Fifty years and over of Akron and Summit County : embellished by nearly six hundred engravings--portraits of pioneer settlers, prominent citizens, business, official and professional--ancient and modern views, etc.; nine-tenth's of a century of solid local history--pioneer incidents, interesting events--industrial, commercial, financial and educational progress, biographies, etc., Part 30

Author: Lane, Samuel A. (Samuel Alanson), 1815-1905
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: Akron, Ohio : Beacon Job Department
Number of Pages: 1228

USA > Ohio > Summit County > Akron > Fifty years and over of Akron and Summit County : embellished by nearly six hundred engravings--portraits of pioneer settlers, prominent citizens, business, official and professional--ancient and modern views, etc.; nine-tenth's of a century of solid local history--pioneer incidents, interesting events--industrial, commercial, financial and educational progress, biographies, etc. > Part 30

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Glad Tidings and Ladies' Universalist Magazine. - This was a sprightly semi-monthly quarto, published in Akron, in tlie interest of the Universalist faith, during the years 1838, 1839 and 1840. It was ably edited by S. A. Davis, N. Doolittle and J. Whit- ney, and besides being a vigorous and aggressive exponent of the doctrine of universal salvation, was a most excellent literary and general local newspaper. At the close of 1840, the paper was transferred to Cincinnati and its name changed to "The Star in the West," where it continued to shine. in the interest of that

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denomination, until about the year 1881, when, for reasons unknown to the writer, it was discontinued.

HON. HIRAM BOWEN,-born in Strobridge, Mass., April 29, 1815, removing with parents to Ohio, when young, settling at "Old Forge;" in 1825, entered the printing office of his uncle, Judge Ozias Bowen, pub- lisher of Middlebury's pioneeer paper, the Portage Journal, herein alluded to, as an apprentice. In 1838, in company with Horace K. Smith, published the American Balance in Akron, and in April 1839, on his own account, established the Summit Beacon, which he ably conducted until its sale to other parties, in 1845, though continuing to officiate as its editor one or two years longer. Mr. Bowen represented Summit County in the Ohio Legislature during the session of 1845, '46. In 1849 Mr. Bowen removed to Janesville, Wisconsin, where he edited the Janesville Gazette for several years, afterwards becoming manager of extensive

Agricultural

Works in that city.

His health becoming seriously impaired Mr. Bowen finally retired to a large farm in South Dakota. Early in 1886, he went to Los Angeles, Cal., to visit his son, Mr. W. P. Bowen, a postal clerk on the Southern Pacific R. R., where he died March 20, 1886, at the age of 70 years and 11 months. Another son, W. S. Bowen, is one of the proprietors of the Daily Press and Dakotian, at Yankton, Dakota.

HON. HIRAM BOWEN.

The Summit Beacon. - This paper, the direct and legiti- mate successor of the American Balance, was started on the 15th day of April, 1839, on a pledge of adequate support from the busi- ness men of Akron, and the leaders of the Whig party within the limits of the prospective new county of Summit, for the erection of which it at once became a vigorous and successful advocate.

But notwithstanding the pledges of support, and of official patronage, after the organization of the new county, the Beacon in common with the newspapers of the county, generally, had a hard struggle for existence for several years, yet though three times totally destroyed by fire, and hampered with pecuniary embarassments, the Reliable Old Weekly Beacon, has never missed an issue during the fifty-two years of its existence, though slightly diminished in dimensions, while recovering from its disas- ters, and is to-day at the very head of the weekly papers in Ohio.

In May, 1844, Mr. Bowen sold the BEACON to Mr. Richards S. Elkins, previously connected with the Ohio Star, at Ravenna. Mr. Bowen continued to act as editor, until April, 1845, when he was succeded by Laurin Dewey, Esq., a brother-in-law of Mr. Elkins, who also purchased a half interest in the concern. Mr. Dewey, it will be recollected, was the originator of Middlebury's

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first newspaper scheme, as above set forth; having in the mean- time been connected with the Ohio Star, as proprietor and editor, and also served two terms as sheriff of Portage County.

April 2, 1846, Mr. Dewey was elected warden of the Ohio penitentiary, but retained his interest in the BEACON until its recovery from the fire of June 9, 1848, when the establishment was sold by Messrs. Dewey & Elkins to John Teesdale, Esq., former editor of the Ohio State Journal, at Columbus, Mr. Dewey remov- ing to Iowa, (where he died September 10, 1868), and Mr. Elkins forming a partnership with Mr. Joseph A. Beebe in the book and drug business.

Under the able management of Mr. Teesdale the BEACON became the organ of the newly formed Republican party, in 1855, a partnership having in the meantime been formed between Mr. Teesdale and Beebe & Elkins, the new book, drug and printing firm being Elkins, Teesdale & Co. February 27, 1856, Mr. Teesdale sold his interest to his co-partners, Beebe & Elkins, but continued to act as editor until his removal to Des Moines, Iowa, where he was elected State printer, postmaster, etc., May 1, 1856, and was succeeded in the editorial chair by Hon. James Carpenter until his accession to the Common Pleas Judgship, October, 1856, when ex-Senator Ashel H. Lewis, of Ravenna, assumed, the position which he ably filled, with Mr. R. S. Elkins as associate editor, about four years.

HON. ASAHEL HOOKER LEWIS, -- a native of Farmington, Conn., and a graduate of Yale College, soon after graduating coming to Ohio; for a time associated with J. A. Harris in the editorial inanagement of the Cleveland Herald, and later editing the Ohio Star at Ravenna. Mr. Lewis was also a lawyer of con- siderable ability, for a time practic- ing in Cincinnati. While a resident of Ravenna, in October, 1846, Mr .. Lewis was elected State Senator for Portage and Summit Counties, serv- ing two years. In 1856, he removed to Akron, and became the editor-in- chief of the SUMMIT COUNTY BEACON, then published by Joseph A. Beebe and Richard S. Elkins, holding the positon until 1861. In July, 1861, he was appointed, by Gov. William Dennison, Probate Judge of Summit County, to fill the vacancy occasion- ed by the death of Judge William M. Dodge, holding the position until the following October. Mr. Lewis then removed to St. Louis, where he was given a prominent position upon the editorial staff of the St.

HON. ASAHEL HOOKER LEWIS.

Louis Democrat, then the only Republican paper in the South, ably sustaining the government against the slave-holders' rebellion, until his death in September, 1862.

On retiring from the office of sheriff, in January, 1861, Mr. Samuel A. Lane, superseded Mr. Lewis as editor of the BEACON. Mr. Lane, by giving more attention to local matters than his pre- decessors had done, and by the large amount of space devoted to the writings and doings of Summit County's "boys in blue,"

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AKRON'S NEWSPAPERS.

during the war, increased the circulation of the paper from 1,300 to 2,500 copies weekly, the first two years.

In January, 1865, Mr. Lane and Mr. Horace G. Canfield each bought a one-third interest from Messrs. Beebe & Elkins, the name of the firm being Elkins, Lane & Co. In January, 1867, Albertis L. Paine and Denis J. Long, two former BEACON boys, who, on being mustered out of the army, had established the Summit County Journal, as elsewhere noted, bought the remain- ing one-third interest in the BEACON from Messrs. Beebe & Elkins, the firm now being changed to Lane, Canfield & Co.

In the Winter of 1868, Thomas C. Raynolds, then just gradu- ated from the Michigan University, was employed as assistant editor, and with the exception of a brief interruption, from 1870 to 1872, has been connected with the establishment ever since.

The Akron Daily Beacon .- In the meantime Akron had increased from a village of 5,500 inhabitants to a city of 10,000 in 1869, with manufacturing and commercial · activities to match. Something faster than a weekly local paper was demanded, and on the 6th day of December 1869, the first number of the AKRON DAILY BEACON was issued by Messrs. Lane, Canfield & Co., with Mr. Lane as editor-in-chief, Mr. Raynolds as assistant editor, Mr. Canfield as business manager, and superintendent of machinery, and Messrs. Long and Paine, superintendents of job departments respectively.

DENIS J. LONG,-born in Albany, N. Y., November 28, 1844; at 15, came to Akron with his brother, J. A. Long; in 1859, entered BEACON office, as an apprentice, serving between three and four years ; in August, 1862, enlisted in Co. H., 104th O. V. I., serv- ing as a private soldier, until Febru- ary, 1864, when he was appointed to a clerkship in the office of Gen. Scho- field, in the Department of the Ohio, serving till the close of the war, being mustered out at Greensboro, N. C., June 28, 1865. On his return to Akron, in company with Mr. Albertis L. Paine, started the Summit County Journal, with Judge James S. Carpenter as editor. Jannary 1, 1867, the Journal was discontinued, Mr. Long and Mr. Paine each buying a one-sixth interest in the BEACON, Mr. Long retaining his interest as partner and stockholder (at its organ- zation as a stock company, being elected secretary), until 1875, when he entered the office of the Akron Iron Company, as book-keeper, continuing two years. March 1, 1877, he was appointed agent of the Union Express Company, afterwards of the Union, American and Adams Com-

DENIS J. LONG.

panies, which responsible position he held until his death, January 17, 1883, at the age of 38 years, 1 month and 20 days. In May, 1870, Mr. Long was married to Miss Eliza A. Potter, of Akron, who died May 13, 1891, aged 48 years, 3 months and 9 days.

In December, 1871, the Beacon Publishing Company was organized with a capital of $25,000, Messrs. Lane and Long retain- ing their one-third and one-sixth interests, respectively, Messrs. Canfield and Paine retiring, the balance of the stock being taken

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AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

by a number of prominent business men of the city, with Mr. Lane as business manager, Mr. Raynolds as editor-in-chief, and Mr. Wilson M. Day as associate editor

The business of the concern rapidly increassd in all its depart- ments, but unfortunately, in the very height of its business season, in the job printing and binding line for the several manufacturing concerns of the city, on the 27th day of April, 1872, the establish- ment was totally destroyed by fire, with a loss, over and above insurance, of fully one-half of its capital.

The burned building was immediately replaced, greatly enlarged, and filled with a full complement of first-class machinery and material, and a large stock of general and fancy stationery. This rebuilding and refitting of the establishment, on a greatly enlarged scale, and with far better machinery and material, and especially with its impaired capital, and several months interrup- tion to its most profitable departments, while subjected to extra- ordinary running expenses, piled up an indebtedness, that with the almost immediately recurring monetary and commercial panic of 1873, brought the company into very serious pecuniary embarrassment.

To such an extent did this embarrassment press upon the stockholders, though still nominally solvent, that it was at length deemed advisable to transfer its property, fanclise and good will to any responsible party that would assume its liabilities. Accord- ingly, in January, 1875, the entire property was sold to Thomas C. Raynolds, Frank J. Staral and John H. Auble, on that basis, a sufficient number of the old stockholders retaining a nominal interest for the purpose of keeping the corporate organization intact.

· This arrangement continued about two years, when Mr. Auble withdrew, leaving Messrs. Raynolds and Staral sole owners, which relation was continued, with signal success, until May 16, 1887, when Mr. Staral sold his interest to Mr. Hermon Bronson, Mr. Bronson, in turn, transferring his interest to Mr. Raynolds, April 14, 1889, and in its magnificent new home in the handsome six- story brick block, erected especially for its use, by Hon. George W. Crouse, corner of Mill and Main streets, the DAILY BEACON establishment, with its extensive news, job printing, book-binding and stationery departinents, all fully equipped with first-class machinery and material, being one of the most complete and prosperous of its class in Ohio, its daily circulation having increased from 600 in 1869, '70, to a present daily average of 3,500 copies; while the reliable old SUMMIT COUNTY WEEKLY BEACON, correspondingly improved and prospered, duly celebrated its golden anniversity on the 15th day of April, 1889.

Beacon and Republican .- As hereinafter detailed, the Daily Telegram and Sunday Gazette, in 1889, passed into the hands of the newly organized Republican Publishing Company, with Mr. Kenyon B. Conger as its president, its name being changed to the Akron Daily Republican, which had a successful run until January 1, 1891, when a consolidation was effected with the BEACON. The name and style of the consolidated organization, with a capi- tal of $100,000, is The Akron Printing and Publishing Company, with Hon. George W. Crouse as president, Kenyon B. Conger as vice president and Thomas C. Raynolds as business manager, the

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AKRON'S NEWSPAPERS.

several editions of the paper being: The Akron Beacon and Republican, (daily), The Summit County Beacon, (weekly), and the Sunday Republican. The American Farm News is now also owned and published by this company.

THOMAS CRAIGHEAD RAY- NOLDS, son of George and Jane L. (Craighead) Raynolds,-born near Canton, Ohio, June 18, 1848 ; educated in public schools of Canton and Akron and at Western Reserve College and Michigan University, graduating from the classical course of the latter institution, January 24, 1868, his long vacations being spent upon the United States survey of the northwestern lakes, under the super- intendence of his uncle, Gen. W. F. Raynolds, of the U. S. Engineers ; July 14, 1868, began journalistic work as a reporter on Detroit Post, six months later, in January, 1869, com- mencing work upon the BEACON, as its first reporter; in 1870 became paragraph editor of Pittsburg Com- mercial ; in 1871 did editorial work on an insurance and manufacturing journal, in Cincinnati ; in November, 1871, on organization of the Beacon Publishing Company, became editor of the Daily and Weekly BEACON, continuing three years ; from 1873 to 1875 did editorial work successively on Cleveland Sunday Voice, Cleve- land Leader, and Toledo Commer- cial ; in January, 1875, on reorganiza- tion of Company, returned to the BEACON, as its Editor-in-chief, which position he maintained until January 1, 1891, when, on consolidation of the Daily BEACON with the Daily REPUB- LICAN, he became the Business

THOMAS CRAIGHEAD RAYNOLDS.

Manager of the newly organized Akron Printing and Publishing Company, which position he still holds. January 3, 1873, he married Miss Lillian Alice Waggoner, of Akron (only daughter of John H. and Laura A. Waggoner), who died Octo- ber 4, 1883, leaving one son, Willie Waggoner Raynolds. September 14, 1886, Mr. Raynolds was again married, to Miss Ida B. Foote, only daughter of Daniel S. and Mary A. Foote, of Akron.

The American Democrat .- August 10, 1842, Mr. Horace Can- field, who was one of the founders of the Ohio Review, at Cuyahoga Falls, in 1833, as elsewhere noted, issued in Akron the first number of the American Democrat. The paper, as its name indicates, was politically democratic. The Democrat was ably conducted, as a party organ, until December 14, 1848, when it was discontinued for reasons thus alluded to in Mr. Canfield's parting editorial:

"In performing what he has thought a duty, in advocating Democratic principles, he has too much neglected his duty to himself and family, and he is often roughly reminded of this neglect by the empty state of the domestic treasury, when calls on it are only for the simplest necessaries for family use. It is of no avail that the books show a prosperous state of finances, if the larder and meal bag are filled with emptiness. However pre- valent the doctrine may be that editors can live on air, we can testify, from experience, that it is a fallacy, so far as regards the editor's family."

The Akron Eagle .- A week later, December 21, 1848, the first number of an "Independent Miscellaneous Family Newspaper," uuder the above head, was issued by Mr. Canfield. This was con- tinued just six months, the last issue appearing on the 14th day of

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AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

June, 1849, but without any statement as to the cause of its suspension.

Akron Free Democrat .- July 4, 1849, number one, volume one, of a paper under the above title, with Horace Canfield as pub- lisher and Sidney Edgerton as editor, was issued, Mr. Edgerton, in his initial editorial saying: "The political character of this paper is indicated by its title. and, while we stand as its editor, it shall conform to the title it bears. No party prejudice shall induce us to support what we know to be wrong; neither shall party pre- dilections restrain us from condemning what we believe to be error. * * We are firm believers in human progress, and that * belief is founded upon the recorded truths of history, which most clearly point to 'a good time coming.' * * Strike the chains from the bondman wherever the power of the general government extends, and give us a sure guaranty that slavery shall extend no further, then we are ready to discuss and act in reference to minor matters."

HORACE CANFIELD, -born in Middletown, Conn., July 4, 1803 ; learned the printing business with his uncle, Pholemon Canfield, in Hartford, serving seven years ; March 24, 1824, was married to Miss Julia Ann Everard ; worked at trade in Hartford and Cambridge, Mass., till 1833, when he came to Cuyahoga Falls, where he established the Ohio Review, as eleswhere stated. In the Fall of 1834, went to Cleveland where he published the Cleveland Adver- tiser (Democratic) about four years ; in ' 1838 going to Medina, where he published The Watchman (Demo- cratic) four years, coming to Akron in August, 1842, and establishing the American Democrat, which he published and edited most of the time till his death, December 28, 1853, at the age of 50 years, 5 months and 24 days. Mr. Canfield served in Cleveland City Council, on Akron Board of Education, and at the time of his death was Recorder of the Incorporated Village of Akron; was a zealous Mason and a highly honor- ed citizen. Mr. and Mrs. Canfield were the parents of six children- Henry E., (now residing in Akron, and engraver of the accompanying

HORACE CANFIELD.

potrait of his father); Thomas, who died in April, 1860; Horace G., one of the best known printers of Akron ; Julia Ann (now Mrs. I. B. Hargett, of Alexandria, Ohio), and William and Caroline who died young. Mrs. Canfield died August 9, 1882, aged 80 years and 3 months,

Free Democratic Standard .- The Free Democrat continued until after the October election of 1849, when the name was changed asabove, with Lyman W. Hall, a well-known anti-slavery writer of Ravenna, as editor and proprietor, the first number of which appeared November 8, 1849. This arrangement was continued until March 6, 1851, when the names of H. Canfield and W. O. Viers appear as publishers, "assisted editorially by an association." In November, 1851, Mr. Canfield resumed entire control, in August, 1852, dropping the " Free," though retaining the motto, "Freedom and Equality," and continuing to publish the Democratic

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AKRON'S NEWSPAPERS.

Standard until his death, December 29, 1853, after which it was published for some time by his two sons, Thomas and Horace G.

In the Spring of 1855 the office was sold to H. P. Abel, and the Standard re-established, issuing a small daily. The experiment was not successful, and both the daily and the weekly were soon suspended. In the Winter of 1855, '56, Mr. W. D. Bien bought the office and revived the paper under the name of the Summit Democrat. In the Winter of 1859, '60 the office passed into the hands of J. Hays Webb, who, just before the Presidential election of 1860 removed the materials to Canton, where, under the title of the True Democrat, it was run until the Spring of 1864, when it returned to Akron, and, under the title of Summit Union, run until the close of the Brough-Vallandigham campaign, in 1863, when the paper was discontinued and the office taken to Ravenna.

The Cascade Roarer .- March 15, 1844, while the Washing- tonian temperance reform movement was at its height, the Buz- zard was revived as a temperance paper by the writer and Mr. Isaac Chamberlin, Jr., Mr. Chamberlin a few weeks later trans- ferring his interest to Mr. William T. Coggeshall, afterwards a literary writer of considerable repute, State Librarian under Gov- ernors Chase and Dennison, from 1856 to 1862, and minister to Ecuador, South America, under President Johnson until his death, from consumption, in the Summer of 1867.

The name of the paper was changed by Messrs. Lane & Cog- geshall to the Cascade Roarer, partly because that portion of Akron in which it was published was still known by its original name of "Cascade," but more particularly because of its radical cold water signification. Through the vigorous and incisive writings of Mr. Coggeshall, and the efforts of Mr. Lane, as a travel- ing temperance lecturer and solicitor, the Cascade Roarer attained a weekly circulation of about 2,500 and a'considerable general as well as local repute.

Tee-Total Mechanic .- July 21st, 1846, Mr. Lane sold his interest in the Cascade Roarer to Mr. James S. Drew, a practical printer of Massillon, and as there was at that time considerable agitation among the mechanics of the country for the establish- ment of 10 hours as a day's labor (instead of the 12 to 14 hour day day then in vogue), and for cash payments, instead of the order and "truck and dicker" system described in a former chapter, the name of the paper was changed as above by Messrs. Drew & Cog- geshall. The Tee-Total Mechanic was successfully published for about three months, when it was merged with a larger paper, similar in character, published in Cleveland, under the name of . the Temperance Artisan, the last issue in Akron being under date of October 24, 1846.

The Free School Clarion .- In 1846, our late well-known citizen, Dr. William Bowen, then a resident of Massillon, con- menced the publication of a ringing educational journal in that village-a four column quarto-under the above title. The latter part of 1847, Dr. Bowen was succeeded in the publication of the Clarion by the well-known educator, Lorin Andrews, of Massillon, and M. D. Leggett, Akron's first school superintendent, under the Akron school law, and its publication continued simultaneously at Massillon and Akron. This arrangement continued a few months only, Mr. Leggett's connection with the Akron schools

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AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.

ceasing some time in 1849, when the conduct of the Clarion was relegated entirely to Mr. Andrews, at Massillon, its subscription list being afterwards transferred to the Ohio Journal of Education at Columbus, now the Ohio Educational Monthly, published by Dr. S. Findley, in Akron.

The Summit County Journal .- At the close of the war, two former BEACON boys, Albertis L. Paine and Denis J. Long, in September, 1865, established a Republican weekly newspaper under the above title, with Judge James S. Carpenter as editor. Ably edited and neatly printed, the Journal was reasonably suc- cessful, but on the purchase from Messrs. Beebe & Elkins of their remaining one-third interest in the BEACON, as above stated, in January, 1867, the Journal was discontinued and its subscription list, good-will, etc., transferred to the BEACON.

The Akron . City Times .- January 20, 1867, a nine column weekly Democratic paper, under the above title was started in Akron, by Mr. J. C. Loveland, that gentleman being fresh from the editorial chair of the Clyde, (Ohio) Times, a radical Republican paper, which he had published during the war. Mr. Loveland, besides his recent political somersault, had the bad taste to immediately commence a bitter personal warfare against the editor of the BEACON, moving his antagonist to obtain the loan from its then proprietor, of the files of the Clyde Times, during Mr. Loveland's conduct of that paper, from which copious extracts were made from week to week, dealing such vigorous blows upon the heads of his new political backers, that they incon- tinently threw him overboard, and in August, 1867, the office was transferred to Mr. George C. Crain.

April 28, 1868, R. S. Bean & Co., succeeded Mr. Crain, who in . turn transferred the Times to S. L. Everett & Son, in October of the same year. The father dying some two or three years later, the son, Sebastian L. Everett, ("Don," as he was familiarly called), continued the publication with considerable vigor until 1873, when it was transferred to Mr. Richard H. Knight, with his son Clarence R. Knight, as editor.

November 23, 1882, Edwin Myers, a practical printer from Wooster, entered into partnership with the elder Knight, the younger Knight still in the editorial chair. February 23, 1882, that veteran editor and publisher, of Wooster, E. B. Eshelman, Esq., purchased Mr. Knight's remaining interest and assumed edi- torial control of the Times, March 1, 1885, Mr. O. D. Capron succeeded Mr. Eshelman to a half interest in the concern, the firm name of Messrs. Myers & Capron being "The Times Printing Company," Capt. W. B. Taneyhill being employed as editor, in . which position he was succeeded by Mr. Frank S. Pixley. February 24, 1886.

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Author: Lane, Samuel A. (Samuel Alanson), 1815-1905 Publication date: 1892 Publisher: Akron, Ohio : Beacon Job Department Number of Pages: 1228

Author: Lane, Samuel A. (Samuel Alanson), 1815-1905
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: Akron, Ohio : Beacon Job Department
Number of Pages: 1228