Erastus Brainerd

Erastus Brainerd (25 February 1855 – 25 December 1922) was an American journalist and art museum curator. During the Klondike Gold Rush, he was the publicist who "sold the idea that Seattle was the Gateway to Alaska and the only such portal".

Born in Middletown, Connecticut to Norman and Leora (Campbell), Brainerd attended Phillips Exeter Academy and Harvard University, from which he graduated at the age of 19. He served as curator of engravings at the Boston Museum of Arts, 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. and numerous others. During his stay in Atlanta he went to Richmond, Virginia to marry Mary Bella Beale, daughter of Dr. James Beale, 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. He briefly and unsuccessfully attempted to make a living as a "mining consultant" before becoming editor of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. He was not a great success in that capacity: the P-I under his leadership was a definite second to the Times. Washington "went dry" at the beginning of January 1916. Brainerd died in Tacoma, Washington in 1922.