USA > Iowa > Cerro Gordo County > History of Franklin and Cerro Gordo counties, Iowa and biographies of representative citizens. History of Iowa, embracing accounts of the pre-historic races > Part 31
USA > Iowa > Franklin County > History of Franklin and Cerro Gordo counties, Iowa and biographies of representative citizens. History of Iowa, embracing accounts of the pre-historic races > Part 31
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" To the citizens of Franklin county we promise a faithful record of affairs of the county, descriptions of the advantages and resources of the country, and such sugges- tions as may occur to us to be furnished by correspondents relating to changes and improvements of all kinds. At the solici- tation of a number of her citizens we have transferred to your county our press and a very large quantity of type and fixtures of a superior quality and style, which will compare favorably with those of any simi- lar establishment in northern Iowa; and with our best wishes for your welfare we solicit that support which we hope to merit. With respect to its eligibility as an agricultural district, Franklin county has few superiors; but its inert resources must be developed by the labor of the husbandman. Large tracts, now unsettled, must be peopled by energetic go-ahead men; and it rests in a great degree with each of you to forward the day when this most desirable result shall be attained. It is not an overwrought idea, that the es- tablishment of a press in a county like this is of more present, as well as prospec- tive, value than the immigration of one hundred persons. With your aid in cir-
culating our sheet, we shall inform many thousands in the older and naturally less favored counties, of a place where there is a fertile soil, good water and healthy cli- mate; where, with comparatively light la- bor, the earth will yield them her richest blessings, of the present and future worth of this region, and we shall ever invite them to come and inhabit it with us. * * We would be pleased to be able to call upon every citizen of this, and those ad- jacent counties whence we reasonably ex- pect our support, and take them each by the button-hole and speak to them, in the most pleasant manner possible, of the great utility of the press in general, and the Franklin Record in particular, and in the blandest tones solicit them to subscribe and read. This being impracticable we must content ourselves with relying upon their good judgment in the matter, and expecting them to act accordingly, prom- ising that the Record shall appear the next and each succeeding week, so long as we are supported in the work. Mean- while we doff our beavers and make to all, until next week, and to the ladies es- pecially, our most profound Chesterfieldian salaam."
One of the items in the first issue of the Record stated that, " Quite a number of beavers have been shot and trapped by our citizens the past few days. The high water of spring generally drives these ani- mals from their dams and holes when they are easily secured-so we are told by those who have tried it on, and they all bear witness that beaver hunting is rare sport."
The publication of the Franklin Record was continued until 1863, when it ceased.
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY.
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A few years later the material was pur- chased by J. Cheston Whitney for $350, and was used in establishing the Franklin Reporter, now the Recorder. The founder of the Record, S.M. Jones, is still a resi- dent of Hampton.
TIIE FRANKLIN REPORTER.
This newspaper was established in the spring of 1866, by J. Cheston Whitney, the first issue making its appearance on the 1st day of May, 1866. It was at that time a six column folio, all home print, and very well filled with advertisements. The subscription rate was announced as being two dollars per year, and it was de- clared to be devoted to "Local Interests and General Intelligence." The material with which the paper was published had been formerly used in the office of the Hampton Record. In his introductory, Mr. Whitney said: "It will be our lead- ing object to furnish a journal which will be acceptable to all, and a welcome visitor at every fireside-a journal which will tend to the elevation of public morals, to the advancement of popular education, and to the material wealth and increased pros- perity of the county which we have chosen for our home." It was also stated that 'while space should not be occupied by po- litical harangues and partisan controversy, yet the paper should be an outspoken re- publican sheet, because the principles ad- vocated by that party most nearly accorded with the convictions of the editor. "But," Mr. Whitney continued, "we are not so bound by party creed that we shall blind- ly support any man or any measures, sim- ply because the leaders of the party may so desire."
L. B. Raymond, at this time, was associ- ated with J. Cheston Whitney in the editorial work, he having charge of the educational department. Mr. Raymond remained in editorial charge of this de- partment until the issue of April 4, 1867, when he was succeeded by N. B. Chap- man, the county superintendent of schools. May 9, 1867, the Reporter was enlarged to a seven column folio, and otherwise much improved. In 1872, the Reporter was again enlarged, this time coming out as a six column quarto. Thus it continued until April 3, when Mr. Whitney purchased the Hampton Free Press of L. B. Ray- mond, and consolidated it with the Re- porter. The name was then changed to
THE FRANKLIN RECORDER.
In his announcement of the consolida- tion, Mr. Whitney said: "We make our bow to the public through the columns of the only paper published in Franklin county; and it will be our endeavor, in the future as in the past, to furnish such a: sheet as will be a welcome visitor to the homes of all our patrons." Mr. Whitney continued the management of the Re- corder alone until the issue of May 29, 1872, when J. C. Harwood, late editor and proprietor of the Winnebago Press, pur- chased a half interest in the paper and the firm became Whitney & Harwood. In this shape the management remained un- til August, 1876, when J. C. Whitney withdrew, and shortly afterward engaged in publishing the Chronicle. J. C. Har- wood assumed full control of the Re- corder, and continued to edit and publish it with good success, until the 1st of Jan- uary, 1878, when he sold to Col. T. E.
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McCracken. Shortly after selling out Mr. Harwood removed to Wright Co., Iowa.
Col. T. E. McCracken immediately after purchasing the Recorder made satisfactory arrangements with L. B. Raymond, who was then running the Hampton Leader, whereby the two papers were consolidated under the name of the Franklin county Recorder, with the firm of McCracken & Raymond. T. E. McCracken and L. B. Raymond as editors and proprietors. This arrangement made the Recorder the con- solidation of three papers-the Franklin Recorder, the Hampton Free Press and the Hampton Leader. In speaking of the new departure, the editors said, in the issue of Jan. 8, 1879:
"As the Recorder announced last week, arrangements have been perfected, where- by it and the Hampton Leader have been consolidated into one paper. It was ex- pected that the name of this paper would be the Franklin Reporter, but it has been decided to retain the name Recorder, call- ing it the Franklin County Recorder, and as such it would appear to-day if our new head had arrived in time. We are well aware that this consolidation of two active, energetic, aggressive and partisan news- papers will not meet with favor from all parties. The old Reporter had friends who have stood by it through thick and thin, and whose political gospel it was, and the same is true of the late Leader, and it would be too much to expect for the new Recorder o take the place of either in the estimation of its most radical friends. * * It seems to be the al- most universal opinion that it is time peace prevailed and that newspaper fights in Franklin county should cease."
It was also stated that the Recorder should be republican always, but just to those with whom it could not agree. In conclusion, it was stated: "We have nó differences to perpetuate, nor enemies to punish, and we really hope that we may regard all as friends. In the race of life we desire an equal show and a fair start with everybody, and we shall try to do our duty and give you the best country newspaper in all Iowa." The form of the paper was changed, in the issue from which these extracts were taken, from a six column quarto to an eight column folio, all printed at home, the patent inside be- ing discarded.
The partnership between T. E. Mc- Cracken and L. B. Raymond was con- tinued until Jan. 7, 1880, when L. B. Ray- mond purchased the interest of his part- ner and assumed full control.
T. E. McCracken, the outgoing partner, came to Hampton from Webster City. He was a native of Indiana, and frequently spoke of his former residence in Posey county. His parents were Quakers, and he followed in their footsteps. At an early day he came to Iowa, and in company with Thomas Mercer, now of California, in 1871, and established the Republican at Marshalltown. In 1874 he moved to Webster City and purchased the Hamilton county Freeman, which he published for about one year, also engaging in mercan- tile trade. His coming to Hampton is mentioned elsewhere. He was sheriff of Marshall county for four years, and for several years filled the position of collector of internal revenue of the old sixth district. He was a pleasant, social gentleman, witty and full of fun. He was a blunt spoken
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man, a great politician and a vigorous writer. Col. McCracken is now in the postal service of the government. His home is in Webster City.
L. B. Raymond became sole proprietor of the Franklin County Recorder with the issue of Jan. 7, 1880. On this date the paper was enlarged to a nine column folio, and passed its fifteenth birthday. An inter- esting feature of the Recorder at this time was the "History of Franklin County," by L. B. Raymond, which was published as a serial, having reached the fifteenth number. L. B. Raymond is still proprie- tor of the Recorder. It has a large circulation and ranks among the best county newspapers in Iowa.
In speaking of the history of the Recorder in January, 1880, L. B. Ray- mond said : "We cannot now call to mind all the graduates of the Recorder office. The writer hereof was the first 'hand' in the office, and James W. Sheppard, afterwards of the Rock Rapids ( Lyon county ) Review, the second. Then came his brother, Frank Sheppard, J. Y. Lambert, who was very well known here in his day, but of whose present where- abouts we are not advised ; A. M. Allen, now dead, but during his life-time of the Belmond Mirror and Hampton Magnet; Clarence Whitney, the present junior editor of the Hampton Chronicle; T. L. Hacker, at one time of the Ackley Inde- pendent, but now private secretary of the governor of Wisconsin ; F. P. Morgan, of the Bristow Dial, and many more who have never had any newspaper experience on their own hook. The Recorder has seen Franklin county increase from 1,500
inhabitants to 10,000, and Hampton, from a little hamlet too small to bear counting, to a thriving place of 2,000 people. It was here before there was any railroad, and now we have two. It has outlived or absorbed all of its cotemporaries except one, and we think may justly claim to be ranked among the permanent institutions of Franklin county. "
The following sketch of Levi Beard- sley Raymond, was prepared by I. L. Stuart :
L. B. Raymond came to Iowa in the fall of 1863 or winter of 1864 and settled near Aplington, Butler county. He was just out of the army and broken down in health, consequert upon injuries received in the service, and for that reason tried farming in hopes to regain the same. He succeeded but indifferently, either at farm- ing or in benefiting his physical condi- tion, and having but little capital and no previous experience at the business, he abandoned it in disgust in the summer of 1865 and came to Hampton, about even so far as this world's goods were concerned. A new school house was built at Hamp- ton that season ; a two-story stone build- ing that stood between the lots now occupied by the Cannam House and Gray's Furniture Store on Reeve St., and Raymond was employed to teach the first school therein. Miss O. M. Reeve, now Mrs. J. T. James, of Knoxville, Marion county, this State, was his first assistant.
In May of the next year, J. Cheston Whitney came to Hampton from Mason City, and, buying the material of the old Franklin Record of S. M. Jones for $300, started the Franklin Reporter, and hired
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY.
Raymond to work in the office. He also conducted an educational department, in the paper, and made himself generally useful around the institution. We never heard the wages paid, but it was small, as the Reporter was a small institution at that time, being only a six-column folio, and while it was enough to "summer" on, it was not enough for winter wages ; at least so Raymond evidently thought, for when fall came he took another school to teach in Reeve township at the foot of Mayne's Grove, in what was then and is now known as the Reeve district. The summer of 1867, he put in as traveling agent for a school furniture house, and was, in the fall of that year, nominated by the republicans of Franklin county, as a candidate for county superintendent of schools, and was elected by only thirty- three majority over N. B. Chapman, the incumbent of the office. The next two years saw him engrossed in the duties of his office, in to which he entered heart and soul, and he has the credit of inaugu- rating several reforms, the good effects of which are felt to the present day. In 1869 he started a second paper in Hampton, deemed a fool-hardy venture by many, but as the capital invested was only $250 there was not much risk to run. The paper was called the Hampton Free Press, and although pub- lished under difficulties and obstacles that would have discouraged an ordinary man, the sheet thrived and grew apace. In 1860 he was appointed asssstant United States Marshal to take the census of Frank- lin county, which was the first official po- sition he had ever held wherein the pay or emoluments. amounted to anything ma-
terial. In the spring of 1872 his atten- tion was turned to the northwestern por- tion of the State, then rapidly settling up, and after a trip made into that vicinity to see for himself, he came back with so violent an attack of the western fever that he sold out the good will and subscription list of the Free Press to Mr. Whitney (who consolidated it with the Reporter under the name of the Franklin County Recorder) packed up his printing material and moved to Cherokee, Cherokee county, where he started a paper called the Chero- kee Leader. Immediately after this he purchased the O'Brien Pioncer, which had previously been printed in Cherokee, but dated at O'Brien, and put a printing office into a little attic at that place, employing O. H. Willits, late a typo in the Free Press office, as local editor and manager. Shortly after, he bought the good will of the lately extinct Sionx County Herald, and put another printing office at Orange City, in that county. In the fall of 1872 he started a fourth paper at Doon, Lyon county, called the Lyon County Press, and a fifth at Newell, Buena Vista county, called the Mirror. So that he was the first man to put a printing office into O'Brien or Lyon counties.
His sixth venture in the newspaper line was started under peculiar circumstances, and will bear telling somewhat in detail as illustrating the character of the man and his tremendous energy and pluck. O'Brien county had, during the year 1872, been settling up rapidly, and a railroad had been surveyed through the northwestern portion of the county, and a new town started at Sheldon, which was in the nortwestern portion of the county, while
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY.
the town of O'Brien, the county seat, was in the southeastern corner of the county. Sheldon was settled by an enterprising go-ahead set of young fellows, who made no secret of their intention to secure the county seat of O'Brien county, and the rapidity with which the town grew, and the country in its vicinity, during the fall of 1872, made it look as though the scep- ter was likely to depart from the east side of the county. Late in December Raymond happened to be at Doon, Lyon county, on business connected with his paper there, and to the little hotel where he was stop- ping, came two Sheldon men who put up for the night. Raymond was not intro- duced to them and they did not know him. After supper he heard them dis- cussing a project that was on foot to start a newspaper in Sheldon early in the new year, and that the funds were already raised, and steps would shortly be taken to give the enterprise a tangible form. He knew that if the paper was not in ex- istence the first Monday in January, at the time the board of supervisors met, it could not be legally recognized by the board as an official paper for the ensuing year, and that if another paper was in existence at that time, they would be compelled to recognize it as the second official paper, and the proposed organ would be left out in the cold. He got an almanac and found that it was just eleven days .to the first Monday in January. The Sheldon men retired to rest and Raymond got out his team and started for Cherokee, seventy miles away across a dreary prairie. It was a bitter cold night, and the wind blew so that the tract was filled with snow, but it was not very dark, and despite the
warnings and entreaties of his host he pulled out. He drove his team until after daylight, when he stopped at a hospitable homesteader's sod-house, and after break- fast, hired the man to take him the rest of the way to Cherokee, leaving his own team to rest. Cherokee was reached barely in time to take a train that left eastward bound. He had heard of a second hand office for sale at Manchester, in Delaware county, and thither he went, arri ring there in the night. Going to the house of the owner he routed him out and dragged him un- willingly to the office, and after thirty minutes' inspection the material changed hands. Leaving the the ex-owner to pack it up and have it on the cars by a given time, Raymond took the 3 A. M. train for Chi- cago, and, after buying such other material as was needed, got back to Cherokee in time to unload his second-hand material and start it for Sheldon. The day he crossed the prairie to Sheldon, carrying the balance of the material with him, the thermometer was twenty-nine degrees below zero, and he narrowly escaped death by freezing. But the paper was out on time and was Volume 1., Number 1, of the Sheldon Mail, now one of the leading and most prosperous weeklies in northwestern Iowa. It might be stated, as shedding some light upon the subject, that the O'Brien Pioneer changed hands the last issue in December, coming out under the charge of A. II. Willetts & Co. Who the "Company" was nobody inquired, but the Pioneer and Mail were duly recog- nized as the official papers of O'Brien county, and the other paper talked of at Sheldon failed to make its appearance.
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY.
In 1874, came the grasshopper scourge of northwestern Iowa, and the financial revulsion consequent upon extravagance and recklessness by the early officials in many of the counties. Raymond was caught with county warrants on his hands that he had taken at par, which he held until they went down, in some cases, as low as thirty-five cents on the dollar. Not near all due him from private sources could be collected, and he closed out all his interests as best he could, taking land, stock and slow notes, upon some of which he never realized anything. But he was satisfied to get out on almost any terms, and has never been heard to com- plain of his experience in northwestern Iowa. After a few months spent in the employ of the State Printing Company, at DesMoines, he returned to Hampton, and for a year or two devoted himself to im- proving some real estate that he owned in the county and doing some surveying. He held the office of county surveyor one year, and county superintendent of schools one year to fill a vacancy, and in Decem- ber, 1877, started a third paper in Hamp- ton called the Hampton Leader. The Leader did an excellent business, and on the 1st of January, 1879, was consolidated with the Recorder, that paper having been purchased by Col. T. E. McCracken, and a new firm organized under the firm name of McCracken & Raymond. At the close of the year a stock company bought Mr. McCracken's interest, and the paper passed into Mr. Raymond's control where it has since remained, he now owning nearly all the stock. Mr. Raymond has been prominent in politics, in Franklin county, and indeed in his section of the
State, for many years. He is an excellent organizer, and while his forte does not lie in personal solicitation in a campaign, it is universally conceded that his equal as a conductor or director of an aggressive and active compaign does not exist in Frank- lin county. His advice is always eagerly sought by candidates and those interested in political affairs. He is an out-and-out radical republican, and it is his boast that during all the time he has voted he has never scratched a regular republican ticket. For many years he has been chair man of the republican county central committee, and his hand has drawn the calls for as many conventions as that of any man in Iowa. In March, 1883, he was appointed a special examiner in the United States Pension Office, and was soon after transferred to the district com- prising northeastern Wisconsin and the upper Michigan peninsula. The Recorder still runs in his name, but is under the immediate management of Mr. I. L. Stuart, who is also its local editor.
The subject of this sketch was brought up near Beloit, Rock Co., Wis., and in his younger days partially learned the printer's trade at that place and was a student at the college there for several years. He was among the first to enlist in 1861, serving nearly two years in the 6th Wisconsin Infantry, one of the regi- ments comprising the famous Iron brigade of the West, and after being discharged for injuries received in the service, spent a few months in the provost marshal's of- fice at Janesville, Wis., coming to Iowa, as has been stated, late in 1863. He was married,in 1867, to Mary O. Leverich, and has four children living-three sons
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and a daughter. They have buried three. Mr. Raymond has got along somewhere between three or four years past forty, is over six feet in height, is erect and broad- shouldered and weighs in the neighbor hood of 215 pounds. He has blue eyes, light brown hair and a sandy beard, and is remarkably quick in his movements for a man of his weight. He is a warm friend and a bitter enemy-if he hates a man he hates him beyond expression, and he can- not do too much for his friends. He has the faculty of making money but not al- ways of keeping it, and is too generous to ever be a rich man. He is prompt to act, decided in his convictions, resolute in his undertakings and perfectly fearless and independent in everything. He is one of the most public spirited men that ever lived, and is always att e front when any measure is being agitated regarding the welfare of his town or community. He has always been prominent in educational matters, having been a member of the school board of Hampton twice and is now a member thereof. He takes a live ly interest in military matters and is cap- tain of company H, 6th regiment Iowa National Guard, and thoroughly devoted to its interests. He has enemies. as every active, aggressive man has, but has also many warm friends. He is thoroughly devoted to his profession and no member of the editorial fraternity in Iowa is more prompt to resent any infringement upon the rights of the craft than he. Probably his worst fault is that of too plain speak- ing, and a tendency to say sarcastic and cutting things regardless of the feelings of others, but it is noticeable that he is much more careful in this respect as he
grows older, and that age and experience have done much towards mellowing him down. Of undisputed New England an- cestry and traits, he is a fair specimen of the go ahead westernized Yankee.
I. L. Stuart, local editor and manager of the Franklin County Recorder, was born in Chester, Vt., Ang. 27, 1855. He is a son of J. Q. and Lucy J. (Burton) Stuart, natives of Vermont. His parents moved to Wisconsin in 1867, locating at Black Earth, near Madison. Here I. L. remained until 1873, then went to Bosco- bel, same State, where he edited and pub- lished the Boscobel Dial. At this time Mr. Stuart was but eighteen years of age, yet he succeeded well in his business and remained in the position three years. In 1876 he went to Milwaukee and worked on the Milwaukee Sentinel for two years; he then went to Charles City, Iowa, and engaged as foreman on the Floyd County AAdvocate, remaining until 1881. In that year Mr. Stuart came to Hampton and took his present position on the Franklin County Recorder. Mr. Stuart began his preparation for the newspaper business with Burnett & Son, proprietors of the Black Earth Advertiser. He has grown up in his profession, and thoroughly un- derstands every department of newspaper work.
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