White, Horace

Born: 1834-08-10 New Hampshire

Died: 1916-XX-XX Chicago, Illinois

Flourished: Chicago, Illinois

Born in Colebrook, New Hampshire, Horace White was a journalist, writer, editor, and Republican. After graduating from Beloit College in Wisconsin in 1853, he relocated to Chicago, Illinois. There, he became editor of the Chicago Journal. He also worked for the Associated Press for a time, and, in 1857, was an editorial writer for the Chicago Tribune. In 1856, he was assistant secretary of the Kansas National Committee, a relief aid organization which performed fundraising and sent supplies, arms, and anti-slavery supporters and emigrants to the Kansas Territory during the struggle to determine the territory's slave status following the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. During the 1858 Federal Election, he followed Abraham Lincoln on the campaign trail, covering many of his public addresses as well as each of the Lincoln-Douglas debates for the Chicago Tribune. In April 1859, he married Martha H. Root, with whom he had at least three children. White also served as secretary for the Republican State Central Committee, and was the Tribune's Washington correspondent during the Civil War. In 1864, he purchased an interest share in the Tribune, becoming its editor-in-chief about a year later.

Newton Bateman and Paul Selby, eds., Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Piatt County, ed. by Francis M. Shonkwiler (Chicago: Munsell, 1917), 2:585; Harvey B. Hurd, “The National Kansas Committee,” The National Magazine: A Journal Devoted to American History 17 (Nov 1892 - April 1893), 84-86; Horace White, The Lincoln and Douglas Debates: An Address Before the Chicago Historical Society, February 17, 1914 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1914), 28; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Cook County, 22 April 1859, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; U.S. Census Office, Twelfth Census of the United States (1900), Manhattan, New York, NY, 19; Gravestone, Graceland Cemetery, Chicago, IL.