WILLIAM H. SADLIER.
—The founder of the business was Denis Sadlier, who organized a general Catholic publishing house in 1835. In 1841, James, the brother of Denis, was admitted to partnership, the firm name being D. & J. Sadlier & Co. Upon the death of the original partners, the firm was continued by James F., the son of Denis Sadlier.
In 1872, William H. Sadlier left the old firm and started a purely textbook publishing house. His first books were the Excelsior Geographies, followed shortly by the Excelsior Histories and Readers, and then a general line of Catholic textbooks. William H. Sadlier died in 1877 and the business was continued by his widow, Annie M. Sadlier, who still lives and who may rightfully claim to be the original business woman of New York. A law had to be passed in the Assembly permitting her to do business under her husband’s name. Mrs. Sadlier retired about ten years ago, and the business is now being conducted by her son, Frank X. Sadlier, of the third generation. The surviving textbooks of the original firm are now being published by the firm of William H. Sadlier, which is the lineal successor of the original firm of D. & J. Sadlier & Company.