Delaware County, Ohio - Chapter 10: The Pr.ess, 1908

Chapter 10: The Pr.ess

The Delaware Gazette is one of the oldest newspapers in Ohio and probably the only one, that has been controlled by one family for nearly three quarters of a century. In the year 1818 the Delaware Gazette first made its appearance, published by Drake, Hughes and Olmsted. Judge Ezra Griswold purchased the paper in 182 1 and it was published by him until 1834, when he sold it to Mr. George W. Sharpe, who had just come to Ohio, from Frederick, Maryland, where he had owned a printing office. At the solicitation of Mr. Sharpe, Abraham Thomson, a relative, emigrated from Maryland to Delaware and in September, 1834, became a partner in this journalistic enterprise. Soon afterwards Mr. Sharpe sold his interest in the business io Judge David T. Fuller. Two years later Mr. Thomson purchased Judge Fuller's interests and became sole proprietor, which he remained from that time until January 1, 1897. when on account of ill health, consequent upon the infirmity of age, he sold the Gazette establishment to his two sons, Henry C. and Robert C, and reluctantly retired from the labors that had been so congenial to him for over a half century.

From 1865 to 1871 a half interest in the Gazette was held by Captain Alfred E. Lee. who had served his country as a soldier with distinction and bravery during the War of the Rebellion, having been severely wounded at the battle of Gettysburg. Captain Lee during this time was elected a member of the Ohio House of Representatives and afterwards was appointed by President Hayes to be consulgeneral at Frankfort-on-the-Main. In both positions he rendered capable and creditable service. After retiring from Frankfort he was editorial writer on the Ohio State Journal and other prominent newspapers. Captain Lee died in 1905.

From 1871 until he retired Mr. Thomson was assisted in the management of the paper by his son, Robert Carter, and also a portion of the time by his son, Frank G. In 1897 his oldest son, Henry C, returned to Delaware from Dayton, where he had lived for twentysix years, and with R. C. Thomson as partner, purchased the Gazette establishment from their father and continued its publication under the firm name of Abram Thomson's Sons. In October, 1898, Henry C. Thomson purchased his brother's interest and since that time has been sole owner and publisher.

Abram Thomson, who for sixty-two years was owner and most of that time editor of the Delaware Gazette, was a remarkable man. it is doubtful whether there is in the history of the State another case where one man has continuously held a like position for such a length of time. As a man he was of a charming personality and noted for uprightness and integrity of character ; as an editor he was able and fearless ; as a citizen he was public spirited and useful.

Born at Taneytown. Md., in 1814, and having acquired his knowledge of printing in si une of the chief newspaper offices of New York city, he came to Delaware when a young man of twenty and grew up with the town. Abrani Thomson and his newspaper were prominent factors in its growth and prosperity and he was universally honored and respected by its inhabitants. In addition to his long life in the editorial harness, he held many public positions. In 1848-49, without any solicitation on his part, he was nominated and elected Representative of Delaware County in the Ohio Legislature. For personal reasons he declined a nomination unanimously tendered him for re-election. In 1850-i he was chosen to succeed William Dennison as senator from the district composed of the counties of Delaware and Franklin. In the year 1854 Mr. Thomson was a member of the Whig State Central Committee when it assembled, and declared the Whig organization disbanded and merged its party into the Republican.

in i860 he was a member of the Board of Presidential Electors of Ohio which cast the vote of the State for Abraham Lincoln. By President Lincoln he was appointed postmaster of Delaware and re-appointed in 1865. When the State Industrial Home for Chris was established in 1869 Mr. Thomson became, by appointment of Governor Hayes, a member of it> first Board of Trustees, and he served as a member and secretary of the board for nine years.

Henry C. Thomson, the present owner of the Gazette, was born in Delaware in 1842, and was practically brought up in the Gazette office, having in his youthful days delivered the paper to its town subscribers for about five years. In the year 1865 he was taken into partnership in the printing business by his father, and continued a partner until 1871, when he moved to the city of Dayton, where he remained for twenty-six years, being engaged in the grocery business. January 1, 1897, he returned to his first love, the Gazette, and still directs its destinies. He has been assisted in its publication for about eight years by his son. Walter D. Thomson, to whose efficient management and industry its success and prosperity is largely due.

venture, a daily edition of the Gazette was launched and the favor with which it was received by the citizens, insured its immediate success. In 1897 a Mergenthaler linotype typesetting machine was added to its equipment, enabling the publisher to give its patrons much more reading matter than had before been possible. In 1905 a second linotype machine was installed, making the Gazette's type-setting facilities unexcelled by any office in a city 01 the same size in the State. For a number of years the Gazette has received the Scripps-McRae telegraph and cable service, by which it has been able to furnish its readers with the latest news on an equality with any of the afternoon papers of Columbus or Cleveland. This service has recently been merged with the United Press Association with improved facilities.

In the spring of the present year (1907) the circulation of the Daily Gazette, having outgrown the capacity of the press in use, a Campbell multipress was purchased and installed in a new pressroom provided for its occupancy in the basement of the Gazette building. This press prints at one operation all eight pages of the Gazette which has been enlarged from six to seven o ilumns to the page, and is capable of a speed of six thousand copies per hour.

The semi-weekly edition of the Gazette, which has a large circulation in the county outside of Delaware City, was also enlarged to the same size. There are few cities the size of Delaware that can boast of as up-to-date and attractively printed daily paper as the Gazette. A well equipped job printing department is an important, adjunct of the Gazette establishment and a large quantity of catalogue work and commercial printing is turned out annually.

The First Democratic Newspaper

For some time prior to 1841, the need of a Democratic organ in the county of Delaware began to be felt. Colonel B. F. Allen, Andrew H. Patterson, Andrew Stephen, James W. Crawford. John Lugenbeel, Albert Pickett, Jr.. Ahab Jinks. Thomas Reynolds, Moses Byxby, Jr., W. B. Heim. George W. Sharp and others.

had, at different times, been in correspondence with printers at numerous places about establishing a Democratic paper in Delaware County, but, as the saying goes today, no "oil" was struck until early in the year of 1841. Among the legislative reporters on the Ohio Statesman during the session of 1840-1. was a practical printer named Forest Knapp. It required a practical printer at that date to successfully manipulate all of the departments of a printing office. On the advice and recommendation of Colonel Samuel Medary, a proposition was made to Mr. Knapp which he accepted, resulting in the establishment of a Democratic paper in Delaware called The Democratic Eagle. The paper was small, worked off on a small hand-press, the circulation very limited, the job department consisting of a couple of fonts of wood type made of apple or beech tree. The composition was done by three apprentices, Thomas J. Crawford, Andrew J. Crawford and Samuel J. Albright, all natives of Delaware. The first edition was bright, showing ability in its editorials, correspondence and scissorings. taking at once with its friends. Mr. Knapp conducted the paper for several years, it growing in every department and with his party and the people. Then he left for other fields of labor, placing the paper in the hands of Mr. John Converse. The latter not being a practical printer, soon tired of the business and retired. For some time no paper was published. In the meantime. Hon. George W. Sharp, a practical printer. who had had much newspaper experience in Maryland and some years prior in Delaware, secured the ownership of the plant and sent back to Frederick City, Md., for one of bis former proteges, named George F. Stayman. to come to Delaware to take charge of the paper and the plant, and he would give him his own time to pay for it. Mr. Stayman arrived with his family early in the fall of [845, took charge of the plant, secured some new newspaper and job type and started a little paper under the title of Loco Foco. This continued a year, when there was an enlargement of the paper, press and all departments, the name of the paper also being changed to The

Delazvare Standard. In a few years by working hard, day and night, himself, and makingpractical printers out of about all of his children, although the portion of the county printing was not large, he built up a very satisfactory and readable paper, generally appreciated by old and young. Under the title of Standard or Democratic Standard, for nineteen years, under the management of Mr. Stayman. this paper was continued. It was Democratic after the Jeffersonian and Jackson stamp. For a short time in the early fifties, D. W. C. Lugenbeel had a half interest in the paper, attending to the local department. It must be said that The Standard established the first local department of any paper ever published in Delaware. Under the administration of President Pierce and part of that of President Buchanan, Air. Stayman was postmaster, but lost out a year under the latter owing to his support given to Stephen A. Douglas and. "Squatter Sovereignty." The Standard was the first paper in Delaware to run up "Old Glory" when the Civil War began. In 1864, The' Standard was sold to W. P. Reid. his brother, Theodore P. Reid took charge of it and started a neutral paper under the title of The Delaware Comity News. In 1866. Samuel J. Albright established a Democratic paper under the title of The Herald. It was bright and newsy from the start.

After it was firmly established, he retired, when the paper under the management of Hosea W. Chamberlain had a number of editors including Dr. E. H. Hyatt. Hon. E. F. Poppleton and John A. Cone. The next proprietor and publisher was Robert G. Hurlburt. He continued to publish the Herald down to the latter part of the seventies, when he died of cancer of the tongue. The next was Daniel Flannagan. He secured the plant and operated it but a short time when he was followed by James K. Newcomer, then Newcomer & Fisher (D. S.) George Padgett was the next owner, until the plant was purchased by The Journal Company, which started an independent newspaper in Delaware in iqoo. under the editorial administration of Dr. F. M. Murray, who was associated with Mr. J. D. Knowles.

Axd Representative Citizens

The latter became manager and 1 iperated the paper until 1903. At this time. J. D. Knowles became editor of the Journal-Herald, the purchase of the Herald having been made by Murray & Knowles. The Journal-Herald is operated in an up-to-date manner and is equipped as a modern newspaper sin mid be. It has a Mergenthaler type-setting machine, receives the only telegraph service by wire every afternoon and makes its own illustrations.

After the purchase of the Herald by the Journal Company. J. D. Knowles became the editor and for six years has conducted that department in an able manner. Through the increasing influence of the paper, several Dmocrats have been elected to important county positions and at this time, the Democrats have the mayor and the City Council. In 1908 Mr. John H. Byrne was admitted into the firm of The Journal-Herald and holds the position as city editor. An eight-page daily is published, with sixteen pages on Saturdays. The Weekly Journal-Herald is printed on Thursdays and contains sixteen and sometimes twenty-eight pages. It is considered one of the best publications in Ohio from a county of its size, sin iwing its able management and the confidence of its readers and patrons.

Ashley Newspapers

In 1875, a paper called the Ashley Star was started by Washington Granger. It was shortlived, and there was then a period of several years when no paper was published here. The Argus was the next local purveyor of news. After a time it came into the possession of the firm of Shoemaker & Coomer, who changed the name of the publication to the Enterprise. After running the paper about a year, they sold it to C. B. Benedict, who sold it after a short time to A. D. Rowe. He adopted the name of the Ashley Times, and published it until his death. Harry Wood then purchased the journal and remained its proprietor and editor until 1904. when it was sold to C. Shoemaker.

Star, which name he changed. 111 May, [905, to Tri-County Star. This journal has a ci lation of about one thousand and is independent in politics, its policy being to use all the influence it exerts in the direction of enhancing the growth and betterment of Ashley. It is a four-page, seven-column paper, printed entirely in Ashley.

The Sunhury Enterprise was the first paper published in that town, it was started in 1873. and was owned by a stock company composed of local citizens. The paper was issued 1 nice a week, and was managed by D. M. I 'vie. Hewas to have purchased the paper and paid for it out of the earnings of the office, but notwithstanding that the people gave the new venture their support, it was plain at the end of the first nine months that the manager was not adapted to journalism, and the paper was sold to Wayman Perfect, who changed the name to the Spectator. The publication immediately took on new life; it seemed to please the people, and it was not long before there was a list of 600 paid subscribers. The advertising columns were also well patronized, and the paper was a success from a financial point of view. J. S. Watson purchased the paper in 1876, and it was successfully conducted by him until the spring of 1871;, when he suspended the publication in order to take advantage of a better opening elsewhere. About 1880 a paper called the Monitor was established by J. < i. Sharpe, but we have been unable to learn anything of its career or of its demise. In Max. 1889. A. R. Letts began the publication of a Democratic paper called the Sunhury Nezvs. It ran until the summer of 1894, when it was suspended, and the people in that part of the county were without a home paper until the fall of 1894. when the Delazvare County Nezi's-Item, a weeklv, independent paper, was started by A. R. Letts and William F. Whittier, under the firm name of Letts & Whittier. In 1900. Mr. Whittier purchased his partner's interest and has since conducted the paper alone. The issues of the paper contain from

The Delaware Signal, which was the first organ of the Prohibition party in Ohio, was started by a joint-stock company on September 23, 1873. Tne principal promoters of the enterprise were Thomas Evans, Jr., Colonel Lindsay, Dr. L. Barnes and J. W. Sharpe. Their organization adopted the title of the Delaware Printing and Publishing Association. In 1872, a small paper called the Delaware Prohibitionist had been started by Milton R. Scott, and the association published this paper for a short period, not more than a month or two, until they could get in a position to publish a paper better suited to their purpose. The Signal was then started as a large-sized nine-column folio, with Messrs. Sharpe, Barnes and Lindsay as editors, and Mr. Evans as treasurer and manager. The paper was published at a loss until 1876, when Mr. Evans took it off the hands of the association to pay the debts of the concern. He abandoned his other business interests and devoted his entire time and energy to building up the paper, which he continued to publish until some time in the early 90's, as nearly as we are able to ascertain. Mr. Evans reduced the size of the paper to eight columns, and, by rigid economy, succeeded in making it pay the full expenses of the office. Although the publication paid its proprietor nothing for the time and labor he bestowed upon it, it was a labor of love on his part. The circulation of the paper grew to large proportions for those days and for a paper of that kind, and was accepted as the State organ of the Prohibition party.