Henry Jarvis Raymond was born on January 24, 1820, on the family farm near
Lima, New York, a son and the eldest child of Lavinia Brockway, the daughter of Clark Brockway and Sally Wade and Jarvis Raymond, the son of Jonathan P. Raymond and Hannah Jarvis. He was an 8th generation direct lineal descendant of Captain Richard Raymond (1602–1692) and his wife, Judith. There is no evidence to suggest that he was born in
Essex, England, although Samuel Raymond's family history makes that claim, and he arrived in
Salem, Massachusetts, about 1629/30, possibly with a contingent led by the Rev.
Francis Higginson. The first actual date given for Richard is on August 6, 1629, when he is on the list of the 30 founding members of the First Church (Congregational) of Salem. He was about 27 years old. He was made a Freeman of Salem in 1634 and was later a founder of
Norwalk, Connecticut, and an "honored forefather of Saybrook".
Education Raymond gave early evidence of his superior intellectual skills: it is said that he could read by the age of three and deliver speeches when he was five. He enrolled at age twelve in the
Genesee Wesleyan Seminary at
Lima, New York, a school established by the
Methodist Episcopal Church which would later become
Syracuse University. He graduated from the
University of Vermont in 1840 with high honors. Between 1841 and 1851, Raymond worked for various newspapers, including
Horace Greeley's
New York Tribune and
James Watson Webb's
Courier and Enquirer as a journalist and associate editor. He had known George Jones since their time at the
Tribune and the two often discussed the possibility of starting a newspaper themselves. In 1851, Raymond convinced Jones to become his partner and publish a new paper that would report the news in a neutral manner. In 1851, Raymond formed Raymond, Jones & Company, Inc. and founded
The New York Times. He was the newspaper's editor until his death in 1869.
Marriage and family On October 24, 1843, in Winooski, Vermont, Raymond married Juliette Weaver (April 12, 1822 – October 13, 1914), who was a daughter of John Warren Weaver and Artemisia Munson. Henry and Juliette were the parents of seven children. Their son Henry Warren Raymond (1847–1925) was an 1869 graduate of
Yale College, and, in the same year, was initiated as a member of the
Skull and Bones secret society. He also graduated from
Columbia University School of Law in 1871. He was a reporter for the
Times from 1869 to 1872 while at Columbia Law, and he served as private secretary to the
Secretary of the Navy Benjamin F. Tracy from 1889 to 1893. He entered private law practice in 1893. Their daughter Mary Elizabeth Raymond (September 10, 1849June 13, 1897) was born in New York City and died in
Morristown, New Jersey. She married Earl Philip Mason (August 5, 1848March 17, 1901) on April 18, 1872, in New York City. Their daughter Aimee Juliette Arteniese Raymond (1857–1903) was a physician, writer and editor. She graduated from
New York Medical College in 1889. She was married to Henry Harmon Schroeder. ==Politics==