Adolph Simon Ochs (1858 - 1935)

Born 12 Mar 1858 in Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Iphigene (Wise) Ochs — married 28 Feb 1883 in Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio, United States

Died 8 Apr 1935 at age 77 in Chattanooga, Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States

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Biography

Adolph Ochs is Notable.

Adolph Ochs has Jewish Roots.

Adolph Simon Ochs (March 12, 1858–April 8, 1935) was an American newspaper publisher who owned and published first The Chattanooga Times and later The New York Times.

He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on March 12, 1858, to Julius and Bertha (Levy) Ochs. His parents were Jewish German immigrants. His father had left Bavaria for the United States in 1846. His mother had come to the United States in 1848, a refugee from Rhenish Bavaria.

During the U.S. Civil War era, his father was an abolitionist, but his mother had secessionist sympathies.^[1] After the war the family moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, where his mother's opinions were less unpopular than in Cincinnati. In Knoxville, Adolph attended public schools and delivered newspapers in his spare time to earn money for his family. After starting off in newspaper delivery, he became an office boy for Knoxville Chronicle editor, William Rule, who became a mentor to him.^[2] Adolph learned newspaper composition and became skillful as a printer and typesetter. In 1877, after working briefly in Louisville, Kentucky, he went to Chattanooga for a job at the Chattanooga Dispatch. That newspaper soon failed.^[1] In July 1878, when he was just 20 years old, Adolph purchased another troubled newspaper, the Chattanooga Times, for a price of $1500. He paid the down payment of $250, but because he was still a minor, his father, Julius, had to sign the papers for the transaction.^[2] The rest of the Ochs family moved to Chattanooga to support the new endeavor. When the 1880 U.S. Census recorded the family in Chattanooga, Julius Ochs, age 54, was described as a newspaper manager; Adolph S. Ochs, 22, and George W. Ochs, 18, were journalists; and Milton Ochs, 16, was a printer.^[3]

In 1879, when he reached the age of 21, Adolph Ochs boasted in an editorial:^[2]

“We take this occasion to state that notwithstanding a boy has published The Times since last July; The Times has under his administration steadily increased in circulation and patronage, so that today we can boast that The Times has as large, if not a larger circulation than any paper in East Tennessee.”

In 1884, Ochs married Effie Wise, the daughter of Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise of Cincinnati. Their daughter Iphigene Ochs was born on 19 September 1892.^[4] There were two other children that died.^[5]

As the Chattanooga Times grew in stature, Adolph Ochs aspired to run a newspaper in a major city. In the spring of 1896, he learned that The New York Times was in desperate financial condition after a series of travails that had begun with the death of its owner in 1891. He went to New York to discuss the possibility of taking up the challenge of reviving the paper, and ultimately assembled a deal that made him the new owner of a newspaper that had lost most of its circulation and was deeply in debt. In that era, journalism was dominated by the so-called yellow press, newspapers that built huge circulations with low prices per copy, sensationalized reporting, and features such as comics. Adolph Ochs chose to confront this competition by promising to "conduct a high-standard newspaper, clean, dignified, and trustworthy" for "thoughtful, pure-minded people." In place of comics supplements he inaugurated a Sunday magazine and book review section, and he charged 3 cents per copy in the face of the 1-cent prices typically charged by his competitors. Ultimately his approach succeeded, and the newspaper both survived and prospered. He continued to direct the New York Times until his death, and did not give up his interest in the Chattanooga Times.^[6]

The 1900 U.S. Census recorded the Ochs family in Manhattan. Adolph S. Ochs was 42 and had the occupation of newspaper publisher. His wife Iphigene M. Ochs was age 40. They had been married 17 years, and Iphigene had had 3 children, only one of whom was living. Daughter Iphigene B. Ochs was 7. All three of them were born in Ohio. Their household also included a governess, 20-year-old Helen M. Schmitz, born in Belgium; a cook, 27-year-old Minnie Peterson, born in Sweden; and a servant, 24-year-od Mary Carney, born in Ireland.^[5]

Ochs died from a cerebral hemorrhage on April 8, 1935, during a visit to Chattanooga.^[7][8] He is buried at the Temple Israel Cemetery in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. His memorial has a photo.^[9]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Ezzell, Timothy P. Adolph Simon Ochs (1858-1935), Tennessee Encyclopedia, Tennessee Historical Society, Nashville. Accessed 24 November 2020.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Dunlap, David W. 1878 | Adolph Ochs’s First Times (The One in Chattanooga). The New York Times, April 4, 2016.
3. ↑ "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MD78-ML7 : 13 July 2016), Julius Ochs, Chattanooga, Hamilton, Tennessee, United States; citing enumeration district ED 51, sheet 141D, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 1259; FHL microfilm 1,255,259.
4. ↑ Iphigene Ochs Sulzberger, The New York Times, February 27, 1990, Section A, page 22.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-67KD-JY?cc=1325221&wc=9BW3-3YY%3A1030551901%2C1035804001%2C1036033301 : 5 August 2014), New York > New York County > ED 465 Borough of Manhattan, Election District 20 New York City Ward 19 > image 20 of 39; citing NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
6. ↑ Adolph S. Ochs, The New York Times, 9 April 1935, pages 20-21.
7. ↑ "Tennessee Deaths, 1914-1966," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NS4P-KFV : 13 September 2018), Bertha Levy in entry for Adolph S. Ochs, 8 Apr 1935; Death, Chattanooga, Hamilton, Tennessee, United States, Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville.
8. ↑ Adolph S. Ochs Dead at 77. Publisher of Times Since 1896. The New York Times, 9 April 1935, page 1.
9. ↑ Adolph Simon Ochs memorial at Find A Grave

See also:

• "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MD78-ML4 : 13 July 2016), Adolph S Ochs in household of Julius Ochs, Chattanooga, Hamilton, Tennessee, United States; citing enumeration district ED 51, sheet 141D, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 1259; FHL microfilm 1,255,259.
• Hoover, Gary. Adolph Ochs—The Unsung Entrepreneur Who Transformed Journalism, American Business History Center (website), 2 January 2019.<?r
• Wikipedia: Adolph Ochs

Acknowledgments

• Thanks to Philip Smith for starting this profile. Click the Changes tab for the details of contributions by Philip and others.