William Henry Rand (May 2, 1828 – June 20, 1915) was an American printer and co-founder of the

Rand McNally Rand McNally is an American technology and publishing company that provides mapping, software and hardware for consumer electronics, commercial transportation and education markets. The company is headquartered in Chicago, with a distribution c ...

publishing company. He was born in

Quincy, Massachusetts Quincy ( ) is a coastal U.S. city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest city in the county and a part of Greater Boston, Metropolitan Boston as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in 2020 was 1 ...

, and as a young man was an apprentice at his brothers' print shop in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. He was enticed west in September 1849, by the

California Gold Rush The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California fro ...

. He settled in Los Angeles and co-founded the city'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 Andrew McNally (1836–1904) was an American publisher and co-founder of the company Rand McNally. Early life On March 4, 1836, McNally was born in Armagh, Ireland. Career A printer by trade, he moved to Chicago in 1858 and got a job in a ...

, 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. He died in New Canaan, Connecticut at his daughter's home after being ill for some time. He had three daughters, one of whom was

Agnes Lee Agnes Lee (' Martha Agnes Rand; 1868 - 1939) was an American poet and translator. Biography Lee was born Martha Agnes Rand in 1868 in Chicago. She was the second daughter of William H. Rand, an American printer and publisher who co-founded th ...

, and two sons, one of whom was William Rand, Jr.

Sources

Short, John Rennie John Rennie Short is a professor of geography and public policy in the School of Public Policy at University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Early life and education Short was born in Stirling, Scotland. He was raised in nearby Tullibody, a vill ...

(2001)
Representing the Republic: Mapping the United States, 1600-1900
London: Reaktion Books. *

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

, June 22, 1915
W.H. RAND, PUBLISHER, DIES; Former Head of Rand, McNally & Co. Was a Pioneer Printer.

Rand McNally & Company: Information and Much More from Answers.com
*http://www.ancestry.com * 1828 births 1915 deaths American publishers (people) Businesspeople from California Businesspeople from Chicago People from Milton, Massachusetts People from Quincy, Massachusetts 19th-century American businesspeople {{US-publish-bio-stub