Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Waite, Henry Randall

WAITE, Henry Randall, editor, b. in Copenhagen, Lewis co., N. Y., 16 Dec., 1845. After graduation at Hamilton in 1868, he was on the staff of the Utica “Herald” in 1869-70. In 1873 he was graduated at Union theological seminary, New York city, where he had edited the “University Quarterly Review.” In 1871-'4 he was pastor of the American church in Rome, Italy, and he was on the staff of the New Haven “Journal” in 1875. In 1876-'7 he edited the “International Review,” and in 1876-'80 was pastor of the Presbyterian church in Pelham, N. Y. In 1876 he organized the National reform league, and in 1876-'7 was president of the Political science association of New York. In 1880-'3 he was a special officer of the U. S. census. In 1885-'6 he edited “The Citizen” in Boston, and he afterward became editor of “Civics” in New York. In 1885 he founded the American institute of civics, of which he has since been president. He was the first to employ the term “civics” to designate those branches of science that pertain to the elevation of citizenship. He has published “The Motive of St. Paul's Life” (Rome, 1873) and “Illiteracy and the Mormon Problem” (Boston, 1885).