Raymond, Samuel R. (Sam), had settled in Hannibal by 1849. He helped organize the Liberty Fire Company and dressed in fireman’s uniform for the company’s fundraising parties. In 1850 he became editor and co-proprietor with Robert Sylvester Buchanan of the Hannibal Journal. In 1851 Raymond and his partner sold the Journal to Orion Clemens, and Raymond moved to Pike County, Missouri. Back in Hannibal by 1853, Raymond edited the Messenger and by 1859 was proprietor of the Gazette. Mark Twain mentions him twice in “Villagers” (96, 102), in the first instance wondering if he had married Mary Nash. In fact, in 1850 Raymond married Helen Holmes, who died a year later of cholera. An entry in Mark Twain’s 1897 notebook hints that Raymond was the illegitimate son of either Robert, Argyle, or Joseph Sylvester Buchanan: “The new fire Co—Raymond, whose real name was Buchanan” (NB 41, CU-MARK, TS p. 58). Working notes for “Tom Sawyer’s Conspiracy” indicate that he planned to introduce Raymond as “Fire Marshal Sam . . . Rumford,” who was “envied because said to be illegitimate” (HH&T, 383, 384), but Rumford instead appears in the story as captain of a militia company, with no illegitimacy mentioned (167–68, 178, 210). Raymond is also included in the working notes for “Schoolhouse Hill” (MSM, 436) as the model for Joe Buckner of the Big 6 Fire Company, but that character does not appear in the story (Hannibal Missouri Courier: “Liberty Fire Company,” 4 Oct 49; “The New Fire Engine,” 29 Nov 49; “Grand Levee & Tea-Party!” 20 Dec 49; “The ‘Journal,’ of this city . .” 31 Jan 50; “Married,” 9 May 50; “New Paper,” 3 Feb 53; “Mr. S. R. Raymond . . . ,” Hannibal Western Union, 29 May 51; Fotheringham, 48).
