Henry Jarvis Raymond
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromNew York's6th district
In office March 4, 1865 – March 3, 1867
Preceded by	Elijah Ward
Succeeded by	Thomas E. Stewart
2nd Chairman of theRepublican National Committee
In office 1864–1866
Preceded by	Edwin D. Morgan
Succeeded by	Marcus Lawrence Ward
Lieutenant Governor of New York
In office 1855–1856
Governor	Myron H. Clark
Preceded by	Sanford E. Church
Succeeded by	Henry R. Selden
Member of theNew York State Assembly from the 7thNew York County district
In office January 1, 1850 – December 31, 1851
Preceded by	Abraham Van Orden
Succeeded by	Freeborn G. Luckey
Personal details
Born	(1820-01-24)January 24, 1820 Livingston County, New York, U.S.
Died	June 18, 1869(1869-06-18) (aged 49) New York City, New York, U.S.
Political party	Republican Whig Party (until 1854)
Spouse	Juliette Weaver
Children	Edward Henry Raymond Mary Elizabeth Raymond Lucy Margaret Raymond Henry Warren Raymond Walter Jarvis Raymond Aimee Juliette Arteniese Raymond Arthur William Raymond
Parent(s)	Jarvis Raymond Lavinia Brockway
Alma mater	Genesee Wesleyan Seminary University of Vermont Columbia Law School
Occupation	Writer, editor, politician, publisher and founder ofThe New York Times

Henry Jarvis Raymond (January 24, 1820 – June 18, 1869) was an American journalist, newspaper publisher, and politician who co-founded both theRepublican Party andThe New York Times.

He was a member of theNew York State Assembly, theLieutenant Governor of New York, Chairman of theRepublican National Committee, and elected to theUS House of Representatives. For his contribution towards the formation of theRepublican Party,^[1] Raymond has sometimes been called the "godfather of the Republican Party".

He was born on January 24, 1820, on the family farm nearLima, New York, a son and the eldest child of Lavinia Brockway, the daughter of Clark Brockway and Sally Wade and Jarvis Raymond, the son of Jonathan P. Raymond and Hannah Jarvis.^[2][3]

He was an 8th generation direct lineal descendant of Captain Richard Raymond (1602–1692) and his wife, Judith. There is no evidence to suggest that he was born inEssex, England, although Samuel Raymond's family history makes that claim, and he arrived inSalem, Massachusetts, about 1629/30, possibly with a contingent led by the Rev.Francis Higginson. The first actual date given for Richard is on August 6, 1629, when he is on the list of the 30 founding members of the First Church (Congregational) of Salem. He was about 27 years old. He was made a Freeman of Salem in 1634 and was later a founder ofNorwalk, Connecticut, and an "honored forefather of Saybrook".

Raymond gave early evidence of his superior intellectual skills: it is said that he could read by the age of three and deliver speeches when he was five. He enrolled at age twelve in theGenesee Wesleyan Seminary atLima, New York, a school established by theMethodist Episcopal Church which would later becomeSyracuse University.

He graduated from theUniversity of Vermont in 1840 with high honors. Between 1841 and 1851, Raymond worked for various newspapers, includingHorace Greeley'sNew York Tribune andJames Watson Webb'sCourier and Enquirer as a journalist and associate editor. He had known George Jones since their time at theTribune and the two often discussed the possibility of starting a newspaper themselves. In 1851, Raymond convinced Jones to become his partner and publish a new paper that would report the news in a neutral manner. In 1851, Raymond formed Raymond, Jones & Company, Inc. and foundedThe New York Times. He was the newspaper's editor until his death in 1869.^[4]

On October 24, 1843, in Winooski, Vermont, Raymond married Juliette Weaver (April 12, 1822 – October 13, 1914), who was a daughter of John Warren Weaver and Artemisia Munson. Henry and Juliette were the parents of seven children.

Their son Henry Warren Raymond (1847–1925) was an 1869 graduate ofYale College, and, in the same year, was initiated as a member of theSkull and Bones secret society. He also graduated fromColumbia University School of Law in 1871. He was a reporter for theTimes from 1869 to 1872 while at Columbia Law, and he served as private secretary to theSecretary of the NavyBenjamin F. Tracy from 1889 to 1893. He entered private law practice in 1893.^{[5]: 1311–13}

Their daughter Mary Elizabeth Raymond (September 10, 1849 – June 13, 1897) was born in New York City and died inMorristown, New Jersey. She married Earl Philip Mason (August 5, 1848 – March 17, 1901) on April 18, 1872, in New York City.^[6]

Their daughter Aimee Juliette Arteniese Raymond (1857–1903) was a physician, writer and editor. She graduated fromNew York Medical College in 1889. She was married to Henry Harmon Schroeder.^[7]

Raymond was a member of theNew York State Assembly in1850 and1851, and in the latter year was electedSpeaker. A member of theWhig Party's Northern radical anti-slavery wing, his nomination over Greeley on the Whig ticket forLieutenant Governor of New York in 1854 led to the dissolution of the political partnership ofSeward,Weed, and Greeley. Raymond was elected lieutenant governor and served from 1855 to 1856.^[1]

Raymond has sometimes been called "the godfather of the Republican Party",^[8] as Raymond had a prominent part in the formation of theRepublican Party and drafted the Address to the People, adopted by the Republican organizing convention that met inPittsburgh on February 22, 1856.^[1] In1862, he was again Speaker of the New York Assembly.^[9]

He was among the first to urge the adoption of a broad and liberal postwar attitude toward the people of the South and opposed theRadical Republicans, who wanted harsher measures against the South. In 1865, he was a delegate to the National Republican Convention and was made Chairman of theRepublican National Committee. He was a member of theUS House of Representatives from 1865 to 1867.^[1]

On December 22, 1865, he attackedThaddeus Stevens's theory of the dead states in which states that had seceded were not to be restored to their former status in the Union, and, agreeing with the President, Raymond argued that the states never left the Union since the ordinances of secession were null. Raymond authored the Address and Declaration of Principles issued by the Loyalist Convention (orNational Union Convention) atPhiladelphia in August 1866. His attack on Stevens and his prominence at the Loyalist Convention caused him to lose favor with the Republican Party. He was removed from the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee in 1866, and in 1867, his nomination as minister toAustria, which he had already refused, was rejected by theUS Senate.^[1]

He retired from public life in 1867 and devoted his time to newspaper work until his death in New York City in 1869.^[1]

Raymond began his journalistic career onHorace Greeley'sTribune and gained further experience in editingJames Watson Webb'sCourier and Enquirer. Then, with the help of friends, Raymond raised $100,000 (~$2.99 million in 2024) capital, a hundred times what Greeley staked on theTribune ten years earlier, and foundedThe New York Times on September 18, 1851.

Editorially, Raymond sought a niche between Greeley's open partisanship and Bennett's party neutrality. In the first issue of theTimes Raymond announced his purpose to write in temperate and measured language and to get into a passion as rarely as possible. "There are few things in this world which it is worthwhile to get angry about; and they are just the things anger will not improve." In controversy he meant to avoid abusive language. His editorials were generally cautious, impersonal, and finished in form.

PresidentAbraham Lincoln wrote, "The Times, I believe, is always true to the Union, and therefore should be treated at least as well as any."^[10]

Raymond's moderation was evident during the period after Lincoln's election and before his nomination. He wrote to the Alabama secessionistWilliam L. Yance, "We shall stand on the Constitution which our fathers made. We shall not make a new one, nor shall we permit any human power to destroy the one.... We seek no war—we shall wage no war except in defense of the constitution and against its foes. But we have a country and a constitutional government. We know its worth to us and to mankind, and in case of necessity we are ready to test its strength."^[11]

"That sentiment guided the editorial course of The Times through the turbulent winter between Lincoln's election and the attack on Fort Sumter. Raymond deprecated, as all sensible men deprecated, any hasty aggression which might provoke to violence men who could still, perhaps, be brought back to reason; but he insisted that as a last resort the union must be maintained by any means necessary. To the proposals for compromise he was favorable, on condition that they did not compromise the essential issue—that they did not nullify the election of 1860 and give back to the slave power the control of the national government which it had lost. Because no other compromise would have been acceptable the issue inevitably had to be fought out, and from Sumter to Appomattox The Times was unwavering in its support of Lincoln and its determination that the Federal union must and should be preserved."^[11]

Raymond was an able public speaker; one of his best known speeches was made to greetHungarian leaderLajos Kossuth, whose cause he defended, during Kossuth's visit to New York City in December 1851.^[12]

In addition to his work withThe New York Times, he wrote several books, including:

• A Life of Daniel Webster (1853)
• Political Lessons of the Revolution (1854)
• A History of the Administration of President Lincoln (1864)
• The Life and Public Services of Abraham Lincoln (1865)

Raymond died inNew York City, New York on June 18, 1869, from a heart attack,^[13] and his death became a subject of controversy.^[14] He was buried in Brooklyn'sGreen-Wood Cemetery.

• Augustus Maverick,Henry J. Raymond and the New York Press for Thirty Years, A.S. Hale & Company, 1870.

• Davis, Elmer.History of the New York Times, 1851–1921 (1921)Archived July 16, 2012, at theWayback Machine
• Dicken-Garcia, Hazel.Journalistic Standards in Nineteenth-Century America (1989)
• Douglas, George H.The Golden Age of the Newspaper (1999)
• Maverick, Augustus.Henry J. Raymond and the New York Press, for Thirty Years: Progress of American Journalism from 1840 to 1870 (1870), 501pponline
• Sloan, W. David and James D. Startt.The Gilded Age Press, 1865–1900 (2003)Archived 2012-07-16 at theWayback Machine
• Summers, Mark Wahlgren.The Press Gang: Newspapers and Politics, 1865–1878 (1994)Archived July 16, 2012, at theWayback Machine
• This article also copies fromNewspapers, 1775–1860 by Frank W. Scott (1917), which is also in thepublic domainArchived 2005-12-12 at theWayback Machine

Wikimedia Commons has media related toHenry Jarvis Raymond.

• Works by or about Henry Jarvis Raymond at theInternet Archive
• Mr. Lincoln and New York: Henry J. Raymond
• Henry Jarvis Raymond atFind a Grave
• George Jones and Henry J. Raymond papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library.
• Henry J. Raymond papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library.

• 1820 births
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• Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery
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• People from Lima, New York
• 19th-century American journalists
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