Mentioned in The Antebellum Crisis and America's First Bohemians

Born in Templeton, Massachusetts Stephen Pearl Andrews was the youngest of eight born to renowned Baptist clergyman and revivalist, Elisha Andrews. Often referred to as "Pearl" by his family and friends, "Andrews was a passionate publicist for nearly every cause of the mid-nineteenth-century reform era--abolition, phonology, universal language, Fourierism, individualist anarchism, phrenology, spiritualism, women's rights, free love, hydrotherapy, communism, temperance, and Swedenborgianism--not to mention his own original contributions to the ferment, Pantarchy and Universology" (P.

Very little is known about Anna Ballard. Mark Lause lists Ballard along with a group of Pfaffian women who “precious little is known” about (56). Lause mentions Ballard was one of the visitors to Ada Clare's house and that she was generally known for her groundbreaking interview with Madame Helena Petrovich Blavestky. O’Brien states that the Sun had many women reporters and lists Anna Ballard as "another Sun woman" who "wrote, among other things, the news stories that bobbed up in surrogates' court" (286).

Joel Benton was raised in the small town of Amenia, New York. He was the cousin of Myron Benton. He was educated at Amenia Seminary, where he stayed until 1851. He entered the publishing world at the age of nineteen when he was hired as managing editor of the newly created Amenia Times (The Sun, Sept. 16, 1911, 2). He also contributed pieces to the newspaper, the Mercury (Schmidgall 80-1). Benton was an avid fan of Horace Greeley; he returned to journalism in 1872 in order to support Greeley during his presidential campaign.

Born November 13th, 1833 in Maryland, Edwin Booth had an affinity for the acting world; he was named after the actors Edwin Forrest and Thomas Flynn, and his father, Junius, was a British actor who took Edwin with him on theatrical tours of the United States. Father and son developed a close relationship, although "to see to it that that erratic genius [Junius] did not break his engagements, murder someone, or commit suicide during his times of intoxication and half-insanity was a heavy responsibility for the fragile youth and made [Edwin] grave, serious, and melancholy beyond his years.

Before trying his hand at writing, Charles F. Briggs spent several years working as a sailor on voyages to Europe and South America. He also spent a few years as a merchant in New York City. In 1839 he published The Adventures of Harry Franco: A Tale of the Great Panic, which was based upon his adventures as a sailor. Retaining the pseudonym Harry Franco, Briggs went on to publish The Haunted Merchant in 1843. In 1844 he created the Broadway Journal, for which Edgar Allan Poe first worked as a contributor.

Born in Ireland, John Brougham originally pursued a surgical career at the Peter Street Hospital in Dublin. A change in fortune resulted in his decision to move to England and become an actor in 1830. He was associated with London's Tottenham Street Theatre, the Olympic Theatre, and became manager of the London Lyceum in 1840. Brougham produced over 100 works and is remembered for his comedic playwriting and acting.

Born in Rochester, New York on August 11, 1836 and son of New York Chronicle’s editor, Rev. Dr. Pharcellus Church, William Conant Church's first brush with the world of journalism occurred at age nineteen when he began helping his father edit the New York Chronicle . It seems that Church originated from a vibrant genetic stock of other well-known military men.

Ada Clare (whose given name was Jane McIlheny) was born in South Carolina. As Thomas Gunn, a contemporary of Clare, describes she "made an attempt – several attempts – to become a tragic actress, but despite any amount of puffery on the part of fellows who knew her (or wanted to know her in a scriptural sense) failed. She had money and aspired for 'fame' only" (Gunn vol. 11, 160). She received a small inheritance upon her parents' deaths, which she used to travel to Paris.

Born April 7th, 1821 in New-Bedford, Massachusetts, Charles Taber Congdon began his journalistic career early in his life by cleaning the floors of the New Bedford Courier and delivering papers. Describing this period of his life, Congdon states that “a considerable portion of my infant untidiness was of printer's ink” (Congdon 10).