After graduation, Church found work at
The New York Chronicle, which was published by his father and brother. For a time after William left to work at
The Sun, Francis Church was the chief assistant at the
Chronicle, but he eventually left to work at
The Sun as well. In 1862, he covered the
American Civil War for
The New York Times. In 1863, Church, his brother William, and others established
The Army and Navy Journal Supported by literary figures, notably
Edmund Clarence Stedman, the brothers worked to attract the best authors possible to their publication, though they focused on New York authors and largely ignored the well-established literary society in
New England. They published the magazine
fortnightly for a year, then switched to a monthly format. In 1870, Church proposed that
Mark Twain contribute a "Memoranda" column in the magazine, a request Twain accepted; he edited the column from May 1870 to March 1871. Altogether, the magazine published the work of more than 600 authors, The magazine's circulation peaked around 21,000 in 1871 and fell dramatically afterwards. He continued to work for
The Sun until his death in 1906. He disliked politics. In Church's 416-word response, "
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" became Church's best-known work and the most reprinted editorial in newspaper history. Mitchell reported that Church, who was initially reluctant to write a response, produced it "in a short time" Upon publication on September 21, 1897, journalist
Charles Anderson Dana described Church's writing as "Real literature," and said, "Might be a good idea to reprint it every Christmasyes, and even tell who wrote it!" Because
The Sun traditionally did not byline their editorials, Church was not known to be the author until his death in 1906. The editorial is just one of two whose authorship
The Sun disclosed. A book based on the editorial,
Is there a Santa Claus?, was published in 1921. == Personal life and death ==