Charles H. Taylor (publisher) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Charles H. Taylor
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| Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | July 14, 1846 Charlestown, Massachusetts |
| Died | June 22, 1921 (aged 74) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Spouse | Georgiana Olivia Davis (m. 1867–1919; her death) |
| Children | 5, including William O. Taylor and John I. Taylor |
| Occupation | Journalist, publisher |
| Known for | First publisher of The Boston Globe |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | United States of America Union |
| Branch/service | Union Army |
| Unit | 38th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers |
| Battles/wars | American Civil War Siege of Port Hudson |
Charles Henry Taylor (born July 14, 1846 – died June 22, 1921) was an American journalist and politician. He is famous for making Boston Globe newspaper into what it is today. He became its publisher, which means he was in charge of the newspaper, starting in 1873. He was also elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1872. Later, he worked as a special helper to the Governor of Massachusetts.
About Charles Taylor's Life
Charles Taylor was born on July 14, 1846, in Charlestown, Massachusetts. His parents were John Ingalls Taylor and Abigail Russell Hapgood. When the American Civil War began, Charles was only 16 years old. He joined the Union Army and fought for the North. He was seriously hurt during a big battle called the Battle of Port Hudson.
In March 1867, Taylor married Georgiana Olivia Davis. They had five children together: three sons and two daughters. Georgiana passed away in 1919, two years before Charles. People often called him "General Taylor." This was because he served as an officer in the state's volunteer army, known as the Massachusetts state militia.
Making The Boston Globe Famous
Charles Taylor joined The Boston Globe in 1873. This was just one year after the newspaper first started. Six businessmen from Boston, led by a merchant named Eben Dyer Jordan, created the paper. They put in $150,000 to get it going. The very first newspaper was printed on March 4, 1872, and it cost four cents.
By August 1873, the Globe was having problems. Not many people were buying it, and it was losing money. So, Eben Jordan hired Charles Taylor to help manage the business for a while. Taylor was 27 years old at the time. He was a Civil War veteran who had worked as a writer and printer for another newspaper called the Boston Traveler. He also sent stories to the New York Tribune.
Taylor's hard work made the Globe very popular and successful. It started making money! He lowered the price of the paper to two cents. He also made a strict rule that all news had to be fair and unbiased. His biggest new idea was adding things like stock prices, pages for women, and sports news. Before him, the paper only had political, national, and foreign news. By adding these new sections, he created a newspaper that families would want to read. Just three weeks after he took over, the number of papers sold each day jumped from 8,000 to 30,000!
All three of Taylor's sons also worked at the Globe:
- Charles H. Taylor Jr. was in charge of money from 1893 to 1937.
- William O. Taylor took over from his father as editor and publisher from 1921 to 1955.
- John I. Taylor worked in classified advertising from 1893 to 1896. He is best known for owning the Boston Red Sox baseball team from 1904 to 1914.
Charles Taylor also helped the Globe become very good at predicting election results. He made sure the newspaper had special tools to handle all the information coming in. He personally watched over the paper's election predictions from 1883 to 1920. For example, the Globe correctly avoided making a wrong call in the 1916 United States presidential election. At first, it looked like Republican Charles Evans Hughes would win, but the Globe correctly predicted that Democrat Woodrow Wilson would stay president.
See also
- 1872 Massachusetts legislature
