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Ray (Charles Henry) Papers
mssRY
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Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: Charles Henry Ray papers
Creator:
Ray, Charles
Henry
Identifier/Call Number: mssRY
Physical Description:
7 Linear Feet
(3 boxes, 1 expansion folder, 29 folders)
Date (inclusive): 1826-1950
Date (bulk): 1838-1871
Abstract: A collection of material related to
Charles Henry Ray, American physician, abolitionist, politician, journalist, and
editor.
Language of Material: Materials are in
English.
Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at
the Huntington Library for more information.
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from
or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The
responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining
necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
[Identification of item]. Charles Henry Ray papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino,
California.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Julia Ray Andrews, 1943 and gift of Paul Ray and Julia Ray Andrews in 1954.
Charles Henry Ray (1821-1870) was a physician, abolitionist politician, journalist, editor
and owner of the Chicago Tribune from 1855 to 1863. Ray was born in Norwich, New York; his
father was Levi Ray (1796-1850). Ray attended the Norwich Union Seminary and from 1837 to
1838, he studied medicine under Thompson Meade of Poolville, New York. In 1838, he decided
to join the military and became a surgeon's mate; in 1840 was commissioned Surgeon of the
105h Regiment of Infantry. An unknown scandal caused him to leave the military and he ended
up in Bedford, Massachusetts where he enlisted as the surgeon on the whaling bark Newton
bound for South Africa. Ray returned to Bedford in August 1843 and went to New York to study
medicine; in 1844, he decided to move West. Ray went first to Iowa and, a year later, to
Illinois, having obtained a letter of recommendation to John T. Stuart, a law partner of
Abraham Lincoln. He settled in Springfield where he joined the Washingtonian Temperance
Society. Together with Tench S. Fairchild, he tried to start a temperance newspaper and
joined the Sons of Temperance. In 1846, he married Jane Yates Per Lee and moved to Mackinac,
Illinois and set up a medical practice. Soon the family moved to Galena, Illinois where Ray
became a proprietor of a newspaper The Galena Jeffersonian. Known for his strong
abolitionist politics, Ray reported for his own newspaper and for Horace Greeley's New York
Tribune on the Kansas-Nebraska Act crisis and became a powerful political force in the
state. In 1855, in partnership with Joseph Medill, Ray bought the Chicago Tribune. Although
he was skeptical about Lincoln's commitment of anti-slavery causes, he assumed the role of
his advisor in 1856. In 1861, his first wife died, and three years later he married Julia
Annah Clark, daughter of Lincoln Clark (1800-1886). In 1863, he sold his interest in the
Tribune to Medill and devoted his time to business investments; most were unsuccessful and
having lost money in these enterprises, he returned to Chicago and assumed the post of the
editor of the Chicago Evening Post. He became a patron of the arts and founded the Chicago
Historical Society. He died in Chicago on September 24, 1870.
A collection of approximately 437 items from 1826 to 1950, it consists of the professional,
political, and personal correspondence and papers of Charles Henry Ray; chiefly letters
addressed to him. Included are letters discussing family news; Ray's studies of medicine in
New York; the whaling voyage from 1841 to 1843 onboard the New Bedford whaler Newton; early
medical practice in Illinois; business affairs; the Chicago Tribune; the Chicago Evening
Post; his involvement in the trade with the South during the Civil War. Also, contemporary
politics, including the Republican party, the Lincoln presidency and the Civil War.
Correspondents include Levi Ray, Jane Yates Per Lee Ray, Julia Annah Clark Ray, Harvey
Hubbard, William M. Fenton, Serranus Clinton Hastings, Tench S. Fairchild, Charles S.
Hempstead, James Wilson Grimes, Joseph Medill, Henry Martyn Smith, Lyman Trumbull, Elihu
Benjamin Washburne, Horace White, and others. Also included are newspaper clippings of the
obituaries of Charles H. Ray, and photographs and portraits of Ray and his second wife. The
collection also includes additional family and political letters and a manuscript of
"Charles H. Ray and the Chicago Tribune."
Processed by Huntington Staff, circa 1960. In 2020, Gayle Richardson created the finding
aid derived from a legacy summary report.
Arranged chronologically.
Individual call numbers included in the collection: mssRY 1-294.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Chicago tribune Chicago evening postAbolitionists -- Illinois
Businessmen -- Middle West
Journalists -- Illinois
Newspaper editors -- Illinois
Physicians -- Illinois
Politicians -- Illinois
Slavery
Slaves -- Florida -- History -- 19th century
Temperance
Whaling ships -- Massachusetts -- New Bedford
Chicago (Ill.) -- History -- 19th century
Florida -- History --
1821-1865
Illinois -- History -- 19th century
Illinois -- Politics and Government -- 19th century
Kansas -- Politics and Government --
1854-1861
Middle West -- History -- 19th century
Norwich (N.Y.) -- History
United States -- History -- 19th century
United States -- History --
1815-1861
United States -- History -- Civil War,
1861-1865
United States -- History --
1865-1898
United States -- Politics and Government -- 1841-1861
United States -- Politics and Government
-- 1861-1865
United States -- Politics and Government
-- 1865-1869
Letters (correspondence) -- United States -- 19th century
Personal papers -- Illinois -- 19th century
Fairchild, Tench S.
Fenton, William M. (William Matthew),
1808-1871
Grimes, James W. (James Wilson)
Hammond, O. T., active 1838
Hempstead, Charles S.,
1794-1874
Hastings, S. Clinton
(Serranus Clinton), 1814-1893
Hubbard, Harvey, active 1847
Lincoln, Abraham,
1809-1865
Medill, Joseph,
1823-1899
Ray, Jane Yates Per Lee, -1861
Ray, Julia Annah Clark, 1840-1913
Ray, Levi, 1796-1850
Smith, H. M. (Henry Martyn),
1828-1894
Trumbull, Lyman,
1813-1896
Washburne, E. B. (Elihu
Benjamin), 1816-1887
White, Horace,
1834-1916
Equal Rights Party
(N.Y.)
Newton (Bark)
Republican Party (U.S. : 1854-
)
Sons of Temperance of North
America
United States -- Kansas-Nebraska Act