Person:Robert Semple (18)

Robert Baylor Semple

• Anderson, William Kyle. Donald Robertson and his wife Rachel Rogers of King and Queen County, Virginia: their ancestry and posterity : also a brief account of the ancestry of Commodore Richard Taylor of Orange County, Virginia, and his naval history during the War of the American Revolution. (Detroit, Mich.: unknown, 1900), Page 47, 48.^S6

Robert Baylor Semple, third son, fifth child of Major John Walker Semple and his wife, Lucy Robertson, was born February 3, 1806, at “Mount Radiance” farm, near Burkesville, in Cumberland County, Kentucky; was indentured by his father to learn printing, but did not like it, and concluded to study dentistry, which suited his taste no better, and he essayed the law; finally found his choice in the study of medicine and practiced successfully many years in Kentucky. He was also of a roaming disposition, and moved about in Kentucky even more frequently than he changed occupations. He was among the earliest California pioneers, having removed to that State in 1845.^S6

He was married twice, firstly, to Sallie Parish, in Kentucky, from whom he was divorced, and secondly, to Frances Ann Cooper (born in Howard county, Missouri, July 13, 1825), daughter of Major Stephen Cooper, of Missouri, to whom he was united on November 28, 1847, at Benicia, in California.^S6

He was editor of the first newspaper published in the English language in California; was president of the convention that framed the constitution of that State, and was the designer of the seal and motto of the State of California. He was also the founder of the city of Benicia, for a time the capital of the State, and named it in honor of the daughter of the Mexican General Vallejo, in whose capture he assisted, and who afterwards became his fast friend. He died October 25, 1854, at his home, “Almo Ranch,” now called the Van Winkle Place, seventeen miles west of Colusa, California.^S6

His second wife survived him and in 1857 married Dr. John Pulsifer, by whom she had three children, one son and two daughters. She is now living in California.^S6

Two children:^S6

By his first wife Sallie Parish – A son, born 1831, named John Walker Semple^S6

By his second wife Frances Ann Cooper – A daughter, born 22 Nov 1848, named Mary Benicia Semple.^S6

1.   Warner, Barbara R., and Sonoma Valley Historical Society. The men of the California Bear Flag Revolt and their heritage. (Spokane, Washington: Arthur H. Clark Co., c1996).
2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 Dr. Robert B. Semple, in Find A Grave.

   DEATH of a CALIFORNIA PIONEER -- On the morning of the 25th instant, Dr. Robert Semple died at his home, 14 miles south of Colusa. His death was occasioned by injuries received by a fall from a horse. Dr. SEMPLE was in the 48th year of his age when he died. He was born in Kentucky and came across the plains to California in 1846. Towards the end of the same year, in conjunction with the late Walter Colton, he established the 'Californian' at Monterey, which was the first newspaper published in the State. In the same year he took a leading part in what was called the Bear Flag revolution. He afterwards, in conjunction with Mr. Thomas O. Larkin, founded the city of Benicia, on ground belonging to Gen. Vallejo. Mr. Larkin afterwards disposed of his interest in Benicia, with which place Dr. Semple continued to be more or less connected till his death.
   In 1849, Dr. SEMPLE was elected a delegate to the Convention for the formation of a State Constitution, in August of that year. The Convention chose him their President almost unanimously. Though of late it had been little heard of the name of Dr. Semple was familiar to the ears of our citizens for several years after '46. His connection with some of the chief events in the early history of California entitle Dr. Semple to a prominent place in its annals. He was of a confiding nature and possessed of a genial disposition, social habits and urbanity of manner; he was an agreeable companion, a dis-interested friend, a tender father and an affectionate husband. After a life full of interesting incidents and abounding in fruitful merits, not unmixed with the vicissitudes of fate, he reposes where the wild flowers blossom and the mountain winds sigh his requiem.
   Obituary Published in the Sacramento Union Nov. 4, 1854
   Source: Jim Kuntz 2011-12-30 by way of Historical Marker Society of America
   http://www.hmsoa.org/ca/colusa/item/100084-dr-robert-b-semple

3.   United States, California, Colusa. GenWeb.

   Bear Flag Veteran - June 14 - July 7, 1846 (see California Republic)
   He was born in Kentucky to Lucy Robinson and John Walker Semple on a Ranch called "Mount Radiance" on the banks of the Cumberland River and older brother to Charles David Semple. When he was 12 years old, his father apprenticed him to Amos Kendall, owner & editor of the "Argus of Western America" one of the most influential newspapers published in the west. He didn't stay there long, as he studied dentistry, law and medicine, which he practiced a number of years in Kentucky. He came to California with The Lansford Hastings Party during the last week of December 1846 and they enjoyed a Christmas Dinner at Sutter's Fort. On June 14, 1846, six months after arriving in California, he was in company of thirty-three men for the Bear Flag Revolt. With himself, John C. Frémont & Lt Henry Ford and the rest of the company, they reached Sonoma in the early morning hours and surrounded the house of Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, Commandant of Northern California. General Vallejo was surprised to see mounted horsemen surrounding his home, and in a few minutes, the General, Lt Colonel Victor Pruden, Jacob P. Leese and Captain Salvador Vallejo, Mariano's brother, were taken prisoner and brought to Sutter's Fort. Since the Bear Flagger's had no authority to raise the American Flag, they made their own flag and elected William B. Ide as the first President of the Republic of California and Robert as Secretary. In August of 1846, he requested his discharge and it was granted. He started a newspaper publishing business with reverend Walter Colton, a U.S. Navy Chaplain. The first issue was published on August 15, 1846, and it was called the "Californian." On April 24, 1847, he became the sole owner and in two weeks, he moved the paper to San Francisco, and on July 17, 1847, Benjamin R. Buckalaw bought the paper. He returned to Benicia, California and married Francis Ann Cooper, daughter of Major Stephen Cooper, of the War of 1812 & Blackhawk War Fame, becoming the first wedding in Benicia, California. They had one daughter, Mary Semple. He is a Charter Member of the Benicia Lodge #5, F. & A.M. They moved from Benicia, California to a ranch in Colusa County, California, located 7.5 miles west of Williams, California in the fall of 1853, and he called it the "Alamo Rancho." He died the following year as a result of a fall from his horse at the young age of 48 years and Was buried beneath two large cottonwood trees on his ranch. Later, in 1900, he was reinterred in the Williams Cemetery. The latest honor awarded to Dr. Robert Semple was bestowed upon him by the California Press Association at their first annual winter meeting, which was held on December 6 & 7 , 1957, at the Cliff House in San Francisco. The three men that were honored were Dr. Robert Baylor Semple, Walter Colton & James King, were given the honor of being chosen as the first members of the newly founded California Newspaper Hall of Fame.
   Colusa County GenWeb, Part of the CAGenWeb Project
   Bear Flag Veterans June 14 - July 7, 1846. Dr. Robert Baylor Semple. Page 19. .pdf file

4.   Historical Articles of Solano County: Online Database
   Part 1 of 2, Sunday, April 02, 1995 .

   Benicia born as port, spurred by Gold Rush. Author: Kristin Delaplane
   "Founder Semple had foresight to buy land from General Vallejo." PART 1.
   "Founder Semple had foresight to buy land from General Vallejo." PART 2.

5.   The Historical Marker Database (HMdb.org).

   Robert Semple
   First Newspaper in California
   Dr. Robert Semple In Memory of
   Founders of Benicia 1847
   Martinez-Benicia Ferry "Gateway to the Gold Fields"
   Chaplain Walter Colton, U.S.N., 1787-1851
   Pioneer Monument

6.   Anderson, William Kyle. Donald Robertson and his wife Rachel Rogers of King and Queen County, Virginia: their ancestry and posterity : also a brief account of the ancestry of Commodore Richard Taylor of Orange County, Virginia, and his naval history during the War of the American Revolution. (Detroit, Mich.: unknown, 1900)
   Page 47, 48.
7.   State of California, Military Department. Flags Over California: A History and Guide. (Sacramento, California: California State Military Museum, March 2002)
   Page 4.

   The Dr. Semple Flag
   The image of this flag is based upon a description, since the original flag has not survived. Dr. Robert Semple was one of the men that arrested General Vallejo and was the editor of California’s first newspaper, The Californian. On December 22, 1846, Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo deeded an undivided half of a tract of five square miles of the Soscol Rancho to Robert Semple. Vallejo wanted the town to be named Francisca, in honor of his wife, Dona Francisca Benicia Carrillo. The attempt to appropriate the name as well as the commercial supremacy of San Francisco was made difficult by an order requiring the name San Francisco substituted for Yerba Buena on all public documents. Doctor Semple was very displeased at this action and spluttered over it in The Californian. To prevent confusion and trouble the name Francisca was changed to Benicia, the second name of Senora Vallejo. There was an attempt to have Benicia named the capital of California. General Vallejo did his best making most generous offers to the legislature of land and money if they would move the capital there.

   
8.   A Memorial and biographical history of Northern California: containing a history of this important section of the Pacific coast from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time : together with glimpses of its prospective future, full-page portraits of its most eminent men, and biographical mention of many of its pioneers and also of prominent citizens of to-day. (Chicago: Lewis Pub. Co., 1891)
   Page 123.

   In the spring of 1850 Dr. Semple commenced to build a steamboat at Benicia to run up to the new town, and on the first of July that year she made her first trip, and she too was named Colusa. She was a side-wheel boat, had a very trim hull and cabin, and was of fair size. But no engine could be found large enough to run her, and no two small engines could be found that were alike so as to constitute a pair; so the novel experiment was tried of running one wheel with an engine made for the style of the Mississippi steamboats, and the other with a smaller engine, with an entirely different stroke and power. They ran the boat, and on the morning of the third of July the proprietor started out from Benicia for Colusa. On the sixth they arrived at the present site of Colusa, then called Salmon Point, and then troubles commenced; for it required nearly a week to get up to where the town was laid out. About three miles up the river the little engine broke down, and the boat had to be warped from there up. An Indian guide was employed to point out the exact site of the place, leading the boatmen through a thicket of wild rose-bushes to a point opposite the place; for this was on the east bank of the river. The Indian took the men's clothes across tied in a boat upon the top of his head, and then they could wade or swim across. In a day or two the boat readied the landing, was discharged, and started back with one wheel. Although it cost over $60,000, this was the last trip she ever made.
   
   Colonel Semple found that he had made a mistake in the location of the city, and that the Colas rancheria was really some seven miles lower down the river. About a month afterward the goods were hauled down there, and thus the city was founded. In this locality it was favorably situated for the trade between Shasta and the northern mines. Colonel Semple bought a little steamer called the Martha Jane and ran her regularly a few trips, but it was too early in the development of the country to obtain remunerative patronage, and he had to sell her. In the autumn of 1851 Captain George V. Right undertook the navigation of this portion of Sacramento with an iron-hulled boat, but it struck a snag on the first trip and sank, just above Knight's Landing. Next Captain Bartlett, with The Orient, a fast little stern-wheel boat of about 100 tons' burden, succeeded in making several profitable trips. The town was then growing rapidly.

9.   Spence, Mary Lee and Jackson, Donald. The Expeditions Of John Charles Fremont: The Bear Flag Revolt and the Court-Martial. (Urbana, Chicago, and London: University of Illinois Press, 1973)
   Page 162.

   Immediately after Sonoma was seized, Semple appeared in Yerba Buena. On July 2, 1846 John C. Frémont sent ten men commanded by Robert Semple, to Yerba Buena, California (now San Francisco) to capture the Alcalde, William Sturgis Hinckley. Hinckley had died a few days before in late June of 1846, so Robert Ridley the harbor master, Port-captain, was arrested instead and sent as a prisoner to Sutter's Fort.
   1. Robert Ridley (1818-1851)
   2. William Sturgis Hinckley (1807-1846) In 1844 Hinckley was elected 9th Alcalde of Yerba Buena (the future San Francisco)
   (see William Sturgis Hinckley at Find a Grave)

10.   Patrick Hogue (Samples). The Samples / Semples Family.

    1. Dr. Robert Baylor Semple is a descendant of the Kirkhouse Semples
    
    Bagby, Alfred. King and Queen County, Virginia. (New York: Neale Pub. Co., 1908), Page 378.
    
    This from Col. Fleet of Culver: Thos. Walker, ancestor of the distinguished Dr. Thos. Walker, and Riveses of Albemarle (see Thomas Walker (explorer)), and Gov. Thos. Walker Gilmer (see Thomas Walker Gilmer), was from K. & Q." - Semple, John and James S., were sons of Rev. James Semple of England. John settled in King and Queen, marrying a Miss Walker. There son, Robert B.A. Croghan[sic] Semple[recte] married Lucy Clark, and their son, Major Croghan, then a mere youth, held the fort at Sandusky against Gen. Proctor (see Henry Procter (British Army officer)) with a large force of Indians and whites. He also distinguished himself at Tippecanoe (see Battle of Tippecanoe).
    
    Arthur, Stanley Clisby; Charles Patton Dimitry; and George Campbell de Kernion. Old Families of Louisiana. (New Orleans, Louisiana: Harmanson, 1931), Pages 355, 361, 2009.
    
    2. Robert, Steele and Samuel are Kirkhouse Semples
    
    Page 355 - Robert Semple, brother to Steele Semple -
    Page 361 - Robert Semple, a brother of Sarah Jane Semple who married Col. Thomas Butler (q. v.), was descended from the Semples of Kirkhouse, Scotland.
    Samuel Semple of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

    
11.   San Francisco, The Bay And Its Cities: Compiled by Workers of the Writers' Program of the Work Projects Administration in Northern California. (New York: Hastings House, 1940)
    Page 27.

    Following Fremont's raid on the old Castillo de San Joaquin, Dr. Robert Semple, participant in the Bear Flag affair at Sonoma, led ten men on a foray into Yerba Buena which captured Robert Ridley, ex-factor of the local Hudson Bay Company post.

12.   Bancroft, Hubert Howe. History of California. (Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah).

    Bancroft's Bear Flagger List
    In what he claimed was the first listing of the 32 or 33 men who took Sonoma on 6/14/1846, Hubert H. Bancroft lists the following names:
    
    “Ezekiel Merritt, Wm B. Ide, John Grigsby, Robert Semple, H. L. Ford, Wm Todd, Wm Fallon, Wm Knight, Wm Hargave, Sam. Kelsey, G. P. Swift, Sam. Gibson, W. W. Scott, Benj. Dewell, Thos Cowie, Wm B. Elliott, Thos Knight, Horace Sanders, Henry Booker, Dav. Hudson, John Sears, and most of the following: J. H. Kelly, C. C. Griffith, Harvey Porterfield, John Scott, Ira Stebbins, Marion Wise, Ferguson, Peter Storm, Pat. McChristian, Bartlett Vines, Fowler, John Gibbs, Andrew Kelsey, and Benj. Kelsey."