Francis Whiting Halsey

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Francis Whiting Halsey (October 15, 1851 – 1919), was a journalist and historian, born in Unadilla, New York. He was the son of Dr. Gaius Leonard Halsey, a Civil War surgeon, and Juliet (Cartington) Halsey. He was the grandson of Dr. Gaius and Mary (Church) Halsey of Kortright, New York, and a descendant of Thomas Halsey, who emigrated from England before 1640 and helped to found the settlement of Southampton, Long Island, one of the earliest English settlements in New York.

Francis Halsey prepared for college at the Unadilla academy and graduated from Cornell University in 1873, taking one of the prizes for an essay in English literature. He was assistant editor of the Binghamton Times (1873-1875), a member of the editorial staff of the New York Tribune (1875-1880), and in 1880 joined the staff of the New York Times as foreign editor and writer of book reviews. He was literary editor of the Times from 1892 through 1896, and established of the Times Saturday Review of Books and Art in 1896.

He was elected president of the New York association of Cornell alumni in 1882 and was twice the candidate of New York and other alumni for trustee of Cornell in 1882 and 1883, during the alumni agitation for new methods in university management. He was elected a member of the Aldine and Cornell clubs in New York. He lectured on early American history and made addresses before the New York Historical Society, the New York library club and the Wyoming, Pennsylvania Commemorative Association.

In 1883, he married Virginia Isabel, daughter of Alexander Stanton and Sarah Ann Forbes of New York City, however Virginia died in 1900.

Halsey was the author of: Two Months Abroad (1878); and The Old New York Frontier, an historical work. He also issued anonymously, Virginia Isabel Forbes, a memoir of his wife, printed privately in 1900. He wrote an extended introduction for a volume of family history entitled Thomas Halsey of Hertfordshire, England and Southampton, Long Island; and made contributions on historical subjects and travel to several periodicals. In 1902 he joined the staff of D. Appleton & Co. publishers, as literary adviser.

Halsey's brother, Frederick Arthur Halsey, graduated from Cornell in 1878 with a degree in mechanical engineering, authored articles and books about engineering, with an emphasis the metric system, and was editor of the American Machinist. Frederick's daughters were Marion S. and Olga S. Halsey.

[edit] Works

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The Old New York Frontier

Two Months Abroad (1878)

Virginia Isabel Forbes (1900), a memoir of his wife

The Old New York Frontier: Its Wars with Indians and Tories, its Missionary Schools, Pioneers and Land Titles, 1614-1800, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1901

The Pioneers of Unadilla Village

The World's Famous Orations (with William Jennings Bryan) (ed. 1906)

The Best of the World's Classics (with Senator Henry Cabot Lodge)

Great Epochs in American History, Described by Famous Writers, From Columbus to Roosevelt (ed. 1912)

Works by Francis Whiting Halsey at Project Gutenberg
- Seeing Europe with Famous Authors (Project Gutenberg) (ed. 1914)

An introduction to Thomas Halsey of Hertfordshire, England, and Southampton, Long Island, 1591-1679, with his American Descendents to the Eighth and Ninth Generations, by Jacob LaFayette Halsey and Edmund Drake Halsey (1895)

The Literary Digest History of the World War, compiled from Original and Contemporary Sources: American, British, French, German, and Others (10 Volumes)