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Walt Whitman-His Life and Times
The Early Years

Walt Whitman was born in 1819 in a neat little farmhouse in what is now South Huntington, Long Island. The future poet spent the first four years of his life in this residence. Unable to make an adequate living as a house builder on Long Island, Walter Whitman, Sr. moved his family to the City of Brooklyn to better support his growing brood. Walt attended grammar school in Brooklyn and took his first job as a printer's devil for the Long Island Patriot. By 1835 he was employed as a printer in New York City. However, an economic depression forced him to return with his family eastward, to Long Island to teach and to farm.

While teaching, Walt pursued his interest in newspapers. In 1838, he founded a weekly newspaper in Huntington, The Long Islander. Although later in his life he claimed it was one of his favorite projects, within a year of its founding he was led by his restless nature to sell the paper and return to New York City. ...