USA > Ohio > Ashtabula County > History of Ashtabula County, Ohio > Part 15
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The Democratic Standard, under the able management of Sherman, Rote & Fardon, with Henry Apthorp as associate editor, has been published in Ashtabula since November 14, 1877.
JOURNALISM IN JEFFERSON.
The Luminary was the first paper established in Jefferson. It was started in 1828. A man by the name of Morchead was the publisher, and Jonathan War- ner its chief patron. It was an anti-Masonie sheet. It was not of long duration.
In March, 1852, the Western Reserve Farmer and Dairyman made its ap- pearanec,-G. B. Miller, publisher, and N. E. French, editor. The form of this paper was a sixteen-page octavo, and was issued monthly. The paper was soon merged into the Ohio Farmer.
The publication of the Ashtabula Democrat was begun in the same year, 1852, its editor being B. J. Loomis. It was removed to Geneva the subsequent fall, and was soon after discontinued.
Jefferson was left without a printing-office. The necessity of having a paper at the county-seat was constantly felt, and the pressure was finally so strongly brought to bear upon the Sentinel office, that Mr. Fassett, its publisher, was in- dueed to sell out. A partnership was then formed between W. C. Howells and J. L. Oliver, under the firm-name of J. L. Oliver & Co. The Sentinel office was, on January 1, 1853, moved to Jefferson. The paper was enlarged and changed to an eight-page paper, one of the first, if not the first, to have that form in the State. A steam-press was bought, which was also a great advance, it being the first country paper in the State to have a steam-press.
Under the new arrangement the paper prospered. In October, 1854, Mr. Oliver sold his interest to J. A. Howells, and there has been no change in its management since. The firm of J. A. Howells & Co. is familiarly known through- out the county as a household word.
The Sentinel was at an early day identified with the anti-slavery cause. Its editor, W. C. Howells, having met with severe pecuniary losses in southern Ohio on account of his abolition sentiments, felt the luxury of freedom of speech which the air of Ashtabula County gave him, and he never lost an opportunity to give the monster sin slavery the full force of his pen. Mr. Giddings acted as corresponding editor while he remained in Congress. The Sentinel, before the war, was an outspoken Free-Soil sheet. In 1852 supported Hale and Julian on the presidential ticket, and in 1856 Fremont and Dayton. When the Republican party was organized, it being about as radical as could be hoped for at that day, the Sentinel entered fully into the spirit of the party, and has always stood by the principles of the Republican party.
It was enlarged in 1853, 1866, and 1874, and is now the largest home-printed country paper in Ohio, if not in the United States. It devotes a large amount of space to local county news, and has done a great deal towards perpetuating the history of the county by publishing many sketches relating to the early settle- ment of the county, and in some cases giving complete history of townships.
Mr. W. C. Howells, the editor, has been in Quebee since June, 1874, and con- tributed a letter each week to the Sentinel, giving much valuable information relative to that place.
The Sentinel building, a fine three-story building, south of the court-house, Chestnut street, Jefferson, is entirely occupied with the printing-office and book- store in connection therewith. In 1853 the Sentinel was printed on a hand-press. Now it is printed on one of the largest steam-presses in the State, and the office is fully equipped with steam-presses for job work.
The Jefferson Gazette was first issued November 3, 1876, by D. Lee & Son, who had previously published The Madison Gazette, at Madison, Lake county, Ohio. The Jefferson Gazette is a thirty-two-column folio weekly, independent in polities. Its publishers aim to make it a first-class county paper, devoting from seven to eight columns each week to the publication of county and local news. The establishment has an excellent outfit of presses and machinery for the trade. The paper has the largest corps of correspondents of any paper published in Ashtabula County. It has attained a position that places it in the first rank of country newspapers. It circulates largely among the farmers of Ashtabula County. Its weekly edition is nine hundred copies.
JOURNALISM IN CONNEAUT.
The first attempt to establish a newspaper in Conneaut was made by O. H. Knapp, February, 1832, while the town was yet known by the appellation of Salem. The material used consisted of a second-hand Ramage press, and a small quantity of type which had been previously employed by A. W. W. Hickox in the publication of the Ashtabula Recorder, the first paper published in the county. Mr. Knapp's paper was known as the Salem Advertiser. It was Whig in polities, and was published for the space of two years, when it was succeeded by the Conneaut Gazette. Mr. Knapp retained the editorship, and continued therein until about August, 1835, when Mr. S. F. Taylor became identified with Mr. Knapp, and the paper was published by Knapp & Taylor until April, 1836, when Mr. Knapp withdrew, and the proprietorship passed into the hands of Mr. Jacoby, Mr. S. F. Taylor remaining as editor. Under this management the paper seems to have been indifferently published until October 28, 1836, when C. A. Randall & Co. succeeded to the ownership, and carried on the business until the spring of 1838, when the name of W. W. Ainger appears as publishing agent. Mr. Ainger's administration seems to have been rather short, as the name of S. F. Taylor appears at the head of the paper the following October as editor and proprietor. Mr. Taylor published the paper for the space of nearly three years, or until May 29, 1841, at which date we find the following under the editorial head, which seems indicative of rather poor success :
" To Printers .- The press and materials in the office of the Gazette are offered for sale. If any one wishes to go on here he may try the experiment. The circulation falls but little short of six hundred, and the advertising and job work
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HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO.
is fair. A printer can make money if he can get his pay from those who are abundantly able to pay. Unless the establishment is disposed of before that time (which is not very probable) the publication of the Gazette will be suspended, or, to use a stronger term, discontinued, on the 12th day of June. There is one condition, however, on which it may go on. If my patrons, who owe me at least twelve hundred dollars, will pay one-third in cash they may protract its existence. I am not going to work longer without pay, nor am I going to do much longer without pay for what I have done."
True to the promise, Mr. Taylor closed his administration of the Gazette with a valedictory of bitter lamentation. From this time until the 11th of September there seems to have been no paper, at which time the publication of the Gazette was resumed by D. C. Allen & William J. Tait. The firm of Allen & Tait pub- lished the paper for one year, bringing it to September, 1842, when Mr. Allen retired from the firm, and Mr. S. F. Taylor again became identified with the concern in the capacity of editor. Mr. Tait published the paper until the 6th of April, 1843, at which time he published his valedictory, and finally closed the unprofitable career of the Gazette for want of pecuniary assistance. In the course of a few months the material of the office was sold and taken away, leaving the town destitute of an organ. The inconvenience of not having a newspaper being soon realized, in the winter of 1843-44, D. C. Allen, Esq., raised a small amount of money and purchased material, all of which he transported from Buffalo in one wagon-load, and in January, 1844, issued the first number of the Reporter. Although the auspices were favorable, the new enterprise did not escape the grievances and annoyances of its predecessors. The early years of its existence amounted to a business hardship, which required great perseverance, economy, and unremitting toil to overcome.
Fortunately, Mr. Allen possessed these qualities, and finally vanquished the obstacles that lay in the path of a successful newspaper in Conneaut. A Mr. Rollo was associated with Mr. Allen for a short time in its early publication, but to Mr. Allen is due the credit of founding the Reporter. Under his management the business of the office was brought to an approximation seldom equaled in the history of country journalism, and which finally gave him a pecuniary reward for the long years of oppressive labor which he had undergone. January 18, 1861, the Reporter passed from Mr. Allen into the hands of J. P. Rieg, who had associated with himself Sidney Kelsey as assistant editor. In May, 1863, Mr. Rieg sold the office to Mr. Kelsey, and he being unable to meet his obligations, the property relapsed to Mr. Rieg's hands October 12, 1864, and it has since been under his control up to the present date, with the following list of partners : A. Harwood, C. G. Griffey, and C. D. Stoner; and is at present published by J. P. Reig & Co., Mr. S. C. Brooks, his father-in-law, being the company.
The Reporter, during the past fifteen years, has attained as large a circulation as any paper in the county, and is at present in a prosperous condition. From the Reporter office have graduated a number of typos who have attained consid- erable prominence in the profession ; notably among them are Charles Hunt, who has been for a number of years prominently connected with the New York Tri- bune ; Marshall Preston, president Scranton Printing Company, Scranton, Pennsyl- vania ; and James W. Hart, editor Dickinson County Chronicle, Abilenc, Kansas.
In June, 1871, the Conneaut Citizen was established by C. G. Griffey, ostensi- bly as a Republican paper, and out of spite to Mr. Reig. When Greeley was nominated it became Liberal, and died with Mr. Greeley. Mr. Reig bought the press, and the balance of the material was moved to Ashtabula and became the nucleus of the News.
In 1838, during the Patriot war, a small daily paper called the Budget was published for several months by Allen & Finch, at the Gazette office. Mr. Allen would go to the Harbor each evening and interview the officers of the steamers for news, and returning put it in type and print the paper for circulation early the succeeding morning.
The Young American, a small paper published monthly during the years 1859-60, was started by O. M. Hall and V. P. Kline, lads of but fourteen or fifteen years of age. Owing to a division of sentiment on politics the young firm soon dissolved partnership, Mr. Kline retiring, when the paper was published for some time by Mr. Hall. This paper received a fair support in subscription-list and advertising. It was published at the Reporter office, and its editorial articles are such as would have been creditable to older heads. Mr. Hall was honored with a free pass as editor to attend the editorial excursion to Baltimore and Washington in the summer of 1860, and went with Mr. Allen to the same. Hall and Kline are now prominent young attorneys, the former residing at Red Wing, Minnesota, and the latter at Cleveland, Ohio.
Of the old editors of the Gazette, Mr. Knapp is dead ; Mr. Taylor has for several years occupied a position as judge of common pleas in the southern part of this State ; Mr. Tait for many years held the position of librarian of the public library at Cleveland, Ohio.
Mr. Hickox, who started the first paper in the county, the Ashtabula Recorder, the material of which was bought for the Gazette, died in the county infirmary, at Kingsville, in 1874. He was an honest man and a good printer, but lacked financial ability.
The Geneva Times was established at Geneva, in 1866, in the building first door north of Talcott's jewelry-store, H. H. Thorp, proprietor; Warren P. Spencer, editor. First number issued on the 20th of December of that year ; size, twenty by thirty inches. Enlarged in 1867, and continued under the proprietorship of Mr. Thorp till June 12, 1868, when it was sold and transferred to its editor, Warren P. Spencer, and Carey A. Vaughan, who again enlarged it, and published it under the firm-name of Spencer & Vaughan till July, 1863, when the firm procured a power-press and put the paper in new type, removing the office during that month from Pancoast block, North Broadway, west side, to the present " Times Building," West Main street, opposite the Allen House. On the 1st day of October, 1873, Mr. Vaughan sold and transferred his one-half interest in the office to Henry W. Lindergreen, and the firm-name became Spencer & Lindergreen, the present proprietors. Mr. Spencer has been the editor of the Times since its first issue, and still acts in such capacity. The paper is now twenty-eight by thirty-nine inches in size, and is published on Thursday morning of each week. It is Republican in its political preferences, and mainly devoted to county news and general local interests.
The Plea for the Oppressed was a paper published at Austinburg by the ladics of that place in the latter part of the year 1846. It issued but a few numbers. It was devoted to the cause of anti-slavery, and Miss Betsey M. Cowles was the editor.
There was a paper published at Andover some years ago, the account of whose existence is given in the history of that township.
CHAPTER XVI. SOCIETIES.
ASHTABULA COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.
IN relation to the growth of these great aids to the promotion of the interests of agriculture generally, and of this society in particular, we quote from an address prepared by N. E. French, Esq., and by him delivered before the society, at their annual meeting in 1858. " In his annual message to congress in Decem- ber, 1796, General Washington, then President of the United States, used the following language: 'It will not be doubted that, with reference to either individual or national welfare, agriculture is of primary importance. In propor- tion as nations advance in population, and other circumstances of maturity, this truth becomes more apparent, and renders the cultivation of the soil more and more an object of public patronage. Institutions for promoting it grow up, supported by the public purse,-and to what object can it be dedicated with greater propriety ? Among the means which have been employed to this end, none have been attended with greater success than the establishment of boards, composed of proper characters, charged with collecting and diffusing information, and enabled by premiums and small pecuniary aids to encourage and assist a spirit of discovery and improvement. This species of establishment contributes doubly to the increase of improvement, by stimulating to enterprise and experi- ment, and by drawing to a common centre the results everywhere of individual skill and observation, and spreading them thence over the whole nation. Experi- ence, accordingly, has shown that they are very cheap instruments of immense national benefit.' Prior to the date of this message there had been formed but three agricultural societies in any of the States, and these were State institu- tions. Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina are the States that first took the lead in the formation of agricultural societies. I have been unable to find the record of the formation of any county society prior to the year 1810. This was the Berkshire County agricultural society, and its first show was held at Pittsfield, in the same year, under an elm-tree, and it is said the entire exhibi- tion consisted of three Merino sheep. That society is still in active existence, and has become the pet and pride of the farmers whose homes are among the rocky hills of that fatherland of many of the earlier settlers of Ashtabula County. As the pioneers of this county to a certain extent were from Berkshire county, it is not improbable that their desire to transplant in their western homes the insti- tutions they had left in their eastern homes led to the formation of the first agricultural society in this county. On the evening of the first day of November, 1822, at the court-house, the first steps were taken to organize an agricultural society for this county. The president of the meeting was Hon. Nehemiah King, and the secretary was Matthew Hubbard. A committee of three was appointed
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HISTORY OF ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO.
by the meeting to draft a constitution and code of by-laws for the government of the society, consisting of Nehemiah King, Robert Harper, and Jonathan Warner. This committee reported a constitution, but asked for further time on by-laws, whereupon the meeting adjourned till the 16th day of January, 1823. At this meeting the organization was completed, and the following persons elected its first officers : President, Nehemiah King; Vice-Presidents, Eliphalet Austin and Edward Fiefield ; Corresponding Secretary, Matthew Hubbard ; Recording Secre- tary. Jonathan Warner; Auditor, Joab Austin ; Treasurer, Timothy R. Hawley. The first cattle-show and fair was held in Austinburg, the first Tuesday of October, 1823. The amount of premiums offered amounted to forty dollars,- ten dollars on the best improved farm in the county of not less than fifty acres, and thirty dollars on all other objects. .. . No sheep or horses were exhibited at this fair. although a premium was offered for sheep, but none for horses. Tbe second fair of this society was also held at Austinburg, the third at Ashtabula, the fourth at Jefferson, and the fifth was appointed to be held at Austinburg, on the first Tuesday of October, 1827. but for some reason not set forth in the record the society did not hold a fair this year, and for the intervening period of fifteen years there was no active agricultural society in the county. During the whole time of the life of this society, I do not find among its records a single allusion to what to-day has come to be one of the great industrial interests of our people. I mean the business that has fastened upon our couuty the niekname ' cheesedom.' I suppose that it was good policy on the part of the society to foster and improve only those branches to which they directed their chief efforts. It must be remembered that at this period the means of transportation were limited. The Erie canal at the date of the formation of this society was not completed, and railroads had hardly been dreamed of as a means of transportation. To produce at home what was needed to eat and wear, and to grow for market only that which could transport itself, was certainly the dietate of reason and good sense, when we reflect that transportation from Albany to Buffalo cost one hundred dollars per ton. Under this condition of affairs, it would have cost not less than seven cents to carry a pound of cheese or butter to market in the city of New York. The first shipment of cheese from this county to Cincinnati was made in the year 1829, and was hauled by oxen and wagon to Beaver, in Pennsylvania, at a cost of one dollar and a half per hundred, and was then put on flat-boats and delivered at its destination at fifty cents per hundred, making the total cost of transportation about forty dollars per ton. This shipment was made by Colonel St. John, then in the mercantile business at Roek creek.
" During the next ten years, such had been the increase in the facilities for get- ting to market, the dairy business of this county had assumed considerable pro- portions, and had come to be regarded as one of the growing interests of the county that should be brought to a higher state of perfection. After the lapse of fifteen years from 1827, another attempt was made to organize the Ashtabula agricultural society. Accordingly, a notice was published by the auditor of the connty for a mecting to be held on the 7th day of March, 1842, at the court- house, for the purpose of organizing the society under a law recently passed by the legislature of Ohio, providing for the encouragement of agricultural societies in the several counties of the State. Colonel Lynds Jones was chosen ehairman of the meeting, and N. L. Cbaffee secretary. A constitution and by-laws were adopted and the following officers elected : R. W. Griswold, president ; G. W. St. John, vice-president ; B. B. Gaylord, recording secretary ; Lynds Jones, eorre- sponding secretary ; and E. G. Luce, treasurer ; Jas. M. Blass, George Mitchell, and Sylvester Ward, executive committee. The first fair of this society was held at the court-house on the 15th day of October, 1842. The dairy products were exhibited in the hall, and the domestic goods in the court-room. The cattle, sheep, and hogs were exhibited in a vacant lot just west of Messrs. Woodbury and Ruggles' law-office, and the horses were shown upon the streets of the town. For six years the society continued to hold its annual fairs at the same place, and it was not until the year 1849 that anything had been done towards the owner- ship of grounds for the society. This society embarked vigorously in the im- provement of the dairy products of the county. At its first fair it issued a eertifi- cate to Abel Krum, of Cherry Valley, for the best cheese shown, and to James Stone for second best. These two gentlemen at that time were among the heaviest produeers of cheese, aud are both well entitled to be considered the pioneers of the cheese interest of this county and its improvement. At this early day the dairy products of this section of the Reserve did not have, as a whole, a very en- viable reputation in the best, markets of the country. 'Ohio grease' was at this time known to mean the worst form and quality of butter that found its way to market, and the make of our cheese was so imperfect that after it had found its way to market, east or south, it became valueless, and was tumbled into the docks and rivers. and accounts of sales rendered accordingly. It is a faet in the history of that class of business men who first engaged extensively in the cheese trade of this county that they became bankrupt, in some cases, perhaps, dishonestly, but,
in more, honestly foreed to become so by reasou of continued losses in the dairy prod- ucts of our county. The agricultural society, for a series of years, gave a very large share of its attention to the improvement of this business. Liberal premiums were offered for the best butter and cheese made in the county at different seasons of the year. Committees were appointed to go over the county and examine the fixtures and conveniences in use for the manufacture of these articles, and advise and instruct the producers as to the best methods of making and curing. Statements were required of the best producers, detailing the whole routine of their processes, and these were published in the papers of the county and entered upon the records of the society. Improvement has continued, until now the prod- ucts of this county stand as high, in the markets of the world even, as the like products of any section of our country. The society owns commodious grounds, with suitable buildings and as fine a race-track as exists in Northern Ohio."
The following is a list of the officers from and succeeding those given above until the present, viz. :
1843 .- R. W. Griswold, president ; Gains W. St. John, vice-president ; B. B. Gaylord, recording secretary; Ebenezer Wood, corresponding secretary ; Almon Hawley, treasurer ; Jonathan Warner, Harvey Nettleton, and Jon. Tuttle, execu- tive committee.
1844 .- R. W. Griswold, president ; Ebenezer Wood, vice-president : B. B. Gaylord, recording secretary ; P. R. Spencer, corresponding secretary ; E. G. Luce, treasurer; Jonathan Warner, G. W. St. John, and John Sill, executive committee.
1845 .- Ebenezer Wood, president ; John Sherman, vice-president ; T. H. C. Kingsbury, recording secretary ; R. W. Griswold, corresponding secretary ; Jon- athan Warner, Jr., treasurer ; Abel Krum, L. P. Blakeslee, and Lynds Jones, executive committee.
1846 .- Same officers as previous year, except Almon Hawley and Rensselaer Strong, executive committee.
1847 .- G. W. St. John, president ; Jonathan Warner, vice-president ; N. E. French, secretary ; and Jonathan Warner, Jr., treasurer ; James Stone, Lynds Jones, Rensselaer Strong, John B. Watrous, and F. Udell, board of managers.
1848 .- Same as previous year, except Ebenezer Wood, vice-president ; and E. A. Mills, Walter Strong, S. Sargeant, and Andrew Bailey, directors.
1849 .- Jeremiah Dodge, president; Ebenezer Wood, vice-president ; N. E. French, secretary ; Jonathan Warner, Jr., treasurer ; J. Warner, Lynds Jones, F. Udell, N. Hoskin, and A. C. Austin, managers.
1850 .- A. Krum, president; G. W. St. John, vice-president; J. Warner, Jr., treasurer; and N. E. French, secretary ; F. Gee, H. F. Giddings, H. E. Parsons, Alex. Osborne, and U. N. Smalley, directors.
1851 .- No fair held this year.
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