Stephen H. Branch

Born in Providence, Rhode Island, in July 1813, Stephen H. Branch was an American writer and editor remembered today mainly through the works he left behind. His autobiographical pamphlet The life of Stephen H. Branch was published in New York in 1857, and it presents him as a dramatic, highly self-aware narrator with a taste for adventure and public controversy.

Branch is most closely associated with Stephen H. Branch's Alligator, a New York periodical published in 1858. The Library of Congress identifies him as its editor, and the surviving issues show his interest in politics, public personalities, and sharp, attention-grabbing commentary. His writing suggests a figure who moved easily between journalism, memoir, and performance.

Some later historical and genealogical sources identify him as Stephen Hawes Branch and give his life dates as 1813 to 1868, but the most reliably confirmed details come from his own publications and library records. Even from that limited record, he stands out as an energetic and unusual voice in mid-19th-century print culture.