Horace Greeley
  • Print

Journalist (1811 - 1872)

Horace Greeley

Although he left NH by the age of ten, the Granite State has always been proud of its influential and opinionated native son Horace Greeley. In his autobibiography "Recollections of a Busy Life" (1868) Greeley remembered a sickly childhood here on his father's farm in Amherst. Only two of eight children eventually survived. Greeley loved to read, and spent one year at Phillips Exeter before the family moved to Vermont, where he was appreniticed to a printer. As editor of the New York Tribune for 30 years, he broke convention with his penny daily, created to bring in-depth reporting to the poorer reaers. Greeley's paper championed socital causes, though his views, at times, flip-floppped. Greeley himself was a unique character -- eccentric, yankee, Universalist, free-thinking, yet a fiscally conservative Whig. His staff included many Transcendentalists and a foreign correspondence named Karl Marx. His influemce on working class Americans, espeically during the Civil War, was powerful. A supporter of Lincoln, he later advocated an unpopular treaty with the South and opposed Lincoln's re-election. His idiosyncratic views cost him the vote in his one bid for the presidency against Ulysses S. Grant in 1872. Greeley's wife died at this same time, he suffered a total breakdown, and died the same year.

"GO WEST!" he said
America did, and then he changed his mind .

More Famous NH People 

HORACE GREELEY LINKS

BIOGRAPHY

Horace Greeley, Editor of the New York Tribune
Profile by David H. Femimore of the Universiry of Nevada, who also dresses up like Greeley and has portrayed him for humanities lectures

Greeley Recalls His Boyhood
From his "Recollections of a Busy Life" (1868) as edited by Old Sturbridge Village

Unitarians on US Postage Stamps
Includes info on Greeley's religion

Horace Greeley
A biography page from Tulane University

Short Biography Page
Greeley moves West on the Kansis City Museum web site

Horace Greeley Bio on Infoplease

Short Biography of Greeley
Focusing on his role as a Civil War era politician

Chattaqua Biography
From Greeley reacted visit to NH by Humanities Council

Uncle Horace and Old Osawatomie Brown
Essay of Greeley and Slavery

Photo by Matthew Brady

Large Engraving of Greeley from 1866 (click to enlarge)

Photo (Undated) from Virginia Univ. Library

HISTORIC SITES & EVENTS

Birthplace in Amherst, NH
This link goes to the local library. Horace "Go West, young man" Greeley, founder of the New York Tribune and Republican candidate for president in 1872, was born in Amherst in 1811. His house on a back road still stands. It is indicated by a state historic marker .

Horace Greeley's Mansion Purchased by Historical Group
Newspaper report from 1998

New Castle Historical Society
Chappaqua, NY house containe Greeley Room

Greeley's Grave
And a bronze monument in Brooklyn, NY on Find-a-Grave

Greeley and Lincoln
The NY Tribune was among the most influential papers of its time

Greeley Letter to Constantine Severance
Greeley supports woman's suffrage in 1853

Greeley Interview with Brigham Youngm 1859
From a Mormon relgision web site

Greeley Letter to Josephine Griffimg
Greeley breaks with women's and African-American support group in 1870

Greeley Letter to Sen Reuben Fenton
Photo of 1865 letter from the Tribune office

Lincoln Letter to Greeley
The President's 1862 response to HG's challenge to Emancipatoin

NAMESAKES

Horace Greeley Award
Presented by New England Press Associaion

Horace Greeley High School
In Chappaqua, NY

Horace Greeley Elementary
Chicago, IL

Greely County, Kansas

Horace Greeley Johnson
The "Edison of Underwear"

Horace Greeley Kyle of Kansas

More Famous NH People 

Photo by Matthew Brady from US Library of Congress, American Memory
Copyright © 2001 SeacoastNH.com. All rights reserved