USA > Ohio > Delaware County > Century history of Delaware County, Ohio and representative citizens 20th > Part 27
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The Delaware Gasette is one of the oldest newspapers in Ohio and probably the only one. that has been controlled by one family for nearly three quarters of a century. In the year 1818 the Delaware Gasette first made its appearance, published by Drake. Hughes and Olmsted. Judge Ezra Griswold purchased the paper in 1821 and it was published by him until 1834, when he sold it to Mr. George W. Sharpe, who had just come to Ohio. from Frederick, Maryland, where he had owned a printing office. At the solicitation of Mr. Sharpe. Abraham Thomson, a relative. emi- grated from Maryland to Delaware and in September, 1834. became a partner in this journalistic enterprise. Soon afterwards Mr. Sharpe sold his interest in the business to Judge David T. Fuller. Two years later Mr. Thomson purchased Judge Fuller's interests and became sole proprietor, which he remained from that time until January 1, 1897, when on account of ill health, consequent upon the in- firmity of age, he sold the Gasette establish- ment to his two sons, Henry C. and Robert C .. and reluctantly retired from the labors that had been so congenial to him for over a half century.
From 1865 to 1871 a half interest in the Gasette was held by Captain Alfred E. Lee. who had served his country as a soldier with distinction and bravery during the War of the Rebellion, having been severely wounded at the battle of Gettysburg. Captain Lee during this time was elected a member of the Ohio House of Representatives and afterwards was
appointed by President Hayes to be consul- general at Frankfort-on-the-Main. In both positions he rendered capable and creditable service. After retiring from Frankfort he was editorial writer on the Ohio State Journal and other prominent newspapers. Captain Lee died in 1905.
From 1871 until he retired Mr. Thomson was assisted in the management of the paper by his son. Robert Carter, and also a portion of the time by his son, Frank G. In 1897 his oldest son, Henry C., returned to Delaware from Dayton, where he had lived for twenty- six years, and with R. C. Thomson as part- ner, purchased the Gasette establishment from their father and continued its publication un- dler the firm name of Abram Thomson's Sons. In October, 1898, Henry C. Thomson pur- chased his brother's interest and since that time has been sole owner and publisher.
Abram Thomson, who for sixty-two years was owner and most of that time editor of the Delaware Gasette, was a remarkable man. It is doubtful whether there is in the history of the State another case where one man has con- tinuously held a like position for such a length of time. As a man he was of a charming per- sonality and noted for uprightness and integ- rity of character : as an editor he was able and fearless ; as a citizen he was public spirited and useful.
Born at Taneytown, Md., in 1814. and hav- ing acquired his knowledge of printing in some of the chief newspaper offices of New York city, he came to Delaware when a young man
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of twenty and grew up with the town. Abram Thomson and his newspaper were prominent factors in its growth and prosperity and he was universally honored and respected by its inhabitants. In addition to his long life in the editorial harness. he held many public posi- tions. In 1848-49, without any solicitation on his part. he was nominated and elected Repre- sentative of Delaware County in the Ohio Legislature. For personal reasons he declined a nomination unanimously tendered him for re-election. In 1850-I he was chosen to suc- ceed William Dennison as senator from the district composed of the counties of Dela- ware and Franklin. In the year 1854 Mr. Thomson was a member of the Whig State Central Committee when it assembled, and de- clared the Whig organization disbanded and merged its party into the Republican.
In 1860 he was a member of the Board of Presidential Electors of Ohio which cast the vote of the State for Abraham Lincoln. By President Lincoln he was appointe 1 postmas- ter of Delaware and re-appointed in 1865. When the State Industrial Home for Girls was established in 1869 Mr. Thomson became, by appointment of Governor Hayes, a member of its first Board of Trustees, and he served as a member and secretary of the board for nine years.
Henry C. Thomson, the present owner of the Gasette, was born in Delaware in 1842. and was practically brought up in the Gazette office, having in his youthful days delivered the paper to its town subscribers for about five years. In the year 1865 he was taken into partnership in the printing business by his fa- ther, and continued a partner until 1871, when he moved to the city of Dayton, where he re- mained for twenty-six years, being engaged in the grocery business. January 1. 1897. he re- turned to his first love, the Gasette, and still (lireets its destinies. He has been assisted in its publication for about eight years by his son. Walter D. Thomson, to whose efficient man- agement and industry its success and prosper- ity is largely due.
In the year 1888 the size and business im- portance of Delaware seeming to warrant the
venture, a daily edition of the Gazette was launched and the favor with which it was re- ceived by the citizens, insured its immediate success. In 1897 a Mergenthaler linotype type- setting machine was added to its equipment, enabling the publisher to give its patrons much more reading matter than had before been pos- sible. In 1905 a second linotype machine was installed, making the Gasette's type-setting fa- cilities unexcelled by any office in a city of the same size in the State. For a number of years the Gazette has received the Scripps-McRae telegraph and cable service, by which it has been able to furnish its readers with the latest news on an equality with any of the afternoon papers of Columbus or Cleveland. This sery- ice has recently been merged with the United Press Association with improved facilities.
In the spring of the present year ( 1907) the circulation of the Daily Gazette, having outgrown the capacity of the press in use, a Campbell multipress was purchased and in- stalled in a new pressroom provided for its oc- cupancy in the basement of the Gasette build- ing. This press prints at one operation all eight pages of the Gasette which has been en- larged from six to seven columns to the page, and is capable of a speed of six thousand copics per hour.
The semi-weekly edition of the Gazette. which has a large circulation in the county out- side of Delaware City, was also enlarged to the same size. There are few cities the size of Delaware that can boast of as up-to-date and attractively printed daily paper as the Gasctte. A well equipped job printing department is an important adjunct of the Gazette establishment and a large quantity of catalogue work and commercial printing is turned out annually.
THE FIRST DEMOCRATIC NEWSPAPER.
For some time prior to 1841, the need of a Democratic organ in the county of Delaware began to be felt. Colonel B. F. Allen, Andrew Il. Patterson, Andrew Stephen. James W. Crawford. John Lugenbeel. Albert Pickett, Jr .. Ahab Jinks. Thomas Reynolds, Moses Byxby. Jr .. W. B. Heim. George W. Sharp and others,
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had, at different times, been in correspondence with printers at numerous places about estab- lishing a Democratic paper in Delaware County, but, as the saying goes today, no "oil" was struck until early in the year of 1841. Among the legislative reporters on the Ohio Statesman during the session of 1840-1, was a practical printer named Forest Knapp. It re- quired a practical printer at that date to suc- cessfully manipulate all of the departments of a printing office. On the advice and recom- mendation of Colonel Samuel Medary, a proposition was made to Mr. Knapp which he accepted. resulting in the establishment of a Democratic paper in Delaware called The Democratic Eagle. The paper was small, worked off on a small hand-press, the circula- tion very limited, the job department consist- ing of a couple of fonts of wood type made of apple or beech tree. The composition was done by three apprentices, Thomas J. Crawford, Andrew J. Crawford and Samuel J. Albright, all natives of Delaware. The first edition was bright, showing ability in its editorials, corres- pondence and scissorings. taking at once with its friends. Mr. Knapp conducted the paper for several years. it growing in every depart- ment and with his party and the people. Then he left for other fields of labor, placing the paper in the hands of Mr. John Converse. The latter not being a practical printer, soon tired of the business and retired. For some time no paper was published. In the meantime. Hon. George W. Sharp, a practical printer. who had had much newspaper experience in Maryland and some years prior in Delaware, secured the ownership of the plant and sent back to Frederick City, Md., for one of his former proteges, named George F. Stayman, to come to Delaware to take charge of the pa- per and the plant, and he would give him his own time to pay for it. Mr. Stayman ar- rived with his family early in the fall of 1845. took charge of the plant, secured some new newspaper and job type and started a little paper under the title of Loco Foco. This con- tinued a year, when there was an enlargement of the paper, press and all departments, the name of the paper also being changed to The
Delaware Standard. In a few years by work- ing hard, day and night. himself, and making practical printers out of about all of his chil- dren, although the portion of the county print- ing was not large, he built up a very satisfac- tory and readable paper. generally appreciated by old and young. Under the title of Stand- ard or Democratic Standard, for nineteen years, under the management of Mr. Stayman, this paper was continued. It was Democratic after the Jeffersonian and Jackson stamp. For a short time in the early fifties, D. W. C. Lugenbeel had a half interest in the paper, at- tending to the local department. It must be said that The Standard established the first local department of any paper ever published in Delaware. Under the administration of President Pierce and part of that of President Buchanan, Mr. Stayman was postmaster, bili lost out a year under the latter owing to his support given to Stephen A. Douglas and "Squatter Sovereignty." The Standard was the first paper in Delaware to run up "Ok Glory" when the Civil War began. In 1864. The Standard was sold to W. P. Reid, his brother, Theodore P. Reid took charge of it and started a neutral paper under the title of The Delaware County News. In 1866, Sam- uel J. Albright established a Democratic paper under the title of The Herald. It was bright and newsy from the start.
After it was firmly established, he retired. when the paper under the management of Hosea WV. Chamberlain had a number of edi- tors including Dr. E. H. Hyatt, Hon. E. F. Poppleton and John A. Cone. The next pro- prietor and publisher was Robert G. Hurlburt. He continued to publish the Herald down to the latter part of the seventies, when he died of cancer of the tongue. The next was Daniel Flannagan. He secured the plant and oper- ated it but a short time when he was followed by James K. Newcomer, then Newcomer & Fisher (D. S.) George Padgett was the next owner, until the plant was purchased by The Journal Company, which started an independ- ent newspaper in Delaware in 1900, under the editorial administration of Dr. F. M. Murray, who was associated with Mr. J. D. Knowles.
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The latter became manager and operated the paper until 1903. At this time. J. D. Knowles became editor of the Journal-Herald, the pur- chase of the Herald having been made by Mur- ray & Knowles. The Journal-Herald is op- erated in an up-to-date manner and is equipped as a modern newspaper should be. It has a Mergenthaler type-setting machine, receives the only telegraph service by wire every after- noon and makes its own illustrations.
After the purchase of the Herald by the Journal Company. J. D. Knowles became the editor and for six years has conducted that department in an able manner. Through the increasing influence of the paper, several Dm- ocrats have been elected to important county positions and at this time, the Democrats have the mayor and the City Council. In 1908 Mr. John H. Byrne was admitted into the firm of The Journal-Herald and holds the position as city editor. An eight-page daily is published. with sixteen pages on Saturdays. The Weekly Journal-Herald is printed on Thursdays and contains sixteen and sometimes twenty-eight pages. It is considered one of the best publi- cations in Ohio from a county of its size, show- ing its able management and the confidence of its readers and patrons.
ASHLEY NEWSPAPERS.
In 1875. a paper called the Ashley Star was started by Washington Granger. It was short- lived, and there was then a period of several years when no paper was published here. The Argus was the next local purveyor of news. After a time it came into the possession of the firm of Shoemaker & Coomer, who changed the name of the publication to the Enterprisc. After running the paper about a year. they sold it to C. B. Benedict, who sold it after a short time to A. D. Rowe. He adopted the name of the Ashley Times, and published it until his death. Harry Wood then purchased the journal and remained its proprietor and editor until 1904. when it was sold to C. Shoe- maker.
In 1900. Wilson C. Shoemaker, a native of Ashley, started a paper called the Ashley
Star, which name he changed, in May. 1905. to Tri-County Star. This journal has a circu- lation of about one thousand and is independ- ent in politics, its policy being to use all the in- fluence it exerts in the direction of enhancing the growth and betterment of Ashley. It is a four-page, seven-column paper, printed en- tirely in Ashley.
SUNBURY NEWSPAPERS.
The Sunbury Enterprise was the first paper published in that town. It was started in 1873. and was owned by a stock company composed of local citizens. The paper was issued once a week, and was managed by D. M. Pyle. He was to have purchased the paper and paid for it out of the earnings of the office, but not- withstanding that the people gave the new ven- ture their support, it was plain at the end of the first nine months that the manager was not adapted to journalism, and the paper was sold to Wayman Perfect, who changed the name to the Spectator. The publication im- mediately took on new life : it seemed to please the people, and it was not long before there was a list of 600 paid subscribers. The advertising columns were also well patronized, and the pa- per was a success from a financial point of view. J. S. Watson purchased the paper in 1876, and it was successfully conducted by him until the spring of 1879. when he suspended the publication in order to take advantage of a better opening elsewhere. About 1880 a pa- per called the Monitor was established by J. G. Sharpe, but we have been unable to learn any- thing of its career or of its demise. In May. 1889. A. R. Letts began the publication of a Democratic paper called the Sunbury News. It ran until the summer of 1894, when it was suspended. and the people in that part of the county were without a home paper until the fall of 1894. when the Delaware County Nowys-Item, a weekly, independent paper. was started by A. R. Letts and William F. Whit- tier, under the firm name of Letts & Whittier. In 1900. Mr. Whittier purchased his partner's interest and has since conducted the paper alone. The issues of the paper contain from
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four to eight pages, and it now has a circula- tion of 1,720.
The Delaware Signal, which was the first organ of the Prohibition party in Ohio, was started by a joint-stock company on Septem- ber 23, 1873. The principal promoters of the enterprise were Thomas Evans, Jr., Colonel Lindsay, Dr. L. Barnes and J. W. Sharpe. Their organization adopted the title of the Delaware Printing and Publishing Associa- tion. In 1872, a small paper called the Dela- ware Prohibitionist had been started by Milton R. Scott, and the association published this pa- per for a short period, not more than a month or two, until they could get in a position to publish a paper better suited to their purpose. The Signal was then started as a large-sized nine-column folio, with Messrs. Sharpe, Barnes and Lindsay as editors, and Mr. Evans as
treasurer and manager. The paper was pub- lished at a loss until 1876, when Mr. Evans took it off the hands of the association to pay the debts of the concern. He abandoned his other business interests and devoted his entire time and energy to building up the paper, which he continued to publish until some time in the early 90's, as nearly as we are able to ascer- tain. Mr. Evans reduced the size of the paper to eight columns, and, by rigid economy, suc- ceeded in making it pay the full expenses of the office. Although the publication paid its proprietor nothing for the time and labor he bestowed upon it, it was a labor of love on his part. The circulation of the paper grew to large proportions for those days and for a paper of that kind, and was accepted as the State organ of the Prohibition party.
CHAPTER XI.
EDUCATION (1).
Introductory-Public Schools of the City of Delaware-District Schools and Early Teachers -St. Mary's Parochial School-Statistics-Delaware City Library-Delaware County Historical and Archacological Society.
The sturdy pioneers who sought religious freedom on New England's barren shores be- lieved education to be the handmaid of relig- ion, and so they reared the schoolhouse along side the village church. Only twenty-seven years after the arrival of the Pilgrims, a law was passed compelling every town or district of fifty householders to maintain a common school. and every town or district having a population of a hundred families to have a grammar school, presided over by teachers capable of preparing the pupils for college. This is the first instance recorded in history where a civil government undertook to provide for the education of its youth ; and the wonder- ful progress of our nation is a continual attes- tation to the wisdom of those who embarked upon this experiment of a government of, by. and for the people.
The history of education in Ohio is unique in this respect : That in 1785, before there was a settlement in the territory now comprised within the State, it was provided by Congress. in an ordinance for the survey and sale of the western lands, that section sixteen, or one- thirty-sixth of every township included under the ordinance, should be reserved from sale for the maintenance of public schools within the township. The "Compact of 1787" declared that "schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged." As a rule, the ques- tion of providing educational facilities is an
undeveloped region are not considered until the need actually arises and presses liome upon an established community ; but here we have the federal and future state govern- ments both pledged in advance to provide in some way for the support of public schools.
As these lands were at first only reserved from sale and settlement, no steps were taken by the territorial legislature to apply them to the purpose for which they were set aside. When Ohio was admitted as a State, these re- served school lands (of which there were 740,- 000 acres) were granted to the State and placed at the disposal of the Legislature.
The Constitution of 1802. repeating the famous educational clause of the Ordinance of 1787, made it the duty of the Legislature to carry out its intent. It also provided that all schools, academies and colleges founded upon or supported by revenues from the land grants should be open "for the reception of scholars. students and teachers of every grade without any distinction or preference whatever." The Constitution of 1851 goes still farther, and de- clares in plain terms that the General Assem- bly shall provide by taxation or otherwise. "a thorough and efficient system of common schools throughout the State." What has the State done in fulfillment of these constitutional obligations which it assumed? Nearly all the school lands were sold long ago, and those that have not been sold are held under per-
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petual lease at an extremely low rental. The money received from the sale of these lands was paid into the State treasury, the State pledging itself to pay six per cent. interest thereon forever, the interest to be distributed annually among the various townships and districts for school purposes. As a matter of fact, the fund itself has been borrowed and spent by the State, and the annual interest the State is obligated to pay is raised by taxation. The fund is now, therefore, merely a fiction of bookkeeping, and represents the legal and moral obligation on the part of the people to tax themselves a certain amount each year for school purposes.
Having thus briefly reviewed the early pro- visions made for the support of public schools in Ohio, and having seen how the immensely valuable reservations of school lands have been practically frittered away by politicians, we will now consider the conditions that actually confronted the courageous pioneers who braved the perils of wild beasts, savages and disease to bring civilization into this wilder- ness. Coming from New England, they brought with them the same ideas of the value and importance of education that were so early formulated into the law we have already noticed; but in this new and unsettled coun- try there were many obstacles to be overcome. At first, comfortable shelter must be provided for the family, and then land must be cleared and erops raised to provide sustenance for man and beast. Arduous as such work now is, it is not to be compared with the toil of these brave men and women of a hundred years ago. Little time or strength, if any, was left for study to anyone of either sex who was able to bear any part of this burden of labor ; settle- ments were small and scattered ; teachers were scarce, money and books were scarcer and school houses-there were none. All honor is therefore due these sturdy and ambitious pio- neers for the way they surmounted these dif- ficulties, and provided for the education of their children just as soon as there were enough settlers in a locality to maintain a school.
The old log schoolhouses, with their rude furniture, have been replaced by accommoda- tions and facilities for securing an education that transcend the wildest dreams of the teach- ers and pupils of those primitive days. There are few people now left in the county who are old enough to recall these early "temples of learning." and a brief description will doubt- less interest the pupils of the present as well as those of coming generations. The early schools were not public schools in any true sense of the word, and not free schools in any sense. Land grants were not yet available, and school taxes were unknown. The schoolhouses were not built by subscription ; the neighbors would gather at some point previously agreed upon. and, with axe in hand, the work was soon done. These early structures all belonged to the log-cabin style of architecture. They were fifteen to eighteen feet in width, and twenty- four to twenty-eight feet long, with eaves about ten feet from the ground. The chinks between the logs were filled with clay mor- tar. The floor was of earth, puncheons. or smooth slabs. Puncheons were logs split and smoothed a little with an axe or hatchet on the flat side. To make a window, a log was cut out, usually the entire length of the build- ing, and the opening thus made was covered with greased paper mounted on sticks. The people in Marlboro township were particularly proud of their schoolhouse, which had two such windows. in one of which greased sheep- skins were used instead of paper. The room. or at least one end of it, was heated from an immense fireplace, and it usually took most of the time of three boys to fill its hungry maw with logs. The furniture consisted principally of rude benches without backs, made by split- ting logs into halves, and mounting them, flat side up on four stout wooden pins about fif- teen inches long. Just under the window. two or three strong pins were driven into a log in a slanting direction; on these pins a long puncheon was fastened, which served as a writing desk for the whole school. There was no blackboard, and no apparatus of even the rudest description to assist the teacher in ex-
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pounding the lesson. Reading, spelling, writ- ing and arithmetic constituted the course of study. Text-books were few. The favorite reader, when it could be procured, was the New Testament ; Murray's reader was owned by a few, and here and there would be found a copy of the "Columbian Orator:" Webster's Speller was the first used. later, the "Elemen- tary Speller" was introduced. They learned to "figure" from Pike's and Smiley's Arithme- tics. When grammar was taught, which was not often. Murray's and Kirkham's grammars were the text-books used. These were the books comprising the primitive outfit of the teacher, while each pupil usually had one or more of them. As there was but little work to do on the farm in mid-winter. a three months' term was taught at that season, so that the boys could attend. The teachers were paid by subscription, and "boarded around." the terms being from one to three dollars per pupil for a term of three months. In those days there was little money with which to pay salaries, as nothing was raised to sell, and gold and bank notes were unknown before the War of 1812.
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