack was granted a divorce on the grounds of bigamy.  Mrs. Hagerman relinquished all the deeds to property in Santa Cruz and returned to Michigan.[6]  It does not appear that Lyman Brannack returned to the United States, preferring to remain abroad rather than face bigamy charges.

Mrs. Sarah Brannack was not quite done with her husband’s family when she received a good portion of real and personal property in October of 1889.  In March of the following year, she was sued by Mrs. Sarah A Clapp, Lyman’s daughter, for some personal property.  It seems that Lyman Brannack induced Thomas Clapp, Sarah’s husband, to leave a lucrative situation in Tulare county and make his home in Santa Cruz with his wife.  Brannack gave the property involved, a stationery engine, two wagons, a buggy, two horses, harness, etc and a colt to Sarah Clapp.  Sarah Brannack had received this property originally as part of her divorce settlement from Lyman, but the judge in Clapp v. Brannack ruled in favor of Mrs. Clapp.  The paper lamented that the family’s dirty linen was taken to Court to be washed.[7]
 
More next week - Like Father, Like Son - Julia's brother Charles Brannack has problems of his own....


[1] The Daily Inter Ocean, 23 July 1889 “She Married a Married Man”

[2] Santa Cruz Daily Surf 26 July 1889, page 3 “Brannack’s Badness”

[3] Santa Cruz Daily Surf 25 July 1889, page 3 “Brannack’s Benevolence”

[4] Santa Cruz Daily Surf 27 June 1889, page 1

[5] Santa Cruz Daily Surf 5 June 1889, page 3, “Brannack’s Bigamy”; 1880 US Census Year: 1880; Census Place: Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo, Michigan; Roll: 586; Family History Film: 1254586; Page: 199A; Enumeration District: 134; Image: 0399, line 46

[6] Santa Cruz Daily Surf 9 Oct 1889

[7] Santa Cruz Daily Surf 9 Oct 1889, 21 March 1890, page 3