In 1872 Mr. Bacon resigned his position on the "Times" on account of ill-health produced by over-work, and returned to Boston. Subsequently he joined the staff of the "Advertiser" as general news editor, after representing it in New York for some months as its special correspondent there. In 1873 he became chief editor of the "Boston Globe," and conducted it as an independent journal. Resigning in 1878, he returned to the "Daily Advertiser," assuming the duties of managing editor. In the winter of 1883, upon the retirement of Edward Stanwood, chief editor, Mr. Bacon came into full editorial charge of the paper, and in the summer of 1884 he was made associate editor with Professor Charles F. Dunbar. In January, 1886, he retired from the "Advertiser," when the paper passed into the control of new hands, and in May, 1886, was made chief editor of the "Boston Post," when this journal was purchased by a number of gentlemen known in politics as Independents. Under the editorship of Mr. Bacon the "Post" has steadily grown in public favor, and has secured a permanent position among the daily papers of the first class in the country. The present management intend to maintain a high standard of independent journalism by treating all political and other questions of public interest with fairness, frankness, and propriety, and to continue to advocate with the same energy and persistency it has displayed in the past, tariff and administrative reforms until they are finally established.
Mr. Bacon has done much work as a special correspondent. Early in his career he wrote for several western journals; for several years he served as Boston correspondent of the "New York Evening Post;" he was a special correspondent of the "New York Times" in Boston from 1873 until his assumption of the editorship of the "Boston Post," and he was the regular Boston letter-writer of the "Springfield Republican" in the summer of 1879 and that of 1886.
He has compiled several books in Boston. He is the author of "King's Dictionary of Boston" (1883)—now "Bacon's Dictionary of Boston" (Houghton, Mifflin & Company, 1886), and is the editor of "Boston Illustrated" (Houghton, Mifflin & Company).
On the 24th of October, 1867, at Somerville, Mr. Bacon was married to Gusta E., daughter of Ira and Hannah Hill. He has one child, Madeleine P. Bacon.
Bacon, Joseph Newman, son of Joseph and Beulah Crafts (Fuller) Bacon, was born in Newton, Middlesex county, January 25, 1813.
On his father's side he is descended from William Bacon, who settled in Salem in 1640. His wife traces her genealogy in a direct line from the Woodward family, who as long ago as 1681 owned and occupied the homestead located in Newton Highlands.
He attended the common schools until the age of thirteen, when he went for two terms to Marshall S. Rice's private academy for boys, at Newton Centre. Several
Joseph N. Bacon.
years later he attended Phillips Academy, Andover, for a short time.
In 1835 he bought out his father's interest in a general store in Newton, in which business he remained until 1846. He then engaged in buying and selling real estate. In 1856 he was elected president of the Newton National Bank, and in 1858, president of the Newton & Watertown Gas Light Company, which positions he still holds.
Mr. Bacon was married in Newton, April 17, 1845, to Sarah Anna, daughter of Elijah Fuller and Anna (Murdock) Woodward. Of this union were four children: Anna Woodward (deceased), Sarah Emma,
