USA > Indiana > Fayette County > History of Fayette County, Indiana : her people, industries and institutions > Part 44
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FAYETTE COUNTY, INDIANA.
The Connersville News, the original paper bearing this title, made its initial appearance on June 7, 1877, with E. J. Smith as owner and editor. It was a six-column folio and was labeled as "A Truly Independent Journal." For some time after it was started one column of news was printed in German, but this feature was soon discontinued. On August 7, 1878, T. A. Taylor and E. B. Rawles bought the paper from Smith and made it the organ of the Republican party. With the issue of February 26, 1879, Taylor appeared as sole owner. On November 12, 1879, W. H. Green and G. C. Bacon became the owners, but Green soon disposed of his interests to J. H. McClung. The new owners struggled with the paper for a time, but the city was unable to support three papers. The Times and the Examiner had been in the field several years before the News and it was impossible for the latter to com- mand sufficient advertising support to make it a financial success. Conse- quently, the owners of the Newes and the Times effected a consolidation of the two papers on March 9, 1881. This earlier News is not to be confused with the present News. It lived and died a weekly, while the present Newes was a daily from its inception to its consolidation with the Times, and has had no lapses.
THE CONNERSVILLE EXAMINER.
The Connersville Examiner, the Democratic organ of Fayette county, will soon have completed its fiftieth year of existence. On December 24, 1867, John Milton Higgs and F. M. Pickett issued the first number of the Examiner and it has had an unbroken career from that time down to the present. Higgs had learned the printing trade in the office of the Brookville Democrat and came to Connersville in 1859, where he joined one Smith in the purchase of the Telegraph. The career of the Telegraph has been prev- iously noticed. Higgs soon acquired the interest of Smith and continued his connection with the Telegraph until he sold it to Frank Brown in 1861. Higgs enlisted in the Union army on September 18, 1861, and upon com- pleting his military service went to Indianapolis, where he worked on various newspapers until he returned to Connersville to establish the Exam- iner.
Pickett remained with the paper until March 17, 1869, when he with- drew, leaving Higgs as the sole owner. From that time until 1903 Higgs conducted the paper alone. In 1887 he established a daily edition which has since been maintained. In 1903 Mr. Higgs disposed of the Examiner to E. W. Ansted, Frank Buckley and others, the new owners installing Loring
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Bundy, of New Castle, as managing editor. Bundy continued as editor until he was replaced by John W. Fawcett. . The latter in 191I was followed by H. C. Anthony, who was in editorial charge until 1915, in which year D. E. Trusler, the present editor, assumed control.
On September 27, 1915, the Express Printing Company, of Liberty, Indiana, took the Examiner under lease for one year, the company placing D. E. Trusler in charge. At the expiration of the year the Express Print- ing Company and the Connersville Daily Examiner Company were con- solidated and incorporated with a capital stock of thirty-thousand dollars, under the name of the Express Printing Company, the incorporators being F. L. Behymer, H. M. Hughes, E. W. Ansted, George W. Ansted and D. E. Trusler.
The new company at once began plans for a new home for the paper, and let a contract for the building of a one-story brick building, fifty by one hundred and seventy-one feet, at the corner of Grand avenue and Sev- enth street. The building was occupied in the early spring of 1917. It has new equipment throughout and is prepared to do all kinds of printing, binding, catalogue work, and various kinds of work done by first class printing establishments. There is an art department which was installed for the purpose of handling the immense amount of engraving and etching demanded by the catalogues issued by the local manufacturing companies.
The present force of the Examiner include thirty employees in addition to the editor, D. E. Trusler. Robert Walker is reporter ; Miss Ethlyn Backous, society editor, and Miss Mary Kubler, general office assistant. George P. Spicer is circulation manager. The circulation of the paper has more than trebled since the present editor took charge in the fall of 1915, and now exceeds thirteen hundred daily. When the Examiner occupied its new quarters in the early spring of 1917, F. L. Behymer, the president of the publishing company, and H. M. Hughes; secretary-treasurer, became perma- nent residents of Connersville. At the same time about twenty of the employees of the Express, published at Liberty, also located in Conners- ville. Mr. Behymer is the general manager and Mr. Hughes has charge of the book and catalogue department, Mr. Trusler continuing as the editor of the Daily Examiner.
THE BULLETIN.
The Bulletin was published monthly at Connersville from September, 1891, to January, 1893, by J. L. Heinemann for the Catholic Total Abstinence Union of Indiana. After January, 1893, it was published by others at New
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FAYETTE COUNTY, INDIANA.
Albany and Logansport. The subscription price of the paper was fifty cents a year and it had a wide circulation in the field it was designed to cover.
CONNERSVILLE PAPERS OF OTHER DAYS.
A city the size of Connersville can hardly support more than two papers, but this undisputed fact has not kept other ambitious newspaper men from attempting to start a third paper. At least two other papers have ventured into the local field, both with daily editions, and both bidding for patronage in competition with the two present daily papers. It would seem to an out- sider that the folly of trying to conduct four daily papers in the city at the same time would be so apparent that it would be impossible to interest capital. However the fact remains that in the latter nineties four papers made their daily appearance in Connersville-News, Examiner, Republican and Courier.
The Republican appeared early in the nineties and at various times dur- ing its brief career had both daily and weekly editions. It seems to have disappeared before the end of the decade. About 1898 the Courier Pub- lishing Company started the publication of a paper known as the Courier.
Sometime in the later nineties, A. V. Bradrick established a paper known as The District Farm Item and he continued to issue it until 1899, when he sold it to E. E. Moore and B. F. Thiebaud. The new owners changed the name of the paper to The Courier. The paper was later sold to John Moses, of Rushville, in 1905, and three years later, J. M. Hamilton and others organ- ized a company and bought the newspaper plant and soon established an excellent morning daily, but the competition with Cincinnati and Indianapolis morning papers was too keen and the paper failed to pay. The company was composed of A. J. Roth, Claude Mathewson, Charles Myers, William Masters and J. M. Hamilton. On May 4, 1912, A. J. Roth became the sole owner of the paper and discontinued its publication, converting the plant into a job printing plant. Mr. Roth is still operating the plant.
Two other papers, both magazines, have had brief careers in Conners- ville. In 1893 John W. Hull established a monthly agricultural paper bearing the name of The National Sheepman, the title being sufficiently indicative of its general contents. It was issued regularly for about twelve years. The other magazine was owned and edited by John P. Brown and carried the name of Arboriculture. It was published bi-monthly for about five years during the decade following 1900. Brown was an authority on
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FAYETTE COUNTY, INDIANA.
arboriculture and later published a volume entitled "Arboriculture" which is regarded as an authority on the subject.
The first issue of the Apostolic Holiness Herald made its appearance · May 26, 1907. Its first proprietor was George S. Owen, and later Roscoe S. McBride became associated with Owen. The paper was a small, twelve- page monthly magazine, eight and one-half by twelve inches in size. It was not a financial success and suspended publication in October. 1908.
CONNERSVILLE EDITORS.
In the preceding pages has been given a brief history of the several papers and magazines which have appeared in Connersville since Van Fleet started the Indiana Statesman in 1824. It now remains to notice the more prominent of the many editors who have been identified with these papers. It has been impossible to secure definite information concerning some of these men, but the main facts concerning several of the local editors have been collected and are given in the following pages :
ABRAHAM VAN VLEET (OR FLEET).
Abraham Van Vleet, the founder of the first newspaper in Fayette county, was born in New Jersey in 1783. His career prior to his location in Connersville in 1823 is not definitely known, but it appears that about 1812 he located in Lebanon, Ohio, and shortly afterward became connected with the Western Star, then published at that place. It is not known whether he learned the printing business in the office of that paper, or whether he had served his apprenticeship before going there. It is well established that he came to Connersville in 1823, bringing with him sufficient equipment to publish a paper. The population of the town and county was evidently not large enough to support a paper, although a reference to the Indiana Statesman in the commissioners' records in 1824 proves conclusively that he had a paper going for a time at least in that year.
No copies of this first paper in the county have been preserved, and consequently it is impossible to speak with definiteness concerning it. A fugitive issue of the second paper (Vol. I, No. 4,) published in the town, the Observer, carrying the names of Abraham Van Vleet and Daniel Rench as publishers, is dated July 8, 1826, which would indicate that it was started in the first week of June of that year. Van Vleet severed his connection with the paper sometime prior to 1830 and either turned his interest over to
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John Sample, Jr., or to Rench. It is certain that Sample was part owner in May, 1830, since on the 8th of that month the paper contains the valedictory of Rench and Sample, 'conveying the definite information that they have sold it to Samuel W. Parker. Van Fleet, according to the best authority, went to New York city in 1831 and died in that city the following year.
DANIEL RENCH.
Daniel Rench was born in Maryland about 1800 and came with his par- ents to Jackson township, Fayette county, Indiana, about 1812. He became associated with Abraham Van Vleet in the publication of the Observer, the second paper issued in the county, and was connected with it as part or sole owner from 1826 to . 1830, Rench and Sample, then owners of the Observer, disposing of it to Samuel W. Parker in May, 1830. Rench was a man of ability, as is evidenced by the offices of trust to which he was elected by the people of the county. He became the first auditor of the county in 1841 upon the creation of that office by the Legislature, and served continuously until 1855. He was elected recorder in the fall of 1865, and served from August 18, 1865, until his death on February 10, 1872.
WILLIAM STEWART.
William Stewart was born in Pennsylvania in 1815 and came with his parents to Connersville in 1821. He served as an apprentice in the office of the Observer. His connection with the papers of Connersville is more or less obscure, due to the fact that files of the early papers have not been preserved. He was first part owner of the Watchman and later became the sole owner, this connection falling within the forties. Sometime prior to 1845 he bought the Indiana Telegraph from Dr. Ryland T. Brown, but soon sold it to S. W. Swiggett. Stewart was a representative in the Legis- lature in the thirtieth and thirty-first sessions ( 1845-46). Stewart died in February, 1865.
MATTHEW R. HULL.
Matthew R. Hull was born in Taylor county, Virginia, December I, 1809, and came to Fayette county in 1828. He was a saddler by trade and followed his calling at various places in the county before engaging in the newspaper business in Connersville in 1832. At one time he had a shop at Alquina. He seems to have been a man of unusual energy and ability and
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became one of the leading men of the county. When he was only twenty- two years of age he joined Caleb B. Smith in the purchase of the Political Clarion of Connersville, the new owners issuing the first number of the paper (June 2, 1832) under the name of Indiana Sentincl. The following year Hull became the sole owner of the paper and he continued alone for some years. It seems that sometime after Smith severed his connection, Col. Henry J. Neff became identified with the paper and he may have taken over the interest of Smith. At any rate the Colonel soon left Hull in full posses- sion. How long Hull continued the paper is not definitely known, but it seems to have been discontinued before 1839. In that year Hull was elected to the lower house of the state Legislature, serving through only one session, the twenty-fourth. Sometime in the forties Hull left Connersville, located in Ohio, and from the best accounts available, engaged in newspaper work in that state for several years before returning to Fayette county. He was an ardent abolitionist, a radical temperance man, and took an active part in local affairs as long as he was a resident of Fayette county. He died on July 23, 1875.
A monthly magazine, The Western Life-Boat (Des Moines, Iowa), 1873, page 362, says of Hull: "M. R. Hull was an eminent instructor, and who but for instability of purpose would have become one of the most eminent men of the nation. He had much natural ability, a superior edu- cation, and was one of the most eloquent orators in the West. This same Hull started an abolition paper in Ohio. He now [presumably 1873] is in Fayette county, Indiana, carrying on a carriage and wagon factory."
GEORGE M. SINKS.
George M. Sinks, a brother of Augustus M. Sinks, was born in Cler- mont county, Ohio, February 20, 1846 .. He served in the Civil War from 1861 until 1864. In 1868 he located in Connersville, where his brother, Augustus M., had a short time previously bought the Times. He continued as part or sole owner of the paper until 1875, in which year he was appointed postmaster of Connersville, serving in that capacity until 1883. Upon retir- ing from the postoffice he became secretary-treasurer of the Indiana Church Furniture Company and filled that position until he retired from active busi- ness life in 1898, though he was for many years afterward the president of the Fayette National Bank.
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FAYETTE COUNTY, INDIANA.
JOHN C. OCHILTREE.
John C. Ochiltree was born in Union county, Indiana, March 11, 1846, and received only a common-school education. He began teaching school before reaching his majority and continued teaching twelve years. In the fall of 1880 he came to Connersville and on August 24, 1880, bought the Times in partnership with W. F. Downs. The following spring ( March 9, 1881,) Ochiltree and Downs consolidated their paper with the Newes, then published by McClung & Bacon. In August of the same year Ochiltree dis- posed of his interest in the paper to the other members of the firm, but about two months later (November 9, 1881,) Ochiltree and Augustus M. Sinks became the sole owners of the paper. On October 2, 1884, Ochiltree sold his interest to Sinks and on the 6th of the following November moved to Indianapolis where he lived for several years. He then located at Dayton, Ohio, where he was editor of the Dayton Daily News up to within a year or two of his death. He is buried near Glenwood,, Indiana. Ochiltree was a very fluent and versatile writer, and turned his hand with equal facility to prose and poetry. He issued two volumes of his writings.
WILLIAM FRANCIS DOWNS.
William F. Downs was born at Anderson, Indiana, December 25, 1854, and in 1862 located with his parents in Connersville. On November 9, 1868, he entered the employ of A. M. and G. M. Sinks, publishers of the Times. He served seven years as a compositor and then became foreman of the mechanical department. On July 1, 1875, being only twenty years of age at the time, he joined with John A. James in the purchase of the Times. Two years later the firm disposed of the paper to Charles N. Sinks. In September, 1880, Downs and Jolin C. Ochiltree became the owners of the Times, and a little more than a year later Downs sold his interest to A. M. Sinks and John C. Ochiltree. Downs now became city editor of the Examiner for a period of two years. On June 9, 1887, Mr. Downs, with Della C. Smith, founded the Daily News. From its inception it was a suc- cess, Downs becoming the first editor of the daily edition of the News. On October 20, 1892, Downs & Smith, owners of the News, combined the paper with the Republican and during several changes Downs continued to hold an interest in the paper until his death. Downs was city clerk from 1884 to 1890, and served as mayor from 1890 to 1894. Upon the resignation
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FAYETTE COUNTY, INDIANA.
of Miles K. Moffitt as county clerk, May 22, 1898, Downs was appointed to fill out the unexpired term, and served by subsequent election until his death, March 23, 1905. He is buried at Sturgis, Michigan, where his widow is now living.
JOHN MILTON HIGGS.
John M. Higgs, one of the founders of the Examiner, was born in Franklin county, Indiana, April 5, 1841, and received his éducation in the district schools and in Brookville. Before reaching his majority he entered the office of the Brookville Democrat and remained with the paper five years. In 1859 he came to Connersville and in partnership with one Smith bought the Indiana Telegraph from T. J. White. Higgs continued his connection with the paper until just before he enlisted (September 18, 1861) in the Union army for service in the' Civil War. He served throughout the war and after his return home located in Indianapolis, where he found employ- ment on the Indianapolis Sentinel and Gasette. The Democrats of Fayette county had no organ of their own after the war, and Higgs' was prevailed upon to return to his old home and establish a Democratic' paper. He induced F. M. Pickett, an editorial writer on the Indianapolis Herald, to join him in the venture and on December 24, 1867, the new firm issued the first number of the Connersville Examiner. Pickett withdrew from the paper on March 17, 1869, leaving Higgs as the sole owner. The latter con- tinued it as a weekly until 1887, when he established a daily edition of his paper, both of which have continued to come from the press down to the present time. Higgs maintained his connection with the paper until 1903, when he sold it to a stock company. Higgs retired from active affairs after disposing of the paper, and lived a quiet life until his death, November 7, 1909. His widow is still living in Connersville.
AUGUSTUS M. SINKS.
Augustus M. Sinks was born on March 27, 1838, in Clermont county, Ohio, and was educated at the National Normal School at Lebanon, Ohio. He began teaching at the age of nineteen and followed the profession for four years, reading law in the meantime. He was admitted to the bar in 1863 and in that same year was elected clerk of his home county. In 1867 he located in Connersville and bought the Times from W. H. Green, who had been elected auditor of Fayette county that fall. . He' assumed control of the paper in December and maintained his connection with it until May
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I, 1871, when he sold his interest in the paper to his two brothers, G. M. and M. R., who had previously been associated with him in its publication. Upon disposing of his interest he formed a partnership with Jeremiah M. Wilson for the practice of law, the firm being dissolved when Wilson was . elected to Congress. Sinks was attorney for the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Indianapolis Railroad and for the Ft. Wayne, Muncie & Cincinnati Railroad for ten years. On November 9, 1881, he and Jolin C. Ochiltree bouglit the Connersville Times and after the retirement of Ochiltree, July 2, 1884, Sinks continued as sole owner of the paper until 1891, when he disposed of it to J. W. Shackleford and Howard M. Gordon. Sinks was city attorney of Con- nersville for six years. He took a great interest in Masonic work, serving ten years as master of Warren lodge, four years as high priest of the chap- ter, five years as illustrious master of the council, four years as commander of the commandery, and one year, 1885, as illustrious grand master of the grand chapter, Royal Arch Masons, of Indiana. He died in Cincinnati in 1912.
JAMES HARVEY TATMAN.
No history, however concise, of the upbuilding of Connersville could be deemed just to the future unless it told of the life and the business career of the late James Harvey Tatman. Most of his life was spent in Conners- ville. Few more active members of the business circles of their day and no more rugged and strong-principled Christian gentleman ever added to the city's growth.
Born in Kentucky. Mr. Tatman came with his parents to Franklin county, Indiana, when he was still a little child. About the year 1858 he came to Connersville and the remainder of his life was lived within the city. He died on September 9, 1905 in his eightieth year.
In the course of his life in Connersville Mr. Tatman was a photographer, which art he mastered and prospered in. At one time, during the war, he employed three assistants constantly. He was later associated with A. C. Cooley in the furniture manufacturing business; he was a partner with L. T. Bower in a saw-mill industry; at one time he was interested with Henry Moyer in the retail furniture business; he platted a large tract of ground in the western district of the city which is known as Tatman's addition; he operated the largest apiary in Fayette county and was engaged in an active way, but on a smaller scale, in other enterprises.
Mr. Tatman was president of the Times-News Company for many years and upon it, as upon everything he touched, he left the imprint of a char-
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acter of strong and admirable angles. His eagerness in the conduct of busi- ness exceeded his strength of body. His ardor as a believer in Methodism exceeded both and his death took from the city a man who died as he had lived, and whose memory is revered today. The widow, Mrs. Josephine B. Tatman, who in her young womanhood was a contributor of verse to early- . day periodicals, still resides in the beautiful family home at the southwest corner of Grand avenue and Ninth street.
' EDWIN' WRIGHT TATMAN.
Edwin Wright Tatman, although a comparatively young man, has nevertheless been classed for a number of years among the city's forward rank of business spirits. He is president and general manager of the Times- News Company. His public activities in the Commercial Club, which he served as vice-president and treasurer, his identity with all public-spirited and philanthropic movements, and his labors in behalf of the industrial development of Connersville are predominate characteristics. Cementing all this he has a wide acquaintance and a salient penchant for being on the advance side of issues, questions and movements.
Mr. Tatman was born in Connersville in a house that occupies the same original lot on which his own house now stands, on July 21, 1878. His business career is a rather remarkable one. His connection with the Even- ing News, of which he is now the publisher and principal owner, began in his tenth year and has lasted, without interruption, until the present. He began as a newsboy and continued to be a newsboy until the day of his graduation from the Connersville high school. He was then in his eighteenth year. The Monday following he took up his duties as bookkeeper for the company. About a year later the company, theretofore in charge of William F. Downs and J. W. Hull, underwent a change, Mr. Tatman's father acquir- ing a half interest in the establishment. At the time of this transaction young Mr. Tatman was made business manager. He was peculiarly fitted for that position, having grown up from the humblest duties of the estab- lishment to the position-which he still holds-of the person who knows more about the business, in and out, than any other person connected with it. The years since he began as a newsboy have given him a business education not to be found in any college.
While on the surface of Connersville's affairs, Mr. Tatman and the Times-News are all but synonyms, the president and general manager is
Edinin M. Saturan -
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active otherwise, being interested in local banking and manufacturing enter- prises and having valuable realty holdings. He is a member of the board of directors of the Farmers and Merchants Trust Company, of Connersville.
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