Will S. Green

William Semple Green (b. December 26, 1832, Kentucky; d. July 2, 1905) was a California pioneer, a steamboat captain, mail carrier, surveyor, newspaper publisher, writer, legislator, United States Surveyor General for California, California State Treasurer, and irrigationist.

Newspaperman

On September 26, 1863, he and a partner purchased the Colusa Sun newspaper.

Related Topics:
September 26 - 1863

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As editor-publisher of the Sun, he concentrated on representing his local area. Largely self-taught (as a youth, he received no formal education beyond the old backwoods field school), he was interested in practical education. His view of editorship was that a newspaperman should teach his community social responsibilities and educate men to live happily together.

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He also became known as an advocate of states' rights, although he was clear to distinguish that from slavery. On June 1,1865 he wrote, "There could be such a thing as a Republic in this country without slavery, but there can never be such a thing as a Republic in America without the acknowledgement of States Rights."

Related Topics:
States' rights - Slavery - June 1 - 1865

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In 1899, Green was the elected first president of The Central and Northern California Press Association. He saw it as an opportunity to discuss problems common to newspaper editors, and to broaden their horizons beyond just their localities. He also saw it as means to resist advertisers who sought articles putting them in favorable light in return for vague promises of future business, in addition to local bodies that demanded free newspaper space for material they were required to publish by law.

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For his efforts, Green is enshrined in the California Press Association's California Newspaper Hall of Fame.

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