258 
JOHN CASPER BRANNER 
Through the recent demise of John Casper Branner American 
Geology loses a unique figure belonging to two continents. The 
great Stanford University misses one of its most distinguished 
scholars, one of its greatest teachers, and one of its most respected 
and beloved personalities, its President Emeritus. 
Doctor Branner was born seventy-one years ago, in New Mar¬ 
ket, Tennessee, on July 4, 1850, and died at Palo Alto, California, 
on March 1, 1922. His father was Michael T. Branner; and 
his mother before her marriage was Elsie Baker. In 1883 he was 
married to Susan D. Kennedy, of Oneida, New York. Their 
children were John K., George C., and Elsie, Mrs. W. F. Fowler. 
His early education was obtained in the’ schools of Dandridge, 
Tennessee, where he attended Maury Academy; and then he en¬ 
tered Maryville College. Later, at the age of eighteen years, he 
enrolled at Cornell University, from which he was graduated 
with the degree of Bachelor of Science in 1874. At Cornell 
University he fell in with Charles F. Hartt, David Starr Jordan, 
and others of a congenial Cornell coterie all members of which 
afterwards became famous. 
Before completing his college course at Cornell young Branner 
was selected by Professor Hartt, who was acting as Imperial Geol¬ 
ogist of Brazil, to assist on the geological survey of that country. 
Associated with him was also Orestes St. John, who, with Hartt, 
had previously visited South America in connection with the cele¬ 
brated Thayer Expedition to Brazil, under the guidance of Louis 
Agassiz. Among other student assistants who went out on the Hartt 
survey were Orville A. Derby, Richard Rathburn, and Herbert H. 
Smith. This work occupied several years and prevented young 
Branner from finishing his work at Cornell until 1883. Upon 
the death of Professor Hartt, in 1875, Branner became Director 
of the Imperial Geological Commission. In after years Branner 
was repeatedly called to the Brazilian field. In 1882 he was com¬ 
missioned by the United States Government to visit South Ameri¬ 
ca to study insects injurious to the cotton plant and the sugar 
cane. When Brazil became a republic he entered the service 
of the Sao Cyriaco Mining Company, at Minas Geraes, assuming 
the duties of engineer and interpreter. 
Branner also visited Brazil and Argentina in the capacity of 
botanist for Thomas A Edison, searching for woods especially 
