USA > Alabama > Memorial record of Alabama. A concise account of the state's political, military, professional and industrial progress, together with the personal memoirs of many of its people. Volume II pt 1 > Part 24
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In 184-, R. M. Williamson commenced the publication of a paper at Moulton, called the "Lawrence County Sentinel." He disposed of it at the end of two years. Some years afterward, Mr. Williamson published the Chronicle at Hayneville, Lowndes county. where he had located as a lawyer, afterward moving to Montgomery. He attained some eminence in. the profession. At the time of his death, a year or two ago. he was living at Clanton in Chilton county, Ala. Since the close of the war be- tween the states. several attempts have been made to establish a paper at Courtland. but all of them were signal failures. In 1-72. Mr. D. C. White, of the Moulton Advertiser, bought the material for an eight-column folio paper and commenced the publication of the Courtland News, as an ex- periment. Finding that he was losing money he sold the outfit to M. L. Frierson, who moved the paper to Decatur and gave it the name of the
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News. After changing proprietors several times it finally fell into the hands of Dr. L. Hensley Grubbs. its present proprietor.
1 In 1875. Col. D. R. Hundley started the Courtland Reporter, but after a career of only one year, he transferred it to E. M. Ragland, who a few months afterward gave it up and left the state.
In 1876, Frank McBride set up a greenback paper at Courtland, giving it the name of "The Friend of the Laborer." The paper did not live as long as its party. The Alabama State Wheel was the next venture in opposition to the Moulton Advertiser. It was brought over from Frank- lin county in 1>>9, and in the winter of 1890, it was bankrupt and soon sold at public outcry. J. Asa Roundtree became the purchaser, and is now publishing, with the outfit, his paper, the Hartselle Enquirer. The Moulton Advertiser is the only paper now published in Lawrence county and has just celebrated its sixty-fourth anniversary and the forty-second under the capable administration of Mr. D. C. White. It makes him the oldest editor and publisher in the state in point of continued service. The paper has a good circulation and a fine advertising patronage. There are hundreds of its present subscribers who commenced with the first number after Mr. White took control and who will chng to it to the last. Mr. White taught his father and four of his brothers how to set type.
The next county in order of time in which a newspaper was estab- lished was Franklin. It was published at Tuscumbia, now the county seat of Colbert county, and one of the most prosperous towns at that time in Alabama, being near the Tennessee river and in the center of a rich agricultural county. One of the first railroads ever built in the United States was the one from Decatur to Tuscumbia, the obstructions in the Muscle shoals of the Tennessee river forbidding water transpor- tation beyond Tuscumbia. We have but little information concerning this paper, but it was called the Tuscumbian and its first issue was either in 1830 or 1831. It was certainly prior to the establishment, in 1831. of the North Alabamian at Tuscumbia. The press work on the Tuscumbian was done at Huntsville, which was sixty iniles eastward. It is current history that the editor of this paper was Henry S. Foote, then starting life as a young lawyer. His career afterward as United States senator from Mississippi, and governor of that state. is well known to the country at large. Asa Messenger and William Rollston, established the North Alabamian as above noted in 1831. They continued as partners until some time in the forties, when Mr. Messenger disposed of his interest to Mr. Rollston, who continued to edit and publish it until a short time before the war. Rollston and Messenger were whigs, and the North Alabamian fought the battles of the party as long as it had "a local habitation and a name." During the greater portion of this time. the Franklin Democrat was also published at Tuscumbia by A. C. Matthews, who died at Tupelo within recent years. His paper was the organ of the democracy as the Alabamian was of the whigs, and many a battle
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royal did the editors have in the columns of their papers. Rollston, in 1860, removed to Paducah. Ky., where he died ten or twelve years ago. His remains were taken to Tuscumbia for interment. where they re- pose beside those of his old partner and associate, who died some years before him. About the beginning of 1861. the North Alabamian became the property of North Messenger, the oldest son of the founder of the paper, by whom it was published during the war, with occasional sus- pensions, when the Federal troops occupied the town. He died in 1865, when the paper became the property of Andrew Broden, an old citizen and planter. North Messenger married Miss Rozeil of Little Rock, Ark. She is a lady of well-known literary and poetical tastes, and now resides in Washington. One of her sons is on the staff of the Washington Evening Star. After 1865, the Alabamian was conducted under lease by F. A. Ross and John R. Green, as a democratic paper. They were suc- ceeded by C. C. Sheets. who conducted it as an organ of the republicans.
In the winter of 1866-7. Rev. Joseph Shackelford began publishing the Christian Herald. which he had published in Moulton, since July, 1865. He was and is yet a prominent Baptist preacher. Soon afterward he started the Tuscumbia Times and rented the North Alabamian from Mr. Broder and united the two papers under the name of the Alabamian and Times, which it bore until January, 1875. The paper was then purchased by Capt. A. H. Keller, who resumed the old name and dropped the Times prefix. Capt. Keller is still editing and publishing the North Alabamian as a straight democratic newspaper and making it one of the most popular papers of the state. In the meantime, Dr. Shackelford discontinued the Christian Herald and it was removed to Nashville, Tenn., and afterward sold to the Christian Index, at Atlanta, Ga.
In 1858 or 1859, an ultra democratic and southern rights paper called the Constitution made its appearance in Tuscumbia and was continued until 1861. Dr. R. T. Abernathy and Dr. A. M. Barclay were the editors.
Hon. J. H. Sloss was an associate editor of the Alabamian and Times, until he was elected to congress in 1570. He served two terms and. be- fore finishing out his second, left the democratic party. He afterward edited at Tuscumbia, a republican paper called the Chronicle. The Press was reported to have been purchased by George E. Spencer, then United States senator from Alabama. The North Alabamian is now printed on that press. The Chronicle changed its name and became the Times, and not long afterward ceased to live. In 1879 or '80, Messrs. F. A. Ross and E. M. Ragland commenced publishing the Tuscumbia Democrat. It went through several changes of proprietors and in Feb- ruary, 1883, it was bought by Capt. Keller and its publication then ceased. In 1884, the town of Sheffield, a few miles from Tuscumbia, sprang into importance and during the land sales there the North Alabamian was published as a daily. The next attempt to establish a paper in Tuscum- bia was that of A. J. Blake, a republican, who published the Clarion.
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Its length of life was not over a year. In 1885, the Tuscumbia Dispatch was started by T. T. and Oscar Simpson and continued by them until 1890, when they sold out to. Capt. Keller of the North Alabamian. In 1887, the Sheffield Land, Coal & Iron company bought an outfit for a daily paper. Sheffield is in Colbert county. The services of George H. Pardee were seenred, and he conducted the paper, which was called the Sheffield Daily Enterprise, with great ability, until a short time before his death, about three years ago. He was succeeded by Col. Tom L. Cannon, and he, by Hon. Polk Laffoon, a few years ago a representative in congress from Kentucky. The present editor and manager, who suc- ceeded Laffoon, is Major W. J. Sykes. The paper is now published as a weekly. The Reaper is a promising two year old weekly, published at Sheffield by Messrs. Comstock and Baldwin. Another weekly called the Sheffield Times was established three or four years ago by a stock com-' pany and edited by John T. Hull. It suspended in 1891.
Major Thomas J. Key, now chief clerk in the State Agricultural department at Montgomery, was in ante bellum days the editor of the Franklin Democrat, above referred to, and had many a tilt with his whig contemporary. Rollston, of the old North Alabamian. Major Key for some years published a monthly farmers' magazine at Sheffield and moved it to Montgomery in 1890, where it is now published. It is one of the best of its kind in the south.
In Franklin county, that is the portion remaining after Colbert was cut off, several newspapers are now published. We have no information as to those of an early date. Russellville, the county seat since the advent of the railroad. has become a prosperous town with a number of large mining industries and has not for several years been without a news- paper, although, in 1850, there was not a paper published in Franklin county. The Southern Idea is now published there by J. H. West.
Butler county's first paper was published in 1833, with John W. Womack as editor and Thomas J. Judge proprietor. The material had been used in the publication of a paper at Claiborne. The name given to Butler's paper was the Greenville Whig. Its publication ceased in 1836 as the editor and proprietor both gave up the business in order to serve with the troops that were engaged in fighting the Indians. Col. Womack became quite prominent in the politics of the state. Mr. Judge read law, and from the printer's case made rapid advancement. He was at the time of his death one of the justices of the supreme court of the state of Alabama, and preivous to that had served in both branches of the state legislature, representing for a portion of his legislative career Lowndes and the other Montgomery county. After the suspension of the Whig. Butler was without a paper until 1547, when the South Alabamian was established. It remained neutral in politics until 1851 or 1852. when John S. Davis sold it out to a firm. Hill & Jones, who continued the publication some months and until Hill formed a company and went into
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the army as captain. Jones soon followed him into the service. The paper was then left in the hands of the old proprietor, Davis, who con- tinued its publication until 1862 or 1868, when the office was destroyed by fire. The support the Alabamian gave to the democracy incensed the whigs, and they induced two young men who were printers to publish a paper in their behalf. They commenced in 1832 or 33, calling their paper the Messenger. The publishers were Osborn and Livingston. In two or three years Osborn sold his interest to L. D. Steele. The Messenger then continued publication until both of its proprietors entered the Con- federate army. Livingston went out as first lieutenant of the Greenville Guards, the first company leaving the county. Steele soon followed as lieutenant in another company. The paper suspended publication and the material was burned in one of the many fires which occurred in Greenville during the war. The Greenville Observer was the next paper to appear. It was originally the Pensacola Observer and was taken to Greenville, when its proprietor refugeed to that place after the Federal troops entered and occupied Pensacola. Its publication was kept up until the war closed, when it was moved to its old home in Florida.
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In the fall of 1865, the Greenville Advocate was brought out by T. M. Leatherwood and J. B. Stanley. In 1867, the latter bought his partner's interest and has ever since continued the publication. The Advocate under his management has been one of the most successful newspapers ever published in the state. It has from its first issue until the present been an earnest supporter of the democracy. Mr. Stanley has occupied the highest positions in the gift of his associates of the state press, having served many years as president of the state associa- tion. He was at one time first vice-president of the National editorial association. He has given the people of the county of Butler a paper- attractive in its make up, pure in its sentiments and unswerving in advocacy of those principles which he believed to be right. His son, R. H. Stanley, is now associated with him in the paper and has given marked evidence of journalistic ability.
In 1867, W. W. Beasley established a paper called the Southern News. It was published for about two years and then was moved away. Early in 1868, or '69, John S. Davies purchased material and intended to re- vive his old paper, the South Alabamian, but before bringing out the first issue he died. Messrs. Thames & Porter bought the material, and under their management the old South Alabamian once more greeted its friends. This paper changed hands four or five times in as many years. In 1875, the Advocate office was destroyed by fire. and Mr. Stanley bought the material of the Alabamian for continuing the publication of his own paper, and the Alabamian was again suspended. The next oppo- nent with which the Advocate had to contend was the Independent Thinker, published for a year or two by J. M. Whitehead. The material was afterward sold and removed to Rutledge and used in the publication
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of the first paper established in Crenshaw county. In 1880, during a warm local contest over county officers, the Greenville Echo was estab- lished, with James Thames, editor and proprietor. He continued it until his death about one year afterward. The editorial control then fell into the hands of Rev. B. H. Crumpton, who continued less than a year. The good will of the paper went to the Advocate and the material was sold and carried away. The True Democrat was the name of a short-lived paper. Its material was purchased by a printer named Stalker, who be- gan, in October, 1891, The Greenville Local. It lived less than a year, when the Advocate purchased the material. In 1892, the Living Truth was moved to Greenville from Georgiana and is now being published as a third party paper by J. M. Whitehead. Several papers at different times have been published at Georgiana, in Butler county, but no infor- mation concerning them is at hand.
The first newspaper established in Talladega county was the Southern Register and Talladega Advertiser. It was issued on the 17th of July, 1835, at $3 per annum in advance. John F. Henderson was the publisher and his son, Samuel Henderson, was the printer's "devil." Robert H. Chapman, then a lawyer, was the editor. In 1837, Thomas L. Barnett, Esq., became the editor. On August 4, 1838, Samuel Henderson, in a neatly written salutatory, assumed the editorship. He retained it but one week, as on August 11, 1838, Samuel F. Rice, having bought the estab- lishment, became the editor. In September, 1839, the Southern Register was re-purchased by John F. Henderson. and changed to the Patriot, which was edited by Samuel Henderson. In 1842, the name of the paper was changed to the Southerner and was edited for a short period by Lewis E. Parsons, Esq. B. H. Spyker, Esq., became editor on Mr. Parson's retirement, and in January. 1543, the paper was discontinued. In the latter part of the year, preparatory to the great presidential con- test of 1844, the type, press and material were bought by a company, and in February, 1844, the Alabama Reporter made its appearance under the editorial supervision of B. H. Spyker and Daniel Sayre. Spyker soon relinquished the sole management to Mr. Sayre, who conducted it for several years. In 1850, the paper passed into the hands of M. G. Shel- ley, now of Austin, Tex. He was succeeded by his cousin. N. W. Shelley, who, in 1855, sold the establishment to Macrus Cruikshank, Esq. The men connected with Talladega's first paper played a prominent part in Alabama's history. Mr. Samuel Henderson became an eminent Baptist preacher and ranked among the ablest of that denomination in the south. He was also at different times the editor of Baptist newspapers. The first editor of the paper, Mr. Robert H. Chapman, became a Presbyterian preacher and received the degree of D. D. Samuel F. Rice was, perhaps, the most remarkable man who has ever been prominent in Alabama affairs. He settled in Talladega fresh from his native state, South Carolina, to. practice law. While editing the Register, he was elected to the legisla-
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ture and also secured the contract for the state printing. He was several times an unsuccessful candidate for congress. He was elected one of the judges of the supreme court and became the chief justice. When he re- signed he made Montgomery his home and seeured a very large and lucrative practice. He was one of the most powerful advocates who ever appeared before a jury, while at the same thne having a profound knowl- edge of the law. He died about two years ago. Another famous man in Alabama is Lewis E. Parsons, who was for a time editor of the paper while it bore the name of the Southerner. He was an able lawyer and a fine speaker. In 1565, he was appointed provisional governor of Alabama by Andrew Johnson and was elected by the legislaure during the winter . of 1865-6 to the United States senate, but was not allowed to take his seat. Gov. Parsons is now living in Talladega which has been his home for over fifty years. Mr. Cruikshank was a lawyer of decided ability, and was elected during the war as a representative in the Confederate congress at Richmond. A few years ago- he was thrown from a horse and killed. The paper under his management and for some years before was a stanch advocate of the whig party, and to get the benefit of a demo- cratic journal, a company consisting of G. T. McAfee, William Curry, D. A. Griffin, J. G. L. Huey and Samuel F. Rice, purchased the materi- als for a newspaper and gave the editorial control to Judge Rice, and thus in February. 1840, the Democratic Watchtower started into existence. In 1842, John I. Woodward became the editor. In 1844, it was edited principally by J. G. L. Huey. In 1843, by James H. Joiner & Co. In 1846, Joiner became sole editor until May, 1852. when Gen. R. W. Hig- gins became co-editor. In June, 1854, Robert H. Chapman purchased a joint interest in the paper and became its chief editor. In October, 1856, his brother, William S. Chapman. succeeded him and he and Mr Joiner became responsible for the management. Subsequently, Joiner was in sole control and remained so until after the late war, when his son, Maj. G. A. Joiner, became associated with him. During this time, Dr. William Taylor was on the editorial force, and for a while after the war Col. J. A. Woodward was a part owner of the paper. In 1873, the Messrs. Joiner sold the paper and it was consolidated with the Alabama Reporter, which was run by M. H. Cruikshank and T. J. Cross. Mr. Cross came to Talladega from Huntsville in 1:43. as a printer, and remained with the Reporter until March, 1890. when he sold the paper to William E. Hen- kel, of Indiana, who is now running it as the News Reporter. Mr. Cross was the sole owner of the Reporter and Watchtower from the death of Mr. Cruikshank in October. 1 -- 3, until March, 1590. One of the presses in the office of the News Reporter is that on which the first laws of the state of Alabama were printed.
Our Mountain Home was established in 1857. by Moseley Bros., and B. H. Shanklin, and was afterward sold to Edward Bailey of South Caro- lina, who conducted it several years, when it went back into the hands
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of the Moseleys. In 1876, it was purchased by John E. Ware, till 1881. when it was purchased by John C. Williams, its present owner and editor. Since Talladega's first newspaper, there have been others beside those mentioned above, but they were of short duration and attracted but little attention. Under the management of Mr. Williams, the Mountain Home has been an eminently successful paper. He is, at present, and for several years past has been, the president of the Editors' and Pub- lishers' association of Alabama.
In 1835, the town of Wetumpka was partly in Coosa and partly in Autauga county. In that year. a newspaper was established there. The town had bright prospects, for it was at the head of navigation, boats running from its wharves to Mobile. In the contest for location of the state capital. it was a strong competitor with Montgomery. The first paper printed in town was in 1-35, and was called the State Guard. We , have no information as to exact date or as to name of editor or proprie- tor. It passed into the hands of W. L. and B. C. Yancey, who in 1839, according to DuBose's life of Yancey. bought the Wetumpka Commercial Advertiser and Argus, the paper at that time bearing that name. They dropped the first part and published the paper as the Argus. The paper soon attracted great attention and its circulation was widely extended over Georgia and Mississippi as well as Alabama. The cash price was $4 per annum in advance and 85 if payment was delayed longer than ninety days. Charles Yancey, a Virginian, established the Times as a rival paper, but it was not long before there was a consolida- tion. At that time, according to Mr. DuBose, "E. White and William Hager, citizens of Wetumpa, advertised in the Argus to the printers of the United States, their invention of a machine for casting type, the first known, which they alleged, would be sure to drive out the unhealthy English plan, by hand, on account of its superiority." In 1840. Mr. W. L. Yancey, who had then just began his remarkably brilliant public career, took full charge of the Argus, devoting his entire time and attention to its interests. In the great campaign of that year he supported the demo- cratic ticket, and in addition to the Argus published a stirring campaign paper, the Southern Crisis. To Mr. Yancey is due the credit for the first step toward an organization to advance the interests of editors and publishers in Alabama. Through the Argus, in the winter of 1-40-41, he called upon editors throughout the state "to organize to protect the editorial corps against loss and imposition." In the same year, he pub- lished, in the Argus, the prospectus for the first agricultural journal that ever prospered in Alabama. It was his individual enterprise and was to be called the Alabama Planter and to be issued twice a month, at $3 per year in advance and $5 at the end of three months. The prospectus said "it has been remarked that the prosperity of a country is to be measured by the number and circulation of its agricultural publications. Is it not true that ignorance and obstinate prejudice have been dispelled only by
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the light of science, and that plenty and prosperity have thus alone been made to succeed penury and want? The interests of the farmers demand such publications; the interests of merchants demand their eirculation. When agriculture flourishes commerce revives." Mr. Yancey had, at that time, no thought of the great fame that awaited him in another field. In announcing the purchase of a new outfit and press for the Argus, he said: "It is a lamentable reflection that political controversies of the present day are conducted with intemperanee ansuited to conflicts of reason. Our columns shall be devoted to carrying the fundamental prin- ciples of public education into every cottage of the state." It was not long before Mr. Yancey was recognized for his great ability and devoted himself to the practice of the law. His career in the state legislature, in the congress of the United States, as minister of the Southern Con- federacy to Europe, and as senator in the Confederate senate, is well known to his countrymen. After one of the most remarkably brilliant careers in American annals, he died at his home in Montgomery in the fall of 1863, and before he had reached his fiftieth year.
The record of papers at Wetumpka is not complete as to those established prior to the war. The State Guard was the name of the Argus, it seems, after Mr. Yancey left it, and it was conducted by Mr. Moore and by Charles Yancey at different periods from 1843 to 1857, when it was passed into the hands of the late Willis Roberts, who gave it the oll name of the Argus, and under that name it was continued until 1867, when it suspended. The People's Banner established in 1867, by E. W. B. Bayzer, suspended in 1876. The New Joax, established by G. A. B. Smith, in 1875, changed its name to the Times in 1877. The Central Alabamian, established by M. E. Reese in 1877, was published until 1881, when it ceased to live. The Elmore Express established in 1955 by E. W. B. Bayzer was merged into the Elmore Democrat in 1889, by F. H. Bass, which with the Times was merged into the Times-Democrat under Mr. Bass in 1889. It was edited in 1889 by J. M. Fitzpatrick. and in 1890 by A. E. Williams, and from 1-91 to date has been under the management of C. L. Bass. The Reform Advocate, a third party paper, was estab- lished in 1892 by R. T. Goodwyn. Wetumpka, since the formation of Elmore county, twenty odd years ago, has been wholly in that county, instead of being partly, as before that time, in two counties. No papers have ever been published at any other point in the county.
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