Mark Twain’s older brother who served as Secretary of the Nevada Territory was Orion Clemens. Orion was Samuel Langhorne Clemens’s eldest surviving brother and entered Nevada politics after supporting Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 presidential election.
Lincoln nominated Orion as territorial secretary in March 1861, and the Senate confirmed him later that month. Orion and Samuel traveled overland to Carson City in July 1861. Samuel served briefly as his brother’s private secretary, an experience later described in part through Roughing It and remembered as an important turning point in Twain’s western career.
Orion was the first and only Secretary of the Nevada Territory. He also sometimes acted as governor when territorial governor James W. Nye was away. After Nevada became a state in 1864, Orion served briefly in the state assembly, but financial and personal difficulties eventually led him to leave the territory. The shared surname can cause confusion, but none of the alternative Clemens names identifies this official.