.jpg)
Moses Sperry Beach (October 5, 1822 – July 25, 1892) was an American newspaper owner, editor, inventor, and politician from New York. His papers were theBoston Daily Times and theNew York Sun. He ran the Sun through most of theAmerican Civil War, and was active during the presidency ofAbraham Lincoln.
He was featured inMark Twain's bookThe Innocents Abroad, after embarking on theQuaker City to visit Europe and the Holy Land. He was also a great friend of abolitionist pastorHenry Ward Beecher, and was a trusteePlymouth Church, which was at the forefront of theanti-slavery movement at the time.[1][2][3]
Beach was born on October 5, 1822, inSpringfield, Massachusetts. He was the son ofMoses Yale Beach, proprietor ofThe Sun, and Nancy Day. His brother wasAlfred Ely Beach, the first subway-constructor in New York, and proprietor ofScientific American, while his uncle wasBenjamin Day, founder of the New York Sun.[4][5] Another brother was bankerWilliam Yale Beach. His paternal grandmother was descended from theYale family that foundedYale College, and his maternal grandmother was descended from PilgrimWilliam Brewster.[6]
His cousins wereFrederick Converse Beach andStanley Yale Beach, and his great-grandson wasBrewster Yale Beach.[7] Beach attendedMonson Academy, where he was taught by his uncle Rev. Alfred Ely.[5] He left the school after several years due to his failing eyesight. In 1840, he spent a year in France learning French at an institution near Paris. He worked with his father inThe Sun until 1845, when he bought half of theBoston Daily Times.[6]
In October 1845, Beach and his brotherAlfred joined their father in a partnership ofThe Sun. In 1848, the brothers bought out their father and took control of the newspaper.Moses Yale Beach organized a dinner before retiring. The guests included other members of the news industry such as CongressmanHorace Greeley, CongressmanJames Brooks, andHenry Jarvis Raymond, founder of theNew York Times, and Chairman of theRepublicans underAbraham Lincoln.[4] Beach owned theSun Building and other properties in New York.[8]
In 1852, he became the sole proprietor, with a brief gap from 1860 to 1861 when he was ill, whereWilliam Conant Church published the paper instead.[9][failed verification] Under Moses Sperry Beach's leadership, the Sun supportedAbraham Lincoln, and was described as an out-and-out loyalist.[10][4] The paper coveredhis day of election as well ashis assassination.[4] They refused to join other newspapers in wild abuse of Lincoln andJohnson at the1864 National Union National Convention, and gave support toUlysses S. Grant as its candidate for the U.S. presidency, the General who led theUnion Army to victory during theAmerican Civil War in 1865.[11]
The Sun : The reelection ofAbraham Lincoln announces to the world how firmly we have resolved to be a free and united people.[12]
--The entry in the Story of the Sun: New York, 1833-1918
By the end of the war, the Sun was read by half a million people, at a time when the city of New York had less than a million population.[13] Beach owned the paper until 1868, when he sold it toCharles A. Dana, the pastAssistant Secretary of War of Abraham Lincoln and Gen.Ulysses S. Grant. He also patented several inventions related to printing andstereotyping. These patents consisted of feeding the roil paper to the press instead of flat sheets, wetting the paper prior to printing, cutting off sheets after printing, and adaptingnewspaper presses to print both sides of the same sheet at the same time.[14]
After the war, he and a group of travelers decided to visit Europe and theHoly Land. Before departure, he organized at his home a farewell Gala withBeecher, which was to be a five-month luxury tour organized by Captain Charles Duncan, theShipping Commissioner of thePort of New York, and father in-law of Dr. Arthur Wells Yale.[15][16]Mark Twain joined the group and they embarked on theUSS Quaker City steamship to Europe in 1867, with Moses Sperry and other members making an appearance in Mark Twain'sInnocents Abroad.[14][8]
The luxurious cruise was the first organized tourism trip in American history.[17] The itinerary included Gibraltar, Rome, Athens, Constantinople, Beirut, Jerusalem, Cairo, and other exotic places, including the1867 Exposition Universelle in Paris, and a visit withCzar Alexander II and other members of theHouse of Romanov.[18] His daughterEmma joined the voyage and became a friend ofMark Twain. She became his correspondent and Twain later stayed overnight at Moses Sperry's home in Brooklyn, New York.[19]
Beach lived inColumbia Heights, Brooklyn, from 1851 to 1888, at which point he retired toPeekskill, New York.[5] He served in theNew York State Assembly as aDemocrat, representing Kings County 2nd District, in1858.[20] He became a board director of the Brooklyn Fire Insurance Company on Court Street, next toBrooklyn Borough Hall.[21]
In 1845, Beach married Chloe Buckingham. They had two sons and three daughters,[5] including artistEmma Beach Thayer, who married to naturalistAbbott Handerson Thayer, a pioneer ofmilitary camouflage and member of theThayer family.[22] His sonCharles Yale Beach was a manufacturer and real estate investor, with holdings inNew Haven andBridgeport, and was a correspondent ofMark Twain.[23] He was also a student in philosophy atYale, and supportedElihu Root's investigation of Captain Duncan.[24][25]
Beach was treasurer of the Working Woman's Protective Union for the first 30 years of its existence.[26] He was a deacon and trustee ofPlymouth Church, which was at the forefront of theanti-slavery movement during the mid-19th century.[1] He was also superintendent of its Sunday school, and a close friend of its pastor,Henry Ward Beecher, an ardent abolitionist.[27] TheBeecher family were great friends of the Beaches, being neighbors in Brooklyn, and are featured in the Pulitzer bookThe Most Famous Man in America.[28]
The families were also living next to each other atPeekskill, New York, as Beach followed his friendHenry Beecher and bought land next to his farm on theBeecher-McFadden Estate.[29][30] Their homes were also used asUnderground Railroad safe houses to host in secret tunnels the slaves who were on their way to Canada, in disobedience to theFugitive Slave Law.[31][32] Visitors of Beecher in Peekskill included his sisterHarriet, abolitionist and author of "Uncle Tom's Cabin".[31] Beach's brother,Alfred Ely Beach, founded the first school for freed slaves in Savannah, Georgia, named theBeach Institute, after the victory of GeneralSherman, who gave the region to Lincoln after the Civil War.[33]
Beach was also a correspondent ofP.T. Barnum,Kan'ichi Asakawa,Edward Beecher,John Ericsson,Cyrus W. Field,Edward Everett Hale,Christopher Grant La Farge,Harriet Beecher Stowe, andRobert E. Bonner, a racehorse competitor ofCommodore Vanderbilt.[34] He died at home of a stroke on July 25, 1892. He was buried atCortlandt Manor, Hillside Cemetery, New York, part of the ancestral estate ofVan Cortlandt Manor of theVan Cortlandt family.[35]
| New York State Assembly | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | New York State Assembly Kings County, 2nd District 1858 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
