USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. I > Part 45
USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. I > Part 45
USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. I > Part 45
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Both men have since done conspicuous newspaper and literary work. Rev. Warren P. Landers has written several books, among them the "History of Brockton" at the time of its one hundred and fiftieth an- niversary a few years ago, has been connected with secular and de- nominational publications and has been a clergyman for many years. J. Frank Davis has added to years of conspicuous newspaper activities in various parts of the country, a fame as a writer of short stories for magazines and is author of "The Ladder," the play which created a sensation in New York in 1927.
Albert H. Fuller was well-started in the card-printing business in 1876 and believed there was room for a second weekly paper. He as- sociated himself with Walter L. Hathaway, under the firm name of A. H. Fuller and Company, and the firm employed W. J. Jenks as editor.
The initial number of the "Brockton Advance" made its appearance May 6, 1876, and under the heading of the paper appeared the line "Independent in all things," a distinction which it lived up to as long as it remained in the journalistic field. It was "Published every Sat- urday by A. H. Fuller & Company." A sketch of Deborah Sampson, the Plympton Revolutionary War heroine, for whom Deborah Samp- son Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, of Brockton, is named, appeared in the May 20th issue of the "Advance." An extra was issued May 31, giving a report of the Memorial Day exercises the day before. The orator of the day was Hamilton L. Gibbs, in whose honor Hotel Hamilton on Belmont Street, Brockton, is named. There was also, on that occasion, an address by Patrick Gilmore, an honored citizen of that day, concerning the part taken by the Irish soldiers from this vicinity in the Civil War. He was father of the late Edward Gilmore, who served this district in Congress and the city of Brock- ton as alderman and later as postmaster.
A friendly notice appeared in the "Advance" concerning a neighboring newspaper, which changed January 1, 1877, from the "Every Saturday" to the "Bridgewater Independent," one of the weekly papers of the county which is still in existence.
The "Brockton Advance," of August 26, 1876, issued a "Firemen's Edition" with a sketch of each fire company in Brockton. The paper made considerable headway and was sold to Isaac Folger and S. Heath Rich of Nantucket, who began its publication, under the new ownership, in September, 1878. The paper attained a circulation exceeding two thousand but was not sufficiently remunerative to sat- isfy Messrs. Folger and Rich. The next proprietor was Arthur E. Fessenden, who took charge March 15, 1882, but discontinued the paper after a few months.
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The "Brockton Sunday Times" appeared for the first time Septem- ber 8, 1889, attesting the belief on the part of its publishers, Parmenter & Cook, that Brockton would support a Sunday newspaper. The firm had a change of heart a few Sundays later.
The Courier Publishing Company of Bridgewater issued a Campello paper May 23, 1891, called the "Campello Courier." Its term of ex- istence was three weeks.
The "Weekly Diamond," still published by E. Gerry Brown, first made its appearance December 18, 1892. It has always been devoted to the cause of organized labor, and is at present the official organ of the many labor unions in Brockton. Mr. Brown has done a vast amount of good newspaper work since beginning as a reporter on the "Boston Post" more than half a century ago. He was, before coming to Brock- ton, publisher of a weekly newspaper in Charlestown.
The "Brockton Shoe" was a monthly publication in the interest of the shoe trade, the first issue of which was dated February 1, 1890. The publisher was Allston C. Ladd. It was a very attractive publica- tion and withstood the obstacles of magazine life for three years.
Michael Moran began the publication of a weekly paper called the "Brockton Democrat and Workingmen's Advocate" in the fall of 1897. With two or more suspensions for considerable periods, it continued until the summer of 1926, when serious illness of Mr. Moran compelled another suspension. It had always reflected the good-natured raillery of its popular editor, publisher and owner, and no one has attempted to carry it on, as it had been a more or less personal organ.
One of the proprietors of the "Plymouth County Journal" was Charles Franklin David, founder of the C. F. David Advertising Agency. Mr. David was several years a resident of Abington and eventually sold the "Plymouth County Journal," after building it up from a languish- ing condition to a state of prosperity, to F. W. Rollins.
Some Valued Contributors-Captain Henry B. Maglathlin, who com- manded a company of Massachusetts volunteers in the Civil War, wrote much for newspapers in his day, but his principal literary work was writing textbooks for school use. He was a resident of Kingston, in the Silver Lake neighborhood, and served several years as a member of the Kingston School Committee. In 1849 a Boston publisher brought out for him an educational work which went through twenty-five editions. He was associated with Benjamin Greenleaf, the well-known mathematician, in rewriting the "National Arithmetic," and in composing the "Elemen- tary Algebra, Geometry and Trigonometry" in the Greenleaf series. He edited the "New Higher Algebra" and, in 1866, brought out the "New Elementary Arithmetic" and the "New Practical Arithmetic."
Plym-27
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Several other textbooks with which many people struggled in the mastery of the three Rs were the work of his hand and brain.
He was prominently identified with the early labor movement and was a member of the Sovereigns of Industry, Knights of Labor and other like organizations. He was a strong advocate of cooperative measures and was president of the Co-operative Store at Silver Lake, under the Rochdale Plan, which prospered under his management more than twenty-five years, the longest American trial of the Rochdale plan. In 1895 he founded the Co-operative Union of America and was a member of its Central Board.
Edmund Hersey of Hingham, who was instructor in farming at the Bussey Institution in Jamaica Plain, the School of Agriculture and Horticulture connected with Harvard University, and superintendent of the Bussey Farm, some years ago, included among his useful pur- suits experience in journalism. He also invented a machine for the manufacture of boxes, which revolutionized that industry.
For eight years he was agricultural editor of the "Massachusetts Ploughman," and also was one of the editors in charge of the annual preparation of the "Old Farmer's Almanac."
Charles O. Ellms will be remembered as a contributor to the "Boston Transcript" who signed some of his writings "Scituate." He was also a frequent contributor to the "Massachusetts Ploughman," the "New England Farmer" and other publications given to agricultural litera- ture. He was a resident of Scituate and had a collection of antiques which was one of the best in the country. His article on the early days and inhabitants of New England were read with great interest during the years of his newspaper writing.
Another valued contributor to newspapers and an author was the late Lysander S. Richards of Marshfield Hills. For a number of years he engaged in scientific study and research and one of his con- tributions was a treatise on cosmography which was published in the "Banner of Light" of Boston. He published philosophical and scien- tific papers and articles on his travels in the Far West, in the "Boston Commonwealth."
Among the books which he published were "The Beginning and End of Man," "The Birth, Development and Death of the Earth and Its Satellite in Story," and "Vocophy." He also published a history of Marshfield.
Flavel Shurtleff Thomas, M. D., LL. D., of Hanson, has a more ex- tended mention in that part of this history devoted to the medical fraternity. He also has a place among the newspaper contributors and magazine writers. The files of the "New England Medical Monthly," the "Boston Medical and Surgical Journal," the "School Bulletin" of
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Syracuse, New York, the "Boston Journal of Health," the "Youth's Companion ; the "Old Colony Memorial," the "National Magazine," the "University Magazine of New York," "Education," the "American Journal of Education" of St. Louis, and other publications, will show that Dr. Thomas was a writer on a long line of topics, all of which he handled skillfully, with educational value.
Nearly every reader in Plymouth County who takes any interest in historical matters has read some of the works of the late William T. Davis of Plymouth, who practiced law early in life, was for twenty years president of the Plymouth National Bank and held many posi- tions of honor and trust. Among his literary works were "The His- tory of Plymouth," "Ancient Landmarks of Plymouth," "A History of Newburyport, Massachusetts," "Historical Sketches of Some Massa- chusetts Towns," and "History of the Bench and Bar of Massachu- setts." He edited many historical books and series of records, among the latter the "Plymouth Town Records" and "A History of the New England States." He was a lecturer on historical topics and a con- tributor to the "Old Colony Memorial" and numerous other news- papers.
A contributor to newspapers for many years was the late Caleb Bates of Kingston, who had the faculty of telling his stories in an interesting manner and injecting into them a line of humor especially delightful. Mr. Bates was a farmer, inventor, philosopher, fond of doing things in an original way. His articles in the "Old Colony Memorial" a generation ago, included the intelligent consideration of local topics and reminiscences of earlier days.
Beginning of the County Dailies-The "Brockton Weekly Enter- prise" made its appearance in 1879, carrying a story of the observance of Independence Day in the old town under the new name of Brock- ton, as the date was July 5. It was a four-page paper of thirty-six columns and was a little over six months old when the publisher, Al- bert H. Fuller, decided that he would try his hand at daily journalism. Consequently the "Brockton Daily Enterprise" was issued January 26, 1880, with an edition of five hundred copies, printed on the press of its rival, the "Brockton Gazette." The capital is said to have been $500, supplemented, as a former employee once said, "by an un- changeable determination on the part of the publisher that all weekly bills should be paid before a dollar profit should be divided, a keen perception on the part of the editor to discover what the public would read, and a versatility which enabled him to write all over the paper, from the advertising notices up to the Fourth of July oration; and a nose for news on the part of the reporter which enabled him to locate
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both the church sociable and the sensational occurrences of the day." The three men referred to were Albert H. Fuller, who remained pub- lisher to the time of his death in 1926; S. Heath Rich, still editor-in- chief, and the gentleman who heads the list of the advisory board of this history ; and Herbert S. Fuller, the first of the three to pass away, nearly twenty years ago.
These three men made a strong trio and the "Brockton Daily En- terprise" became a Brockton institution which encouraged everything which made for the upbuilding of the community, recognized the potential possibilities and assisted in bringing them to fruition, and mirrored the daily life of the community faithfully and brilliantly.
For many years there was another daily newspaper, causing a keen rivalry in the bid for public popularity and support. This was the "Brockton Daily Gazette," under various managements and owner- ships, for a few years under the name of "Brockton Daily Despatch," and in its final days called the "Brockton Daily News."
Connected with the "Gazette" or "Despatch" at various times were notable newspaper men, among them A. M. Bridgman, later of the "Haverhill Gazette," for years editor and publisher of the "Stoughton Sentinel," and many years legislative reporter at the Massachusetts State House for various newspapers; George W. Penniman, for many years connected with the Boston "Globe;" managing editor of the "Boston Standard" during the life of that paper in the last years of the nineteenth century, a well-known writer and lecturer.
It was a long time after the establishment of the "Brockton Daily Enterprise" that the weekly profits amounted to twenty dollars, to be divided between the three proprietors. When that day of affluence arrived there was a triangular dinner in Boston and the only regret was that Boston hotels were too provincial to furnish a menu com- mensurate with the importance of the occasion. The average earnings of each of the proprietors during the first year was less than $7.50 a week.
The original office was a small room on the second floor of a build- ing on Centre Street, but the present Enterprise Building on Main Street was erected for the newspaper in 1887, by Frank E. White, at that time a prominent Brockton shoe manufacturer.
In May, 1898, the ownership of the "Enterprise" was changed into a stock company, called the Enterprise Publishing Company, with a capital stock of $10,000. None of the shares passed from the three original owners. The "Weekly Enterprise" was continued until 1896. Since that time the Saturday issue of the "Daily Enterprise" has con- tained a review of the week which has made that week-end number
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practically answer. the purposes of a weekly for those who do not care to subscribe to a daily.
The newer daily paper in Brockton was founded by William L. Douglas, for many years "the world's greatest shoemaker," one of the early advertisers to seize upon the idea of including his picture in all his advertising, and thus making his face and his Brockton-made shoes known from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It was on February 4, 1895, that the "Brockton Daily Times" made its appearance, follow- ing advertisements in most of the papers, great and small, in the. East that it was to be a newspaper "which would grind no man's axe and had no axe of its own to grind." William L. Douglas engaged as his general manager Colonel J. Amory Knox, who was already known throughout the country as previously associated with Alexander Sweet in the publication of "Texas Siftings." The first home of the "Times" was in Church Block, on Main Street, next door to the his- toric Church of the New Jerusalem, in which the first volunteer company was organized to answer the call of President Lincoln after the firing on Fort Sumpter.
Colonel Knox remained with the "Brockton Daily Times" six months and during that period excavation work began on a new home of its own for the journalistic new-comer. This home was erected on the historic training ground, from which the local companies had gone forth to the War of the Revolution, the War of 1812, and the War of the Rebellion, corner of Main and Pleasant streets. Within a year from the time the excavation began, the "Times" was in its new home and remained there as long as Mr. Douglas remained its owner.
The "Brockton Times" was the first newspaper in the county to install typesetting machines, in fact the first newspaper in this part of the State. William L. Douglas served as city councilman, mayor, governor of Massachusetts, and was prominent in several other lines, but always a shoemaker. It might hardly be consistent with his character and inclinations to refer to him as a news- paper man, although he started a worthy daily which leaped, full- fledged, into the journalistic arena, looking as if it had always been in the field. Mr. Douglas presumably never thought of himself as a newspaper man, but his name belongs in that category in. recognition of his contribution. He was one of the first great news -. paper advertisers in the United States and continued to pin his faith and his face to printers' ink as long as he lived.
When he was mayor of Brockton, he hired as secretary a newspaper man, John Grainey, upon whom he depended to a great degree, as many other mayors, in this county and all over the country have ever. since. When William L. Douglas was a candidate for gubernatorial
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honors his campaign was managed by another newspaper man, Wil- liam R. Buchanan, who acted as his secretary while he was governor, and to whom he sold the "Times" later.
Mr. Buchanan had general experience as a newspaper proprietor and editor many years previous to coming to Brockton. He sold the "Times" to its present owner, John D. Bogart, and has since made his home in Florida. The business office of the "Times" is still housed in the Times Building but the mechanical plant and editorial rooms are on Court Street, close at hand. The plant was moved on both occasions without the suspension of an edition.
Both Brockton dailies are independent in politics and both are given to a dignified and accurate presentation of the news of the Old Colony District and vicinity, with a devoted editorial policy of promoting the general good of the community, without fear or favor. Few cities of equal size possess newspapers which will compare favorably with them.
Tributes to Publisher of County's First Daily-The Enterprise Pub- lishing Company, owners and publishers of the "Daily Enterprise," have as president S. Heath Rich, who has been editor-in-chief during the near half-century the "Enterprise" has been published. The treas- urer is Charles L. Fuller, son of Albert H. Fuller, the latter being one of the three original owners of the "Enterprise," and the man who started the "Brockton Weekly Advance" in earlier years.
Albert H. Fuller passed away March 20, 1896, and the following day the "Enterprise" contained the following tribute from the pen of his associate of more than forty years, S. Heath Rich:
A personal friendship and business association spanning nearly forty-seven years is broken today by the death of Albert H. Fuller. With him as publisher and I as editor the "Weekly Enterprise" was launched in July, 1879; the daily edition the following January. All these years we have worked shoulder to shoulder, with mutual confidence and forbearance, with never a serious difference of opinion and with but one aim and ambition-that each issue of the paper might in some de- gree attain our ideals of what it should be. All these years we have been good . friends as well as co-workers.
My associate had lived and labored beyond the allotted threescore and ten. Up to within a year he had been a remarkable example of sustained good health and vigor. When a malady developed he was impatient with it and himself. Perhaps he did not realize soon enough the advisability of getting away from his desk and tak- ing care of himself. He had never learned what it was to be sick. While in Arizona in the early part of the winter he wrote: "I only hope I have not waited too long." Who can say that he had? Those years of glorious health were bound to run their course some time. Let us be glad they were his almost to the finish.
Our friend would not wish to be eulogized, even in the newspaper he created and that was so dear to him. He never sought publicity for himself. It was enough to be the force in the background that brought results. He had no liking
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for public office or for prominence in welfare movements. He felt he could serve the community helpfully in his own ways without being in the spotlight. He was a good citizen, a devoted son, husband and father, a kindly, considerate employer. His favorite recreation was travel, and when he set out on a journey he liked to go to regions out of the beaten paths. Nearly always Mrs. Fuller was his com- panion and pal on such adventurings.
Albert Fuller was a dreamer. Always there was much about him of the spirit of youth that has visions. And always those visions included his newspaper and plans for its perpetuation and betterment. A dreamer-but a doer as well.
Those on whom may fall the task of "carrying on" now that he has stepped down from the captain's bridge have the inspiration of his example, his never swerving from the right, his sustained interest in his work, to hearten them for daily striving. His heart was in this newspaper. It must continue to measure up to his ideals.
S. H. R.
A friendly eulogy was given at the funeral of Mr. Fuller by Rev. Dr. Horace F. Holton, pastor of the Porter Congregational Church. He said in part: "More and more he came to conceal himself behind his newspaper, preferring to make that his medium of contact with the community. He had a high ideal for his paper, to which he always held his associates. The 'Brockton Enterprise' is probably the best expression of what Albert H. Fuller was in his heart-clean, honorable and sane."
The passing of Mr. Fuller recalled his entrance into the newspaper business. The "Weekly Enterprise" was first issued under date of July 4, 1879, and the daily was started in the following January. For the first few months the "Enterprise" had no press of its own. After the type was set on the second floor of a little building on Centre Street, the type forms were placed in a wheelbarrow and carried to the "Gazette" office, corner of Main and Ward streets, and printed on the "Gazette" press, by arrangement with Augustus T. Jones, who published that paper.
After a time a press was purchased and housed in a building built by Frank E. White, the present Enterprise Building, now owned by the Enterprise Publishing Company, which has recently made a substantial addition to the plant. Strangely enough the month in which Albert H. Fuller died, March, 1927, the "Enterprise" attained its highest record in circulation up to that time, 24,325. It was the first month the paper had ever exceeded 24,000.
Mr. Fuller was a member of several newspaper publishers' associa- tions and treasurer of the New England Daily Newspaper Association.
Some Old-Timers of Pleasant Memory-The sudden death in Janu- uary, 1927, of George W. Penniman in Washington was a shock to many friends in Plymouth County who remembered him as prominent
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in fraternal organizations, also as a newspaper man of many years' experience in good work. Mr. Penniman was a resident of Brock- ton many years but was known throughout the county, and it might be said with equal truth, throughout the State, owing to his many connections and activities. He was a prominent lecturer and after- dinner speaker, Sunday-school worker, temperance orator, Memorial Day orator and prominent in every one of more than twenty fraternal organizations. It has been said without dispute that he was a mem- ber of more fraternal organizations than anyone else in Plymouth County, but more remarkable than the number was the interest and .work which he devoted to each one. He was a great "jiner" and a popular fraternal associate.
Mr. Penniman served as editor of the "Brockton Gazette" as a young man and later was assistant editor of the Boston "Globe" and city editor of the Boston "Traveler." He was at one time assistant sporting editor of the Boston "Globe" and was an authority on cricket. He was prominent in the old Longwood Cricket Club, which later became the Boston Athletic Association, or B. A. A. He was managing editor of the Boston "Standard" when that paper flourished about 1896, for a short time.
Mr. Penniman is also remembered as the man who recommended the late George Clarence Holmes as correspondent of the Boston "Globe" for Brockton. Mr. Holmes held that position many years and Holmes' Sunday letters in the Sunday "Globe" were widely read and bristled with his vigorous and definite personality. Even when his coal and stationery and periodical business grew to such propor- tions that he had to relinquish chasing elusive items to a large ex- tent, he continued to write the Sunday letters or to write the "front end" of those which his assistants wrote in his name. Several bright newspaper men of the present day "did Holmes' work on the 'Globe'," until he resigned and Albert G. (Dan) Smith, the present Brockton correspondent of the "Globe," became his successor.
"G. C.," the name by which he was generally called, was "Globe" correspondent and doing his own work in that capacity forty years ago, to use a round figure, when Arthur F. Sproul was "Boston Her- ald" correspondent and William H. Bryant covered the local field for the Associated Press. Later Edward M. Thompson, the present treasurer of the Brockton Agricultural Society and president of the Brockton Savings Bank, to mention two of many of his activities, be- came the Associated Press correspondent. In the "Old Days" Holmes, Sproul and Bryant, or Holmes, Sproul and Thompson had many a royal battle in news-gathering and all gave good individual accounts of themselves.
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