Thurlow Weed

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Edward Thurlow Weed (November 15, 1797 – November 22, 1882) was an American printer, newspaper publisher, and Whig and Republican politician. He was the principal political advisor to prominent New York politician William H. Seward and was instrumental in the presidential nominations of William Henry Harrison (1840), Zachary Taylor (1848), and John C. Frémont (1856).

Born in Cairo, New York, Weed apprenticed as a printer under William Williams and served with him in the War of 1812 before winning election to the New York State Assembly. He met Seward in the assembly, and they formed a close political alliance that lasted for several decades. Weed and Seward became leaders of the New York Anti-Masonic Party, and Weed established the Albany Evening Journal as the party's main newspaper. Weed supported the American System of Henry Clay and helped establish the Whig Party in the 1830s. He helped Seward win election as Governor of New York and supported the successful presidential candidacies of Harrison and Taylor.

Weed led New York's Whigs for much of the 1830s and 1840s but abandoned the party following the passage of the Kansas–Nebraska Act. He helped organize the Republican Party and supported Frémont's nomination at the 1856 Republican National Convention. He led the effort to nominate Seward at the 1860 Republican National Convention, but the convention nominated Abraham Lincoln. After the Civil War, Weed and Seward allied with President Andrew Johnson and supported Johnson's approach to Reconstruction. Weed retired from public life in 1867 and died in 1882.

Early lifeEdit

Weed was born on November 15, 1797, in the hamlet of Acra, part of the town of Cairo in Greene County, New York.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn His father, Joel Weed (1773-1819) and mother Mary (Ellis) Weed (1771-1841) were Connecticut natives who moved to New York to farm,Template:Sfn and Weed was the eldest of five siblings, three brothers and two sisters.Template:Sfn Neither of his sisters reached adulthood.Template:Sfn His brother Orrin was apprenticed to a New York City shipbuilder, Henry Eckford, and died in 1823 during a yellow fever epidemic.Template:Sfn His brother Osborn moved to Tennessee, where he was a successful merchant and hotelier before he died in 1851.Template:Sfn Weed was christened Edward Thurlow Weed, named for a presumed family connection to Edward Thurlow, England's Lord Chancellor.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn As a boy, Weed dropped his first name; as an adult, he attempted to document the family connection during a visit to England, but was unsuccessful.Template:Sfn

Weed's father later moved the family to the village of Catskill where he operated a business hauling freight by wagon from the Hudson River docks.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Joel Weed's business suffered reverses because of his ill health, the sickness of his horses, accidents, and occasional non-payment by his customers, so his family struggled financially.Template:Sfn Joel Weed was eventually sentenced to debtors' prison, but friends and customers signed bonds on his behalf.Template:Sfn These guarantees permitted him to take advantage of the freedom of the prison, which allowed debtors to travel within permitted limits to earn money to satisfy their obligations, and to spend Sundays with their families.Template:Sfn Thurlow Weed received about a year of formal education in Catskill before beginning to work so he could help support his family.Template:Sfn At age eight, he was hired to operate a blacksmith's bellows for six cents a day.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn He later worked as an errand boy at a Catskill tavern and hotel, then at a print shop, after which he spent much of his youth working as a cabin boy on boats that traveled the Hudson River.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

In 1808, Joel Weed's family moved to Cincinnatus, New York, where he worked as a woodcutter, maple syrup maker, and farm laborer with Thurlow's assistance.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn While living in Cincinnatus, Weed attended a local school for a brief period before the family moved again, this time to Onondaga.Template:Sfn In both Cincinnatus and Onondaga, Weed worked to improve on his formal education by diligent self-study, sometimes walking several miles to visit neighbors who would allow him to borrow books.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn In Onondaga, Joel Weed earned a living by cutting wood for a potash maker, again with his son's aid.Template:Sfn Thurlow Weed later worked at an Onondaga iron forge, where his task was to temper the sand used in casting and molding.Template:Sfn During a period when the forge was not in operation, Weed obtained a position as a groomsman and gardener for the Onondaga County Clerk, which included his room and board, as well as the promise of additional schooling.Template:Sfn For several months, Weed was able to attend a private academy run by the Reverend Caleb Alexander.Template:Sfn When the forge resumed operations, Weed returned to his position there.Template:Sfn

Start of careerEdit

PrinterEdit

Weed learned in 1810 that Thomas Chittenden Fay intended to start a newspaper in Onondaga, the Lynx.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Having decided on a career in printing and publishing, Weed and his father convinced Fay to take Weed on as a second apprentice.Template:Sfn His first tasks included cutting wood and stoking fires, as well as preparing the sheepskins used in making ink balls.Template:Sfn Weed soon began to take on additional responsibilities, including building and maintaining files of newspapers with which the Lynx exchanged stories, which enabled Fay to develop a network of affiliated newspapers.Template:Sfn In 1812, Fay left the newspaper after a dispute with his creditors; Weed printed a handful of issues to publish advertisements that had already been paid for, after which the Lynx became defunct.Template:Sfn He then moved to Scipio, where he worked briefly on another newspaper, the Tocsin, before it too went out of business.Template:Sfn Weed then returned to the forge in Onondaga, the owner of which had received a contract to produce round shot iron cannonballs for use by U.S. forces during the War of 1812.Template:Sfn After earning enough money to resume searching for work as a printer, Weed traveled to Utica, where he was employed in the printing shop of Seward & Williams.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Military serviceEdit

In February 1813, Weed was working for and residing in the home of William Williams in Utica, New York.Template:Sfn During the War of 1812, he joined a volunteer militia company that Williams commanded as a captain, which responded to threat of a British invasion from Canada, and briefly served near Sackets Harbor.Template:Sfn The alarm soon passed, and Weed returned to Utica, where he began work on the Columbian Gazette, a newspaper published by Thomas Walker.Template:Sfn When the militia again called for recruits to respond to the threat of an invasion from Canada, Weed obtained Walker's permission to go, and joined a company in the regiment commanded by Elijah H. Metcalf, which performed duty in and around Sackets Harbor.Template:Sfn

When the second alarm passed in October 1813, Weed returned to Utica.Template:Sfn He soon left for Albany, where he was employed at Webster & Skinner, book publishers and publishers of the Albany Gazette.Template:Sfn When his work in Albany ended, Weed lived briefly in Herkimer, then moved to Cooperstown, where he continued to work as a printer.Template:Sfn After several months in Cooperstown, he returned to Herkimer to take charge of his former employer's business while the owner traveled to Connecticut to attend a political convention.Template:Sfn

In October 1814, Weed again joined the militia and was appointed quartermaster sergeant of the 40th Regiment of the New York State Militia under quartermaster officer George Petrie.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Weed's regiment performed duty in Sackets Harbor, and twice successfully paraded to dissuade British commanders on Lake Ontario from landing troops.Template:Sfn In January 1815, Weed's regiment was mustered out of the service and he returned to Utica.Template:Sfn

Arrest and trialEdit

While residing in Cooperstown in July 1814, Weed was one of five men arrested the day after a Sunday evening Methodist religious service and accused of harassing several women who had departed the village by wagon after leaving the church.Template:Sfn Newspaper publisher Israel W. Clark posted a bond to secure Weed's release, while attorney Ambrose L. Jordan volunteered to act as his counsel.Template:Sfn Unbeknownst to Weed, Catherine Ostrander, the daughter of the owners of the Cooperstown rooming house where Weed had been staying, had arranged for his bail and legal representation.Template:Sfn

The trial was postponed several times because of events surrounding the war, and took place in early 1815.Template:Sfn District attorney Charles P. Kirkland decided to try Weed first, separately from the other defendants.Template:Sfn Three of the girls who had been in the wagon denied seeing Weed after the church service.Template:Sfn The fourth was Catherine Ostrander, who testified that after leaving the church, she had walked through the village with Weed until they reached the road that led to her home, where she boarded the wagon, after which she had not seen Weed again that night.Template:Sfn Jordan opted not to call any witnesses, while Kirkland apologized for not having investigated the story of the initial complainant more fully and offered to dismiss the case.Template:Sfn The judge told Jordan he would dismiss the case unless Weed preferred that the jury decide.Template:Sfn Wanting his innocence on the record, Weed opted for a jury verdict, and the jurors immediately acquitted him, not even rising from their seats to leave the courtroom for deliberations.Template:Sfn The charges against the other defendants were soon dismissed.Template:Sfn Weed included the details of his arrest and trial in his autobiography because his political opponents had previously attempted to use it against him.Template:Sfn (Weed and Ostrander married in 1818.)Template:Sfn

Continued printing careerEdit

File:Thurlow Weed, engraved portrait.jpg

Thurlow Weed, engraved portrait, taken from his autobiography

After Weed's trial, he again enlisted in the militia, but when news of the passage of the Treaty of Ghent that ended the War of 1812 made its way to central New York, Weed's militia company was disbanded.Template:Sfn He then traveled to Albany, where he obtained employment running the printing presses for the Albany Register, which was published by Henry C. Southwick and edited by his brother Solomon Southwick.Template:Sfn In 1816, Weed moved to the Albany Argus, published by Jesse Buel, whose lucrative appointment as state printer required him to publish state reports, legislative manuals, and legal notices.Template:Sfn The additional responsibility Buel delegated to Weed enabled Weed to more than double his salary, and also kindled an interest in politics, since Weed had to set type for or proofread state documents.Template:Sfn Weed began attending sessions of the state legislature, and was an early supporter of DeWitt Clinton.Template:Sfn

In early 1817, Weed took advantage of a lull in state printing to travel to New York City, where he obtained employment with the Winkle and Wiley book publishing firm.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn He then moved to a position with the Political Register, which was published by William Cobbett after Cobbett fled England to avoid prosecution for sedition.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn After leaving Cobbett, Weed worked for several other publishers in New York City, including Jonathan Seymour, James Harper, and William A. Mercien.Template:Sfn During his hours away from work, Weed attended the theater frequently and continued to observe political meetings.Template:Sfn

In mid-1817, Israel W. Clark, a Cooperstown newspaper editor, purchased the Albany Register from Henry C. Southwick and offered Weed the job of press foreman, so Weed returned to Albany.Template:Sfn In addition to running the presses, Weed began to try his hand at composing editorials on the political topics of the day; under Clark's tutelage, he worked to improve his grammar, spelling, and writing style.Template:Sfn Over time, he became adept at composing editorials and articles as he set them in type, rather than first preparing a manuscript, which gave him a competitive advantage by enabling him to publish them more quickly than could rival editors.Template:Sfn

In 1818, a group of pro-DeWitt Clinton Democratic-Republican political figures purchased the Norwich newspaper and publishing business of John F. Hubbard.Template:Sfn This group, which included James Birdsall and Obadiah German, then sold the works to Weed, who moved to Norwich to publish the Agriculturist.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Hubbard was later convinced to start a rival paper opposed to Clinton, the Norwich Journal.Template:Sfn While living in Norwich, Weed also received a state appointment as commissioner to acknowledge the transfer of deeds and other sale documents, and the two to three dollars in fees he received each month enabled him to continue the Agriculturist during the earliest days of its existence.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Weed recognized in 1820 that Norwich was not able to support two newspapers, and that the anti-DeWitt Clinton faction of New York's Democratic-Republican Party was in the ascendancy, so he sold his publishing works that December and returned to Albany.Template:Sfn Weed found employment at the Albany Argus working on documents produced as part of the state printing contract, but when the state printers, Leake & Cantine, discovered that Weed was a Clinton supporter, they discharged him.Template:Sfn He then accepted a job with Solomon Southwick as a subscription salesman for Southwick's publications, the Ploughboy and the Christian Visitant.Template:Sfn Weed traveled throughout central and western New York on Southwick's behalf in the spring of 1821, but found few new readers willing to sign up to receive Southwick's papers.Template:Sfn Discovering that the Federalist-leaning Manlius Times had gone out of business years previously and its printing press was idle, in June Weed purchased the equipment on credit and began publication of the Onondaga Republican.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

While living in Manlius, Weed established a close friendship with Addison Gardiner.Template:Sfn Gardiner moved to Rochester after attaining admission to the bar in 1822, and suggested to Weed that his prospects might be better there than in Manlius.Template:Sfn Weed decided to relocate again, and closed down the Republican.Template:Sfn Upon arriving in Rochester, he obtained employment with Everard Peck, the editor of the Telegraph, the city's pro-DeWitt Clinton newspaper, who decided to publish a long-delayed book as a way to provide Weed with temporary employment.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Immediately impressed with Weed's talents, Peck hired him to run the day-to-day operations of the Telegraph.Template:Sfn In addition to managing the paper during the day, Weed composed its editorial content at night, and soon established the Telegraph as an important pro-Clinton outlet in central and western New York.Template:Sfn

In 1843, Weed, his son James, and John D. Parsons co-founded Albany's Weed, Parsons & Company, which became a successful book publisher.Template:Sfn

Start of political careerEdit

In 1824, Weed was a strong backer of the presidential bid of John Quincy Adams; the Rochester Telegraph announced its support in early 1823, and carried his name on the masthead throughout 1823 and 1824.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Appointed by Rochester's business leaders as their agent for obtaining a charter for a Rochester-based bank, Weed attended all three sessions of the legislature in 1824, and succeeded in obtaining approval for the Bank of Rochester.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Nominated by Monroe County's Adams supporters, Weed was a candidate for the New York State Assembly.Template:Sfn He won his race by a significant margin and represented Monroe County in 1825's 48th New York State Legislature.Template:Sfn While serving in the Assembly, he befriended William H. Seward, whose legal and political careers were just beginning.Template:Sfn

In 1825, Weed bought the Rochester Telegraph.Template:Sfn During 1827, he became involved in the controversy surrounding the disappearance of William Morgan, a former Mason who had threatened to publish a book revealing the secrets of Masonic rituals and degree ceremonies.Template:Sfn Weed recognized an opportunity to harness sentiment against the Masons and use it to oppose the policies of Democrat Andrew Jackson at the national level, and the Albany Regency of Martin Van Buren at the state level.Template:Sfn He was an organizer of the Anti-Masonic Party, and used the pages of the Telegraph to keep Morgan's disappearance in the news.Template:Sfn Morgan was presumed to have been carried away by Masons and drowned in the Niagara River.Template:Sfn When a body washed ashore in September 1827, many Upstate New York residents assumed it was Morgan's.Template:Sfn Though it was positively identified as Canadian Timothy Munro (or Munroe) by his wife, many Anti-Masons persisted in believing it was Morgan's.Template:Sfn Weed was alleged to have said the body was a "good enough Morgan" to stoke the controversy until after the upcoming election, a remark Weed denied making.Template:Sfn Though the party's 1828 candidate for governor of New York, Solomon Southwick, was defeated, Weed and other organizers succeeded in making it the main opposition to the Democratic Party, and experienced electoral success in several northern states, including Vermont and Pennsylvania.Template:Sfn

In 1828, Masons succeeded in forcing Weed out of the Telegraph.Template:Sfn In 1829, he was again elected to the Assembly from Monroe County, this time as an Anti-Mason.Template:Sfn He served a one-year term in 1830, which included the sessions of the 53rd New York State Legislature.Template:Sfn He also started the Albany Evening Journal.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The Evening Journal became the largest Anti-Masonic newspaper; Weed was editor, chief reporter, proofreader, and political expert.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

In 1832, Weed supported Adams's ally Henry Clay, who ran for president as the candidate of the National Republican Party.Template:Sfn He was a strong advocate of Clay's "American System" for economic development, including a national bank, "internal improvements" such as roads and railroads, and a protective tariff.Template:Sfn

By 1834, the Adams-Clay organization that had been the National Republicans was forming into the Whig Party.Template:Sfn Most Anti-Masons joined the Whigs, regarding the new party as the best alternative to Jackson and Van Buren, and enabling Weed to assume a leadership role in a larger and more orthodox political organization.Template:Sfn His Evening Journal became the main Whig newspaper, and by the 1840s it had the largest circulation of any political newspaper in the United States.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Weed and other Whigs worked to blame Van Buren and the Democratic Party for the Panic of 1837.Template:Sfn In 1838, he was one of William H. Seward's main supporters in Seward's successful campaign for governor, and was largely credited with Seward's victory.Template:Sfn Weed was also a main supporter of William Henry Harrison's successful presidential bid in 1840, in which Harrison defeated Van Buren to become the first Whig president.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

In the 1830s and 1840s, Weed became active in the abolitionist movement.Template:Sfn When former slave Stephen Myers of Albany began creation of a transportation network and system of safe houses for escaping slaves, Weed was among the prominent individuals to whom he turned for financing.Template:Sfn In addition, Weed and his wife made their own home available to fleeing slaves as part of the Underground Railroad.Template:Sfn

Political organizerEdit

Weed was generally seen as the "boss" of New York's Whig Party, using the same tactics as the Regency—patronage and political favors—to attract supporters and keep order in the ranks, efforts he was able to reinforce through the Evening Journal.Template:Sfn Under Weed's leadership, the Whigs became the dominant force in state politics for several years, and Weed was arguably the most powerful politician in New York.Template:Sfn

As a practical politician, Weed was a pragmatist, rather than an idealist, always taking care to avoid controversial issues and positions that would decrease Whig support on election day.Template:Sfn One exception was the issue of slavery,Template:Sfn a subject on which Weed made public statements in opposition while trying to avoid the most radical language of those seen as uncompromising abolitionists.Template:Sfn

Harrison died in April 1841, only a month after taking office, and was succeeded by John Tyler, a former Democrat, who disappointed Weed by abandoning Whig policies.Template:Sfn Weed backed Clay in 1844, but his frustration continued when Clay was narrowly defeated.Template:Sfn Following the Mexican–American War, Zachary Taylor emerged as a likely Whig candidate for president, and Weed supported his successful effort.Template:Sfn But Taylor, like Harrison, died in office.Template:Sfn

Weed played a leading role in the passage of New York's Consolidation Act, which created the New York Central Railroad, at the time the largest corporation in the United States.Template:Sfn Weed's role was noteworthy in that he worked for approval of the Consolidation Act largely as a favor to his friend Erastus Corning, one of the financial backers of the project, though Corning was a Democrat and opposed to Weed politically.Template:Sfn

Weed used his political influence to effect improvements and reforms in New York City.Template:Sfn In 1847, he was largely responsible for the designation of Castle Garden as the main depot for arriving immigrants and the passage of laws to protect them as they entered the United States.Template:Sfn His efforts in the mid-1850s led to the creation of the New York Harbor Commission, a state panel that sought to improve commerce by recommending enhancements to New York City's waterways.Template:Sfn When construction of Central Park commenced in 1855, Weed played a major role in the selection of the first park commission.Template:Sfn As movements for prison reform and reform of charitable services provided by government grew in the mid-19th Century, Weed was largely responsible for the appointment of a non-partisan Board of Charities and Correction for New York City.Template:Sfn Weed also influenced efforts to reform the New York City Police Department, including creation of the Board of Police Commissioners.Template:Sfn

1852 campaignEdit

In 1852, the leading Whig candidates for president were incumbent Millard Fillmore, Secretary of State Daniel Webster, and General Winfield Scott.Template:Sfn Fillmore, a former Weed protégé, had succeeded to the presidency after the death of Zachary Taylor and rejected Weed's influence.Template:Sfn As a result, Weed refused to support him for election to a full term and instead backed Scott.Template:Sfn Seward, long a Fillmore rival, also decided to back Scott.Template:Sfn Weed concluded during the campaign that support for the unpopular Compromise of 1850 meant the Whig Party was on the verge of disintegrating and destined to lose, so he ensured he would not be blamed by taking an extended trip to Europe, visiting England, France, and Germany among other places.Template:Sfn He remained abroad for over a year—well after the November 1852 election, which was won by Democrat Franklin Pierce.Template:Sfn

Republican Party leaderEdit

FounderEdit

When Weed returned to the United States, the Whig Party had splintered over the Kansas–Nebraska Act, with southern Whigs leaving the party to join the Democrats, and northern Whigs including Seward, forming the Republican Party as an anti-slavery party and the main opposition to the Democrats.Template:Sfn Weed joined the Republicans, and the Evening Journal became a leading Republican newspaper.Template:Sfn Weed supported Seward's re-election to the Senate in 1854,Template:Sfn and the Republican presidential nomination of John C. Frémont in 1856.Template:Sfn Frémont narrowly lost the 1856 election to Democrat James Buchanan.Template:Sfn

1860 electionEdit

Buchanan's failed administration and the fracturing of the Democrats over the slavery issue made likely a Republican victory in 1860.Template:Sfn Weed worked for Seward's nomination at the 1860 Republican National Convention, which appeared to most observers to be a foregone conclusion.Template:Sfn But Seward's strong anti-slavery views and reputation as a Whig political boss offended many former Democrats in the still new Republican party.Template:Sfn Abraham Lincoln's managers exploited these vulnerabilities to obtain Lincoln's nomination.Template:Sfn Though disappointed, Weed and Seward both supported Lincoln in the general election.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Lincoln won the election handily, defeating John C. Breckinridge, John Bell, and Stephen A. Douglas.Template:Sfn

Civil WarEdit

After Lincoln's inauguration, Seward became Secretary of State.Template:Sfn Weed became an unofficial envoy and political advisor, with both Seward and Weed providing critical support to Lincoln and the Union during the American Civil War.Template:Sfn

In 1861, Weed traveled to Paris with Winfield Scott, where they aided American consul John Bigelow in defusing the Trent Affair, a diplomatic incident with Britain.Template:Sfn Later that year, Weed visited Europe with Archbishop John Hughes, and they worked to influence government and public opinion in England and France in favor of the Union.Template:Sfn

In December 1862, Lincoln asked Weed to convey a message to Governor Horatio Seymour of New York, a "Peace Democrat", promising to make way for Seymour's succession to the presidency if Seymour would persuade other Peace Democrats to support restoration of the Union.Template:Sfn Weed delivered the message, but Seymour took the path of most other Peace Democrats, supporting the Union but remaining critical of what they viewed as the excesses of Lincoln's administration.Template:Sfn

In February 1863, Weed undertook a special mission for Lincoln when Lincoln asked him to secretly raise $15,000 (about $390,000 in 2020) for an unspecified purpose.Template:Sfn Weed was in New York City when he received a telegram asking him to be in Washington the following morning.Template:Sfn When they met the next day, Lincoln explained that there was urgent need for the money and that it could not be taken from any available government appropriations.Template:Sfn Weed raised the cash, but Lincoln never explained why he needed it or how it was used.Template:Sfn

Weed was critical of Lincoln's decision to issue the Emancipation Proclamation,Template:Sfn regarding it as too radical and controversial and unsuccessfully arguing for a system of gradual emancipation.Template:Sfn In early 1863, he retired as editor of the Evening Journal because he disagreed with the Radical Republican view on prosecuting the war and post-war Reconstruction, but as a loyal Republican did not want to make this disagreement public.Template:Sfn Weed publicly announced his retirement from the printing and publishing business on January 27, 1863.Template:Sfn In the ensuing days his "valedictory address" was printed in full in several newspapers.Template:Sfn

Federal patronage in New York caused Lincoln difficulty as Weed and his opponents vied for control of government appointments.Template:Sfn In 1864, Lincoln appeased Weed by blocking Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase's choice for a new assistant secretary in charge of the New York sub-treasury, which led to Chase's resignation.Template:Sfn Lincoln then ensured he would have Weed's support in the 1864 election by dismissing Hiram Barney, a Radical Republican, as Collector of the Port of New York, and replacing him with Simeon Draper, a Weed ally.Template:Sfn

After Lincoln's death and the end of the war, Weed and Seward allied with President Andrew Johnson against the Radical Republicans.Template:Sfn Both endorsed Johnson's more conservative approach to Reconstruction and Seward continued as Secretary of State under Johnson.Template:Sfn

RetirementEdit

File:Thurlow Weed, standing3.jpg

Thurlow Weed in his later years

In 1867 Weed retired from public life and moved from Albany to New York City.Template:Sfn He briefly owned and edited a newspaper, the Commercial Advertiser, and remained peripherally engaged in politics, but did not exert the same level of influence that he had had in the past.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Weed offered public support to the presidential administration of Ulysses S. Grant.Template:Sfn He also engaged in a public feud with Mary Todd Lincoln, who criticized him for opposing efforts to provide her federal financial aid after Lincoln's assassination.Template:Sfn

During his later years, Weed wrote frequent letters to authors who sought information on New York's history, especially details on the growth of towns where Weed had lived as a young man.Template:Sfn He also resumed work on an autobiography which he had begun in the 1840s, and which was published by his daughter Harriet in 1883.Template:Sfn Weed's grandson Thurlow Weed Barnes also published a biography, 1884's Life of Thurlow Weed.Template:Sfn

Death and burialEdit

Weed became ill in his final months and suffered from blindness and vertigo.Template:Sfn He died in New York City on November 22, 1882.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn His funeral took place at Manhattan's First Presbyterian Church.Template:Sfn Pallbearers included James Watson Webb, Hamilton Fish, Frederick W. Seward, John McKeon, and James Bowen.Template:Sfn Attendees included James G. Blaine, William M. Evarts, Edwin D. Morgan, Edwards Pierrepont, Hamilton Fish II, Frederick A. Conkling, and many other current and former office holders and newspaper publishers.Template:Sfn Weed was buried at Albany Rural Cemetery.Template:Sfn

FamilyEdit

On April 26, 1818, Weed married Catherine Ostrander (1798-1858) of Cooperstown.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn They had agreed to marry in 1814, but acceded to the wishes of her parents that they wait until they were older and Weed was more established in his profession.Template:Sfn Their children included: James Birdsall (1820-1851), who worked with his father in the publishing business;Template:Sfn Harriet Ann (1819-1893), who never married and acted as her father's secretary;Template:Sfn Emily (1827-1889), the wife of William Barnes Sr.;Template:Sfn and Maria (1823-1896), who married Ogden M. Alden.Template:Sfn

Weed's grandson William Barnes Jr. owned and published the Albany Evening Journal.Template:Sfn He was also a longtime leader of New York's Republican Party.Template:Sfn Weed's granddaughter Catharine Weed Barnes was a well-known photographer.Template:Sfn

In addition to authoring Life of Thurlow Weed,Template:Sfn grandson Thurlow Weed Barnes (1853-1918) was a publishing executive at Houghton, Mifflin & Co.Template:Sfn He also pursued business interests in China as operator of the railroad between Hankou and ports in the province of Shandong.Template:Sfn

PhotosEdit

ReferencesEdit

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Thurlow Weed

Contents

Early lifeEdit

Start of careerEdit

PrinterEdit

Military serviceEdit

Arrest and trialEdit

Continued printing careerEdit

Start of political careerEdit

Political organizerEdit

1852 campaignEdit

Republican Party leaderEdit

FounderEdit

1860 electionEdit

Civil WarEdit

RetirementEdit

Death and burialEdit

FamilyEdit

PhotosEdit

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

SourcesEdit

BooksEdit

NewspapersEdit

MagazinesEdit

InternetEdit

External linksEdit