William Conant Church



William Conant Church (1836–1917) was an American journalist and soldier.

Early life
Church was born in Rochester, New York on August 11, 1836, to the Reverend Pharcellus Church. He was educated in the Boston Latin School. While still a youth, he helped his father edit and publish the New York Chronicle.

In 1860, he became publisher of the New York Sun and of the New York Chronicle. In 1861–62 he was Washington correspondent of the New York Times.

Service in the Civil War
He resigned his journalistic position on his appointment as captain in the United States Volunteers in 1862, and served for one year, receiving brevets of major and lieutenant colonel.

Later career
In 1863, he and his brother, Francis Pharcellus Church, established The Army and Navy Journal, and in 1866, they founded the Galaxy Magazine.

He and George Wood Wingate established the National Rifle Association in 1871, and in 1872 he replaced its first president, the retired general Ambrose Burnside.

Church was government commissioner to inspect the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1882.

He wrote two biographies, of John Ericsson in 1891, and Ulysses S. Grant in 1899. He published the Army and Navy Journal. In one issue he criticized the USS Monitor's living arrangements, a vessel built by John Ericsson.

Church was also one of the founders of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, an original member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, and became a life member and director of the New York Zoological Society.

Death
Church died on May 23, 1917 and his funeral took place at Grace Church in New York.