William Henry Rand

William H. Rand (2 May 1828 – 20 June 1915) was born in Quincy, Massachusetts. As a young man, he was an apprentice at his brothers' print shop in Boston. He was enticed west in September, 1849, by the California Gold Rush. He settled in Los Angeles and co-founded the state's first newspaper, the Los Angeles Star. In 1856, he returned to Boston for a short time before moving to Chicago and opening a print shop in June of that year. Two years later he hired an Irish immigrant, Andrew McNally, to work in his shop for $9 per week. The two formally established Rand, McNally & Co. in 1868 and became one of the biggest and best-known map publishers in history. Rand retired as president of Rand McNally in 1899 and returned to his boyhood home of East Milton, Massachusetts. He died in New Canaan, Connecticut at his daughter's home after being ill for some time.

Rand McNally & Company

American publisher and printer of maps, atlases, globes, and tourist guidebooks; its headquarters are in Skokie, Illinois. Founded in 1856 by William H. Rand and Andrew McNally and incorporated in 1873, it is the oldest firm of its kind in the country and one of the world’s leading mapmakers. The company’s first publication was an annual report of a railroad company in 1868, and the first map was issued in 1872. The Business Atlas, now known as the annual Commercial Atlas and Marketing Guide, began publication in 1877. A textbook department opened in 1894 with the publication of the Rand McNally Primary School Geography. Children’s books were added to its publishing list in 1900. With the advent of automobiles about 1908, its first road guide was published. Rand McNally began publication of Goode’s School Atlas, now Goode’s World Atlas, a pioneer work in school geography, in the early 1920s. Its chief products include maps, atlases, globes, geography and travelbooks, reference guides, children’s books, custom maps, and wall maps.

• Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Rand_(printer) Wikipedia
• Source: Encyclopedia Britannica

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https://books.google.com/books?id=8Rw9AQAAIAAJ&pg=RA10-PA30

Fourth Estate: A Weekly Newspaper for Publishers, Advertisers, Advertising ...

By Frank H. Lancaster, Ernest F. Birmingham

DEATH OF W. H. RAND.

William H. Rand, head of the widely-known printing and publishing house of Rand & McNally Company, Chicago, and a noted printing machinery expert, died in New Canaan, Ct., Monday, at the age of eighty-seven years. In the 'Set's Mr. Rand was a part owner of the Chicago Tribune and he was prominently identified with the growth of that city. After the Civil War the firm of Rand & McNally Company was organized, and afterwards Mr. Rand was instrumental in the development of many improvements in the printing business.

In 1885, with Whitelaw Reid, Melville E. Stone, Stilson Hutchins, W. H. Smith and others, he organized the syndicate that developed the Mergenthaler Linotype. He was a member of many organizations and for many years was president of the Newsboys' Home.

In 1849 Mr. Rand joined the gold rush to California and made the voyage around Cape Horn. His labors at mining brought small success and after about a year he returned to his trade as a printer. In partnership with the late John A. Lewis of Boston, a nephew by marriage, he established what is said to have been the first newspaper in Southern California, the Los Angeles Star. The text was printed in both Spanish and English.

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Nov 10 2023, 3:49:27 UTC