Horace Greeley and George Jones

Horace Greeley was born in Amherst, NH in 1811. He served an apprenticeship at the Northern Spectator newspaper in East Poultney from 1826 to 1830.

The paper was published in a print shop built in 1823 on the East Poultney green. This building, commonly known as the Horace Greeley House, now houses Picket Fence Antiques. Though Greeley worked in this house, he never lived there.

During his time in Poultney he boarded first at the home of the paper’s editor E.G. Stone and later at the Eagle Tavern which was owned by Harlow Hosford. Greeley left Poultney at the age of 19 for New York City, where he became editor of several publications and in 1841 founded The New York Tribune.

George Jones was born in East Poultney in 1811. His family moved to Granville, Ohio in 1823 and shortly afterwards, George was orphaned at the age of 13.

He returned to Poultney to live with his brother John Jones, Jr. He supported himself though work in the general store of Amos Bliss who also owned the Northern Spectator, and became friends with a fellow employee,
Horace Greeley. The two friends were together at the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Jones left Poultney in 1833 and over the next 18 years he acquired experience in banking, book publishing and the newspaper businesses. He also formed a close friendship with Henry Raymond, whom he met while both were employees of Greeley’s Tribune. The two founded The New York Times in 1851. Jones concentrated on the financial and business aspects of the paper while Raymond served as editor. Together they made the Times a very successful paper.

Greeley was perhaps the more famous of the two. As editor of The New York Tribune, he advocated reform in many spheres, supporting temperance, Transcendentalism, and labor unions.

In 1856, he helped found the Republican Party and ran for president of the United States against Ulysses S. Grant in the Republican primary of 1872. Harper’s Weekly in 1869 called Horace Greeley “the most perfect Yankee the country has ever produced.” In the 1840’s he urged a generation to “Go west, young man.”

George Jones while less famous was perhaps the more courageous of the two. In 1869, upon the death of Henry Raymond, George Jones became the editor of the Times.

In this role Jones was to lay the ground work for the journalistic integrity of the newspaper. He insisted on a buffer between the advertising and business side and the editorial and reporting side of the newspaper. He honored this policy in several important instances.

In 1870, the Times uncovered evidence that William Marcy Tweed, boss of Tammany Hall, was diverting public funds for its personal use. The Times launched an editorial attack on Tweed and his accomplices and persisted in the attacks despite the loss of advertising income from the City of New York and lack of editorial support from other papers. The effort ultimately led to the defeat of Tammany Hall.

Later in 1880, Jones, a Republican, not only prevented an effort by the editor of the Times to make it a Republican paper, he also had the Times endorse the Democratic candidate for President, Grover Cleveland. Cleveland won, but the Times again suffered a severe loss of advertising income. But these remarkable displays of courage established the integrity of the New York Times.

George Jones is honored annually by the Green Mountain College Welsh heritage program which presents the George Jones Award to prominent Americans of Welsh descent.