(The following essay discusses William Conant Church and his brother, Francis Pharcellus Church.)

Lt. Col. William Conant Church and his younger brother Francis Pharcellus (Frank) Church-whose immortal editorial containing the line "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" has stirred children and adults since it appeared in the New York Sun in 1897--edited and published the Army and Navy Journal and the Internal Revenue Record and Customs Journal. Their major contribution to literature, however, was the Galaxy, founded in 1866 as a New York counterpart to Boston's Atlantic Monthly. Virtually ignoring the luminaries of the 'New England literary set, the Galaxy printed history, fiction, science, and topical comment by some of the most prominent authors of the day.

The Church brothers seemed an unlikely duo to hold the editorial reins of a literary magazine. They were born in Rochester, New York, in 1836 and 1839 to the Baptist minister Pharcellus Church...