Uriah Hunt Painter: Difference between revisions
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== Early life == |
== Early life == |
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Uriah Hunt was born to Samuel Marshall and Ann Vickers Painter in [[West Chester, Pennsylvania|West Chester]], [[Pennsylvania]], in the [[United States]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Wile |first=Raymond R. |title=Uriah Hunt Painter: A Preliminary Biographical Exploration |url=https://www.arsc-audio.org/journals/v15/v15n1p5-14.pdf |journal=ARSC Journal |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=5-14}}</ref> His family was [[Quakers|Quaker]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Ritchie |first=Donald A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ik8kKFJrDS4C&newbks=0 |title=Press Gallery: Congress and the Washington Correspondents |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-674-04278-0 |pages=92–112 |language=en}}</ref> Both his father and grandfather had worked as newspaper editors in the town. Painter attended [[Oberlin College]] before returning home in 1857 to succor his father's faltering lumber concern. Obtaining an infusion of capital from Philadelphia investors, he enabled the lumber company to flourish and provide a steady income for the rest of his life.<ref name=":0" /> |
Uriah Hunt was born to Samuel Marshall and Ann Vickers Painter in [[West Chester, Pennsylvania|West Chester]], [[Pennsylvania]], in the [[United States]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Wile |first=Raymond R. |title=Uriah Hunt Painter: A Preliminary Biographical Exploration |url=https://www.arsc-audio.org/journals/v15/v15n1p5-14.pdf |journal=ARSC Journal |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=5-14}}</ref> His family was [[Quakers|Quaker]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Ritchie |first=Donald A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ik8kKFJrDS4C&newbks=0 |title=Press Gallery: Congress and the Washington Correspondents |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-674-04278-0 |pages=92–112 |language=en}}</ref> Both his father and grandfather had worked as newspaper editors in the town. Painter attended [[Oberlin College]] before returning home in 1857 to succor his father's faltering lumber concern. Obtaining an infusion of capital from Philadelphia investors, he enabled the lumber company to flourish and provide a steady income for the rest of his life.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite newspaper |date=1900-10-26 |title=Death Calls Uriah H. Painter. Well-Known Capitalist Dies at His Summer Home. |page=9 |website=Long Branch Record |location=Long Branch, New Jersey |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/long-branch-record-death-calls-uriah-h/124734902/ |access-date=2023-05-15}}</ref> |
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== Career == |
== Career == |
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== Personal life == |
== Personal life == |
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Painter married Belinda Avery of [[Mansfield, Ohio]] |
Painter married Belinda Avery of [[Mansfield, Ohio]] on September 18, 1862.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Martin |first=Kevin |date= |title=Painter Family Papers, 1837-1922 (Ms. Coll. 124) |url=https://mycchc.org/painter-family-papers/ |access-date=2023-05-15 |website=Chester County History Center |language=en-US}}</ref> They had two daughters, Ella Avery and Alice Elise.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Avery |first=Elroy McKendree |url=http://archive.org/details/grotonaveryclan21aver |title=The Groton Avery Clan |last2=Avery |first2=Catherine Hitchcock Tilden |publisher=[s.n.] |year=1912 |volume=2 |location=Cleveland, Ohio |pages=1310 |language=en}}</ref> |
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Painter died from stomach cancer on October 20, 1900, in [[Long Branch, New Jersey|Long Branch]], [[New Jersey]], at the age of 63. The interment was in the [[Oaklands Cemetery]] outside West Chester.<ref name=": |
Painter died from stomach cancer on October 20, 1900, in [[Long Branch, New Jersey|Long Branch]], [[New Jersey]], at the age of 63.<ref name=":0" /> The interment was in the [[Oaklands Cemetery]] outside West Chester.<ref name=":3" /> |
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The [[Chester County History Center]] holds his papers (including 27,000 telegrams dated from 1859 to 1890), which his daughters donated |
The [[Chester County History Center]] holds his papers (including 27,000 telegrams dated from 1859 to 1890), which his daughters donated in 1948.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Baillie |first=Margaret Miles |date=2009 |title=Finding aid to the Uriah Hunt Painter papers, Manuscript Collection 174 |url=https://mycchc.org/uriah-hunt-painter-papers-1859-1890/ |access-date=2023-05-15 |website=Chester County Historical Society Library |language=en-US |publication-place=West Chester, PA}}</ref> The society transferred another ten thousand papers, comprising material of interest beyond the region, to the [[Historical Society of Pennsylvania]] in 1951.<ref name=":0" /> |
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== References == |
== References == |
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Revision as of 12:43, 15 May 2023
Uriah Hunt Painter | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | March 5, 1837 |
| Died | October 20, 1900 (aged 63) |
| Burial place | Oaklands Cemetery |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Oberlin College |
| Occupation(s) | Journalist, lobbyist, entrepreneur, investor |
| Employer | Philadelphia Inquirer |
Uriah Hunt Painter (March 5, 1837 – October 20, 1900) was an American journalist, lobbyist, entrepreneur, and investor. He broke the news of the Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861 and of the Confederate invasion of the North in 1862, became one of the earliest investors in Thomas Edison's phonograph company, and became implicated in the Crédit Mobilier scandal during the 1870s.
Early life
Uriah Hunt was born to Samuel Marshall and Ann Vickers Painter in West Chester, Pennsylvania, in the United States.[1] His family was Quaker.[2] Both his father and grandfather had worked as newspaper editors in the town. Painter attended Oberlin College before returning home in 1857 to succor his father's faltering lumber concern. Obtaining an infusion of capital from Philadelphia investors, he enabled the lumber company to flourish and provide a steady income for the rest of his life.[1][3]
Career
Painter came to Washington, D.C., in 1860 as a war correspondent for the Philadelphia Inquirer. He was the first to report the Union's defeat in the First Battle of Bull Run, "scooping the competition by a full 24 hours."[4] Embedded with the Army of the Potomac, he interviewed freedom seekers, and malingers and deserters from both side, becoming the first journalist to report on the Confederacy's plans to invade the North in September 1862. A furious Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton ordered his arrest in the response to the report, which Stanton deemed false. Painter was quickly released when his report proved true.[1]
After the war, Painter stayed in Washington as a correspondent, lobbyist, and political activist. He served as clerk of the House Committee on Post Office and Roads for ten years. He reported for the Philadelphia Inquirer, the New York Sun, the New-York Tribune, the Chicago Republican, and the Washington Post. During the Gilded Age of the 1870s and 1880s, Painter became an influential Washington lobbyist, best known for his connections to powerful railroad and shipyard magnates, and allegedly used his skills as an investigative journalist to uncover secrets and then extort corrupt politicians and businessmen into supplying him with payoffs and insider trading tips in return for keeping silent. He was implicated in the Crédit Mobilier scandal and allegedly sought a cut of monies circulating to buy support for legislation backing the Alaska Purchase. Peers in the press gallery denounced him as Uriah Heep, "after that crawling impersonation of meanness" in the novel David Copperfield. Painter retired from the press corps in 1885 under a cloud of scandal, though never publicly accused or criminally indicted.[1][4][2]
Throughout his life, Painter's investments and startup companies flourished. His business ventures in West Chester included a lumber company, an ice company, the West Chester Telegraph Company, the Delaware and Atlantic Telegraph and Telephone Company, and the West Chester Opera House at Horticultural Hall. He constructed the first telegraph lines in West Chester and hired one of the nation's first female telegraphers, Emma Hunter. He funded and promoted Thomas Edison's phonograph and Alexander Graham Bell's telephone and helped organize Washington's first telephone company.[5] He helped build the Lafayette Square Opera House in 1895.[4][6] Under the auspices of industrialist Thomas A. Scott, Painter planned and organized the building of the New York, Philadelphia and Norfolk Railroad in Delaware.[1] Painter was a keen user of the latest technology—in 1889, one hundred of his photographs, taken in 1889 using one of the nation's first Kodak cameras, were donated to the Library of Congress in 1949.[4]
A staunch lifelong adherent of the Republican Party, Painter attended every Republican National Convention from 1856 to 1896.[1]
Personal life
Painter married Belinda Avery of Mansfield, Ohio on September 18, 1862.[7] They had two daughters, Ella Avery and Alice Elise.[8]
Painter died from stomach cancer on October 20, 1900, in Long Branch, New Jersey, at the age of 63.[1] The interment was in the Oaklands Cemetery outside West Chester.[3]
The Chester County History Center holds his papers (including 27,000 telegrams dated from 1859 to 1890), which his daughters donated in 1948.[9] The society transferred another ten thousand papers, comprising material of interest beyond the region, to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in 1951.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Wile, Raymond R. "Uriah Hunt Painter: A Preliminary Biographical Exploration" (PDF). ARSC Journal. 15 (1): 5–14.
- ^ a b Ritchie, Donald A. (2009). Press Gallery: Congress and the Washington Correspondents. Harvard University Press. pp. 92–112. ISBN 978-0-674-04278-0.
- ^ a b "Death Calls Uriah H. Painter. Well-Known Capitalist Dies at His Summer Home". Long Branch Record. Long Branch, New Jersey. 1900-10-26. p. 9. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
- ^ a b c d Ison, Mary M. (1990). "Uriah Hunt Painter and the "Marvelous Kodak Camera"". Washington History. 2 (2): 30–47. ISSN 1042-9719 – via JSTOR.
- ^ Wile, Raymond. "Edison and Growing Hostilities" (PDF). ARSC Journal. 22 (1). Association for Recorded Sound Collections: 8–34.
- ^ "Uriah Hunt Painter papers, 1837-1900 (Part 1, 2011: "A Southern Confederacy will be Formed!") NUCMC and the Documentary Heritage of the Civil War (National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC), Library of Congress)". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
- ^ Martin, Kevin. "Painter Family Papers, 1837-1922 (Ms. Coll. 124)". Chester County History Center. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
- ^ Avery, Elroy McKendree; Avery, Catherine Hitchcock Tilden (1912). The Groton Avery Clan. Vol. 2. Cleveland, Ohio: [s.n.] p. 1310.
- ^ Baillie, Margaret Miles (2009). "Finding aid to the Uriah Hunt Painter papers, Manuscript Collection 174". Chester County Historical Society Library. West Chester, PA. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
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