Name William Church Role Journalist | ||
Died May 23, 1917, New York City, New York, United States Organizations founded National Rifle Association Books The life of John Ericsson, Ulysses S. Grant and the period of national preservation and reconstruction, Ulysses S. Grant Similar People George Wood Wingate, Francis Pharcellus Church, David Keene, Wayne LaPierre | ||
Siblings Francis Pharcellus Church | ||
William Conant Church (1836–1917) was an American journalist and soldier. He was the co-founder and second president of the National Rifle Association.
Church was born in Rochester, New York on August 11, 1836, to the Reverend Pharcellus Church. He was educated in the Boston Latin School. While still a youth, he helped his father edit and publish the New York Chronicle.
In 1860, he became publisher of the New York Sun and of the New York Chronicle. In 1861–62 he was Washington correspondent of the New York Times.
He resigned his journalistic position on his appointment as captain in the United States Volunteers in 1862, and served for one year, receiving brevets of major and lieutenant colonel.
In 1863, he and his brother, Francis Pharcellus Church, established The Army and Navy Journal, and in 1866, they founded the Galaxy Magazine.
He and George Wood Wingate established the National Rifle Association in 1871, and in 1872 he replaced its first president, the retired general Ambrose Burnside.
Church was government commissioner to inspect the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1882.
He wrote two biographies, of John Ericsson in 1891, and Ulysses S. Grant in 1899. He published the Army and Navy Journal. In one issue he criticized the USS Monitor's living arrangements, a vessel built by John Ericsson.
Church was also one of the founders of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, an original member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, and became a lifetime member and director of the New York Zoological Society.
Church died on May 23, 1917 and his funeral took place at Grace Church in New York.