Background

Nathaniel Willis, Jr. was born on June 6, 1780, in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Nathaniel Willis and Lucy Douglas, and the sixth in descent from George Willis, who emigrated from England to America about 1630. He eventually became well known in Boston as Deacon Willis, the title serving to distinguish him from his more famous son and namesake, and from his father, both of whom were also journalists.

Willis, Jr. had been left in Boston when his father moved to Virginia, but at the age of seven he was sent for and put to work in the shop at Winchester.

Education

He continued in his father's service until he was sixteen, when he returned to Boston to complete his apprenticeship.

Career

After serving two additional years as a journeyman, he moved to Portland, Maine, to enter political journalism.

In September 1803 he established there the Eastern Argus in opposition to the Federal party, but his experience was unfortunate. Among other reverses he lost the decision in a suit against him for libel. Unable to pay the judgment, he suffered a prison sentence of ninety days.

In 1807, however, under the influence of the Rev. Edward Payson of Portland, he began his lifelong devotion to the letter of the Christian law. After his conversion so many religious expressions continued to appear in the Argus that its political supporters forced him to sell it (1809). He opened a grocery store, but he scrupled at selling rum, and the business failed. In the meantime, a plan came to him for joining his skill as a practical journalist with his increasing interest in religion.

He removed to Boston (1812) and after several years of effort began the publication on January 3, 1816, of the Recorder (later the Boston Recorder), which he asserted to be the first religious newspaper in the world. With the help of subsequent editors Willis was associated with the paper for twenty-eight years. He became identified with the Park Street Church as Deacon Willis, and was known during his long life for his rigid and formal piety. An impression of his formalism, however, should be tempered by a remembrance of his ultimate and finest contribution to journalism, the Youth's Companion. Originated in the Recorder as a department for children, the feature was produced in separate covers in June 1827, and afforded wholesome, albeit intensely didactic literary adventures for several generations of young people.

He continued to edit the Youth's Companion until 1857, when he sold it to J. W. Olmstead and Daniel Sharp Ford, who retained his name as senior editor. Nathaniel Willis, Jr. died on May 26, 1870.

Achievements

• Nathaniel Willis, Jr. was a renowned editor and publisher, who established the Eastern Argus and the Boston Recorder newspapers and The Youth's Companion magazine.

Connections

On July 21, 1803, Nathaniel Willis, Jr. married Hannah Parker, they had nine children. After the death of his first wife, he married Mrs. Susan Douglass.

Father:

Nathaniel Willis, Sr.

Nathaniel Willis, Sr. was an American publisher and editor.

Mother:

Lucy Willis (Douglas)

Daughter :

Julia Dean Willis

Wife:

Susan Willis (Douglass)

In 1810, Susan Capen married Francis Douglass. After the death of her husband, she remarried Nathaniel Willis, Jr.

Daughter:

Lucy Douglas Bumstead (Willis)

Daughter:

Mary Perry Willis

Daughter:

Ellen Homes Dennett (Willis)

Daughter:

Louisa Harris Dwight (Willis)

Daughter:

Sarah Payson Willis

Sarah Payson Willis was an American writer, who was the first woman to have a regular newspaper column.

wife :

Hannah Willis (Parker)

Son:

Nathaniel Parker Willis

Nathaniel Parker Willis, also known as N. P. Willis, was an American author, poet and editor.

Son:

Edward Payson Willis

Son:

Richard Storrs Willis

Richard Storrs Willis was an American composer, notably of hymn music.