New York, 1819-1854
A timeline from Walt Whitman’s birth through his early careers as a Long Island school teacher and newspaper printer and editor in New York, 1819-1854.
Timeline
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1819 May 31
Born in West Hills, Huntington Township, Long Island, New York, the second son of carpenter and house builder Walter Whitman, Sr. (1789-1855) and Louisa Van Velsor Whitman (1795-1873), both of Long Island farm families. Walt Whitman was one of eight siblings, who lived to adulthood, born to the couple between 1818 and 1835. He was preceded in the family by eldest brother Jesse Whitman (1818-1870).
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1821
Sister Mary Elizabeth Whitman born (d. 1899).
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1823
Whitman family moved to Brooklyn in May, and sister Hannah Louisa Whitman was born in November (d. 1908). Over the next few years the family moved often and resided in several rented or owned properties.
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1825 July
Joined other school children to welcome Marquis de Lafayette (1757-1834), French supporter of the American Revolutionary War, to Brooklyn during his honorary visit to the United States. Later recalled in Specimen Days that Lafayette picked him up and helped him to a better viewing spot to witness the ceremonial laying of a cornerstone for the Apprentices’ Library.
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1826 Feb.
Maternal grandmother, Naomi (“Amy”) Van Velsor, wife of Cornelius Van Velsor, died in Brooklyn. Her Quaker leanings had an impact on the spirituality of her six-year-old grandson, who mourned her death.
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1827
Brother Andrew Jackson Whitman born (d. 1863).
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1829
Spent summer with grandparents in rural Long Island. Fostered a lifelong love of the seashore, which would be reflected in later writings and poetry. Brother George Washington Whitman born (d. 1901).
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1830
Entered the work force as an office boy in James B. Clark and Son law office, Fulton Street, Brooklyn. Clark provided a subscription to a circulating library, helping to foster a lifelong love of reading for pleasure and self-education.
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1831
Apprenticed in the printing office of the Democratic Long Island Patriot. Gained skills in the printing trade and experience in the world of politically partisan journalism.
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1832-33
Worked for the Long Island Star, a Whig newspaper.
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1833
Cheered Democrat Andrew Jackson on his presidential tour of the North. Brother Thomas Jefferson (“Jeff”) Whitman born (d. 1890).
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1835
Took work as a compositor in Manhattan and advanced to journeyman printer. Brother Edward (“Eddie”) Whitman, the last of the Whitman children, born with physical and mental disabilities (d. 1892).
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1836
Became a Long Island school teacher. Taught in Norwich, near his grandparents’ farm, in Spring, and the following Fall in Babylon, home to family members.
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1837
Taught at Long Swamp and Smithtown, Long Island. Interested in Democratic Party politics. Joined a debating society. Naturalist poet and writer John Burroughs born (d. 1921). He will later become a friend and biographer of Whitman.
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1838
With the assistance of brother George, started a weekly newspaper, the Long Islander, in Huntington, N.Y. Wrote and printed the newspaper and also delivered it himself by horseback.
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1838 Oct. 31
Published poem “Our Future Lot” in the Long Island Democrat, the first of many identified poems published in periodicals in his lifetime (this one later retitled “Time to Come”).
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1839
Began working as a writer through the Jamaica, Long Island, office of the Long Island Democrat and taught school nearby, at Little Bay Side.
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1840
Continued to teach, at Trimming Square, Woodbury, and Whitestone, Long Island, and published poems in the Long Island Democrat. Eldest sister Mary Elizabeth married Ansel Van Nostrand in January and the couple made their home in Greenport, Long Island.
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1841
Worked as a printer for the weekly New York New World.
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1841-44
Involved in Democratic Party politics and supported Martin Van Buren.
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1841 Aug. 9
Published short story “Death in the School-Room” in United States Magazine and Democratic Review. Continued to publish essays and stories in periodicals 1841-45.
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1842
Heard New England Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson lecture on “Nature and the Powers of the Poet” in New York. Briefly edited the newspaper Aurora in Manhattan and worked for other papers as a writer. Published a serialized temperance novel, Franklin Evans, in the New World. Written to generate income, the semi-sensational and sentimental story proved popular with readers.
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1843
Pursued the writing of short fiction in Manhattan.
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1844
Briefly edited the New York Democrat.
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1845
Published “Art-Music and Heart-Music” in the Broadway Journal and met editor Edgar Allan Poe in the Journal office. Began writing articles and theater and music reviews for the Brooklyn Long Island Star.
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1846-48
Editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn’s leading newspaper. Wrote “Free Soil” editorials opposing the expansion of slavery into western territories of the U.S. and supported the Wilmot Proviso (barring slavery from territory acquired in the Mexican War). Published poems and reviews of concerts, recitals, and operas. Became friends with William Cullen Bryant. Began following phrenological teachings.
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1848 Jan.-May
Left the Eagle in January and traveled with fourteen-year-old brother Jeff to New Orleans, to work on the Daily Crescent. Resigned from the Crescent and left New Orleans in May, returning by the Mississippi River, the Great Lakes, and the Hudson River.
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1848 July 16
Popular phrenologist Lorenzo Fowler conducted a character reading of Whitman’s head.
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1848 Aug. 5
Elected as a delegate to the Free Soil Party convention in Buffalo, N.Y. Backed Democrat and former U.S. president Martin Van Buren for the party nomination for the presidential race.
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1848 Sept. 9-10
As editor, published the first issue of the Free-Soil Brooklyn Weekly Freeman. The building where the Freeman was printed was destroyed by fire the next day. Publication resumed two months later, after Whig Party candidate Zachary Taylor had won the election.
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1848-1852
Lived, wrote, and operated a first-floor printing office in a home he owned on Myrtle Avenue in Brooklyn.
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1849 Sept. 11
Resigned as editor of the Freeman and the paper folded.
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1850 March
Published “Song for Certain Congressmen,” “Dough-Face Song,” “Blood-Money,” and “The House of Friends” all politically pointed poems commenting on the Compromise of 1850.
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1851
Published freelance work in Bryant’s Evening Post. Published article in the Brooklyn Advertiser on the importance of a clean city water supply for cholera prevention.
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1852
Sister Hannah married artist Charles Heyde and moved to Vermont. Her marriage would prove to be difficult. Father Walt Whitman, Sr., was in poor health. Built a home on Cumberland Street for the Whitman family, but sold it not long after they occupied it. Moved with family to a series of other houses over the next few years.
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c. 1853
Visited Shaker village at Mount Lebanon, N.Y.
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1854
Anthony Burns trial in Boston fueled activism in opposition to the Fugitive Slave Law. Photographer Gabriel Harrison made a portrait in Brooklyn of a robust Whitman in shirt sleeves and hat. Sometimes called the “carpenter” image, it was later adapted as the frontispiece for the first edition of Leaves of Grass. Enthusiasm for opera was very high. In a fascination with language innovation, compiled a draft dictionary of American words and their derivation.