Francis Pharcellus Church

Biography: Francis Pharcellus Church (1839-1906) was a war correspondent for The New York Times during the Civil War. After the war, he and his brother established The Army and Navy Journal and Galaxy Magazine. When Galaxy merged with Atlantic Monthly, Church became an editorial writer for The New York Sun. Church, a reputed curmudgeon, at first reluctantly took the assignment of answering Virginia O'Hanlon's letter inquiring about the existence of Santa Claus. He wrote it without a byline and it wasn't revealed that he was the author until after his death. The editorial was rerun annually by his paper from 1898 until 1949 when the paper went out of business. Church's editorial is translated into Latin by Walter Sauer and Hermann Wiegand in "Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus"...in Latin! (Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, 2001).