Moses S. Beach

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Moses Sperry Beach portrait, picture from the book The Innocents Abroad

Moses Sperry Beach (October 5, 1822 – July 25, 1892) was an American newspaper owner, editor, inventor, and politician from New York. His papers were the

Boston Daily Times and the New York Sun. He ran the Sun through most of the American Civil War, and was active during the presidency of Abraham Lincoln
.

He was featured in Mark Twain's book The Innocents Abroad, after embarking on the Quaker City to visit Europe and the Holy Land. He was also a great friend of abolitionist pastor Henry Ward Beecher, and was a trustee Plymouth Church, which was at the forefront of the anti-slavery movement at the time.[1][2][3]

Life

Beach was born on October 5, 1822, in

Benjamin Day, founder of the New York Sun.[4][5] Another brother was banker William Yale Beach. His paternal grandmother was descended from the Yale family that founded Yale College, and his maternal grandmother was descended from Pilgrim William Brewster.[6]

His cousins were

Boston Daily Times.[6]

In October 1845, Beach and his brother

New York Times, and Chairman of the Republicans under Abraham Lincoln.[4] Beach owned the Sun Building and other properties in New York.[8]

Career

USS Quaker City, luxury cruise trip with Mark Twain to Europe and the Holy Land
The Innocents Abroad, excursion to the Holy Land in 1867

In 1852, he became the sole proprietor, with a brief gap from 1860 to 1861 when he was ill, where the President of National Rifle Association, William C. Church, owned the paper instead.[9] Under Moses Sperry Beach's leadership, the Sun supported Abraham Lincoln, and was described as an out-and-out loyalist.[10][4] The paper covered his day of election as well as his assassination.[4] They refused to join other newspapers in wild abuse of Lincoln and Johnson at the 1864 National Union National Convention, and gave support to Ulysses S. Grant as its candidate for the U.S. presidency, the General who led the Union Army to victory during the American Civil War in 1865.[11]

The Sun : The reelection of Abraham 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 to Charles A. Dana, the past Assistant Secretary of War of Abraham Lincoln and Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. He also patented several inventions related to printing and stereotyping. 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 adapting newspaper 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 the

Port of New York, and father in-law of Dr. Arthur Wells Yale.[15][16] Mark Twain joined the group and they embarked on the USS Quaker City steamship to Europe in 1867, with Moses Sperry and other members making an appearance in Mark Twain's Innocents Abroad.[14][8]

The luxurious cruise was the first organized tourism trip in American history.

Czar Alexander II and other members of the House of Romanov.[18] His daughter Emma joined the voyage and became a friend of Mark Twain. She became his correspondent and Twain later stayed overnight at Moses Sperry's home in Brooklyn, New York.[19]

Later life

Aerial view of Peekskill, New York, historic city of the Civil War featuring the Underground Railroad

Beach lived in

Columbia Heights, Brooklyn, from 1851 to 1888, at which point he retired to Peekskill, New York.[5] He served in the New York State Assembly as a Democrat, representing Kings County 2nd District, in 1858.[20] He became a board director of the Brooklyn Fire Insurance Company on Court Street, next to Brooklyn Borough Hall.[21]

In 1845, Beach married Chloe Buckingham. They had two sons and three daughters,

Yale, and supported Elihu 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 of Plymouth Church, which was at the forefront of the anti-slavery movement during the mid-19th century.[27] He was also superintendent of its Sunday school, and a close friend of its pastor, Henry Ward Beecher, an ardent abolitionist.[28] The Beecher family were great friends of the Beaches, being neighbors in Brooklyn, and are featured in the Pulitzer book The Most Famous Man in America.[29]

The families were also living next to each other at

Beach Institute, after the victory of General Sherman, who gave the region to Lincoln after the Civil War.[34]

Beach was also a correspondent of

Cortlandt Manor, Hillside Cemetery, New York, part of the ancestral estate of Van Cortlandt Manor of the Van Cortlandt family.[36]

References

  1. ^ Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior
  2. ^ The Western Spirit, 05 Aug 1892, Fri ·Page 4
  3. ^ Chicago Tribune, 27 Jul 1892, Wed ·Page
  4. ^ a b c d The Story of the Sun. New York, 1833-1918, Chapter VIII “The Sun” During The Civil War
  5. ^ a b c d The National Cyclopedia of American Biography. Vol. XIII. New York, N.Y.: James T. White. 1906. p. 329 – via Google Books.
  6. ^ a b Murphy, William D. (1858). Biographical Sketches of the State Officers and Members of the Legislature of the State of New York in 1858. Albany, N.Y.: J. Munsell. pp. 147–148 – via Google Books.
  7. ^ The Courier-News, 25 Sep 1979, Tue ·Page 16
  8. ^ a b Buffalo Weekly Express, 28 Jul 1892, Thu ·Page 1
  9. ^ "Obituary". The Sun. Vol. LIX, no. 331. New York, N.Y. 27 July 1892. p. 3 – via Chronicling America.
  10. ^ Frank Michael O'Brien (1947). "The Story of the Sun : New York, 1833-1918". Retrieved 2022-11-10.
  11. ^ Frank Michael O'Brien (1947). "The Story of the Sun : New York, 1833-1918". Retrieved 2022-11-10.
  12. ^ Frank Michael O'Brien (1947). "The Story of the Sun : New York, 1833-1918". Retrieved 2022-11-10.
  13. ^ Frank Michael O'Brien (1947). "The Story of the Sun : New York, 1833-1918". Retrieved 2022-11-10.
  14. ^ a b The Encyclopedia Americana: A General Dictionary of the Arts and Sciences, Thomas Campbell Copeland, 1904
  15. ^ Brooklyn Heights: The Rise, Fall and Rebirth of America's First Suburb, The History Press, Robert Furman, 2015, p. 288
  16. ^ When Mother Lets Us Give a Party, Elsie Duncan Yale, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2018
  17. ^ Journey Abroad with an American Legend at the New-York Historical Society, Mark Twain and the Holy Land, On View October 25, 2019 – February 2, 2020
  18. ^ Twain, Mark (1869), The Innocents Abroad, or the New Pilgrim's Progress – ch. 37, retrieved 28 April 2011
  19. ^ Mark Twain's Letters, Volume 4: 1870–1871, p. 494
  20. ^ Murphy, William D. (1858). Biographical Sketches of the State Officers and Members of the Legislature of the State of New York in 1858. Albany, N.Y.: J. Munsell. p. 239 – via Google Books.
  21. ^ Brooklyn Evening Star, 04 Apr 1857, Sat ·Page 3
  22. ^ "Emma Beach Thayer - Biography". www.askart.com. Retrieved 2020-11-27.
  23. ^ Charles Y. Beach to Samuel L. Clemens, 31 March 1884 • Brooklyn, N.Y. (MS: CU-MARK, UCLC 41853)
  24. ^ Charles Y. Beach to Samuel L. Clemens 31 March 1884 • Brooklyn, N.Y. (MS: CU-MARK, UCLC 41853)
  25. ^ Yale University Catalogue, 1864
  26. ^ "Obituary Notes" (PDF). The New York Times. Vol. XLI, no. 12768. New York, N.Y. 27 July 1892. p. 4.
  27. ^ Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior
  28. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle
    . Vol. 52, no. 207. Brooklyn, N.Y. 27 July 1892. p. 16 – via Brooklyn Public Library: Historical Newspapers.
  29. ^ The New York Sun, February 18, 1946
  30. ^ A Brief History of Peekskill, About the Peekskill Museum, peekskillmuseum.org
  31. ^ Hiding in Plain Sight, Emma Beach and the Art of Camouflage, Peekskill Herald, Kirk Moldoff, 2021
  32. ^ a b President Lincoln and the Underground Railroad, Peekskill, Historic Preservation Program, Overview of Historic Preservation in Peekskill, 2002, p.10
  33. ^ Peekskill Urban Watershed Report, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, 2015, p.7-8-9
  34. ^ Savannah’s History: The Beach Institute, The Beach Institute African-American Cultural Center in downtown Savannah, www.savannah.com/
  35. ^ Beach family papers, 1811-1962 (bulk 1833-1933)
  36. ^ Foshay, Nelson G., ed. (30 July 1892). "Obituary-Moses S. Beach" (PDF). The Highland Democrat. Vol. XLVII, no. 41. Peekskill, N.Y. p. 4 – via Fultonhistory.com.

External links

New York State Assembly
Preceded by New York State Assembly
Kings County, 2nd District
1858 		Succeeded by
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