USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County, Ohio: its people, industries and institutions, Volume I > Part 58
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83
55I
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
residents of the county as one of the best poets of his day. His poem, "The Rain on the Roof," was copied in nearly every newspaper in the United States, and occupies a place among the best poems ever written in the country.
The last twenty years of the Torchlight were not as prosperous as the first twenty years of its existence. Other papers had arisen in the county seat ; it had keener competition ; it seemed to be waging a losing fight. The stock company of 1869 did not prove a success, and the following year J. D. Stine took over the controlling interest in the paper, becoming its editor and business manager. Stine was an excellent newspaper man. A graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University in 1859, he had served as superintendent of the London, Ohio, schools from 1859 to 1864. He became connected with the Madison County Union in 1863 and, after retiring from the city schools of London, became the sole editor and proprietor of the paper, continuing as such until he came to Xcnia in 1870 to take charge of the Torchlight. Stine associated himself on coming to the Torchlight with Oscar W. Mar- shall, under the firm name of Stine & Marshall, and for the following eight years this firm had charge of the paper. In 1878 Stine purchased the inter- est of his partner and continued in sole charge until 1887. About 1884 Stine began to issue a daily edition, but subsequently it appears that Thomas G. Brown, then postmaster, and Joseph G. Gest were associated with him in the daily paper. In 1887 Stine sold the entire plant to Ben R. Cowan, of Cin- cinnati. Cowan put considerable money into the paper in an effort to compete with J. P. Chew and the latter's Gasette, the two papers being rivals in the local field at the time. But Chew was too resourceful and too able a news- paper man for Cowan, and the latter finally decided that he had had enough of the newspaper business in Xenia. On August 7, 1888, Chew bought the entire plant of the Torchlight, and thereby brought to a sudden end the career of a paper which had maintained a continued existence since its first issue of September 18, 1839. When Chew bought the Torchlight he turned over a large number of bound files of the old paper to the library.
The first home of the Torchlight in 1839 was in a frame building at the corner of Market and Detroit streets, the site later occupied by the Ger- man Reformed church. From here it was moved to a room over what is now the Woolworth store on South Detroit street, remaining in its second location until 1879. In that year it was moved to No. 12 West Main street, over the Scott tinshop, where it remained until it closed its career in 1888.
THE XENIA GAZETTE.
The life history of a newspaper presents as interesting a study as that of the men who publish it; oftentimes the paper is really more interesting in many ways than the men who make it. To follow the career of the Xenia Gazette, to keep trace or its ups and downs, its lean years and its
552
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
fat years, is to follow its weekly and daily life from the time it made its initial appearance on August 15, 1868, down to the present time.
The Gazette was born of a desire to give the people of the county seat and the county of which it was an integral part, a paper which would reflect the best that the county had to give the world. In 1868 Xenia was a flour- ishing city of six thousand; the Civil War had just closed; the whole coun- try had taken on new life; everybody seemed ready to start life anew. It was under such conditions that the Gasette made its bow to the public.
During the spring and summer of 1868 a number of the leading citi- zens of the county had been agitating the question of a new Republican paper in the county seat; various plans were discussed for the establishment of a new paper, some wanting a stock company, and others feeling that the responsibility should be centered in a very small group of men. The final decision of all those interested was to leave the matter in the hands of three public-spirited citizens-J. F. Patton, Thomas L. Tiffany and Warren An- derson. Tiffany was the practical printer of the three, while Anderson was to furnish the editorial brains of the company. Subsequently, Anderson be- came one of the best known newspaper men in the state of Ohio.
Tiffany was ordered to purchase entirely new equipment and within a short time had concluded arrangements with a Cincinnati type foundry for such equipment as was necessary to establish a paper of the size which had been planned. The company installed what was known as the "Wells Power Press," the first cylinder press in the county. The initial issue on August 18, 1868, called for eight hundred copies of the paper, although the sub- scription list did not contain that many names. Anderson, however, made the paper a success from the start, and within a month the subscription list had increased to twelve hundred. During the two years that he remained with the paper he had the satisfaction of seeing it become the most valuable newspaper property in the county, but for some reason he decided in the fall of 1870 to dispose of his interest in the paper and go West. He sold his interest to Col. R. P. Findley, the new firm being known as Patton, Tiffany & Findley. The next change in the personnel of the firm was brought about by the death of Tiffany on September 28, 1870. His widow soon disposed of her interest in the paper to Patton and Findley, and the new firm con- tinued in charge of the paper until May 25, 1875, at which time Colonel Findley purchased Patton's interest and thereby became the sole owner of the paper. A little more than two years later, November 1, 1877, Findley sold his entire interest in the paper to The J. P. Chew Company and the Chew family have been connected with the paper since that year-more than forty years. In fact, it might be said that as far as ownership is concerned, it has made practically no change since 1877. J. O. McCormick, a son-in-law of J. P. Crew, was connected with the Gazette for thirty-five years,
553
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
The present The Chew Publishing Company was organized in the sum- mer of 1915, with a capital stock of $70,000, in order to take over the prop- erties of the Xenia Gasette and the Xenia Republican, the consolidation of the two papers taking place on Monday, August 16, 1915. The company now has the following officers : J. A. Chew, president and treasurer ; J. P. Chew, vice-president; W. B. Chew, secretary. The directors of the company are J. A. Chew, J. P. Chew. W. B. CVew. F. W. Chew, J. B. Chew, A. V. Chew and M. A. Chew.
When the amalgamation of the two papers took place, it was planned to issue the Republican as a morning daily and the Gazette as an evening paper, and this policy has been continued. The Gazette has been issuing a daily since November 21, 1881, having come to a sudden decision to start a daily edition because Anderson, the editor of the Nonpareil, had made a public announce- ment that he was going to start the first daily paper in the town. The Gasette, in the language of the newspaper fraternity, "beat him to it," and so flustered was Anderson by the sudden appearance of a daily from the office of his rival that he changed his mind about establishing his daily edition. There is still issued a weekly edition of the Gazette, but it circulates only in the rural sec- tions of the county. The first home of the Gasette was on the third floor of the brick building at the northeast corner of Main and Whiteman streets. From there it was moved to the room now occupied by the Bijou Theatre on Greene street, where it was located when the Chews took charge of the paper in the fall of 1877. Subsequently they took the paper to the second floor of the building now occupied by the Peters Dry Cleaning Company and the Adams Express Company. Here the paper was destined to remain for thirty- five years, leaving this site for its present quarters on South Detroit street. The company now owns the building in which it is located.
The Chew Publishing Company is a fine example of what can be done with a newspaper plant in a city the size of Xenia when it is properly man- aged. The company does no job printing at all, but devotes all of its atten- tion to its two daily and weekly papers. For local and foreign news, as well as advertising mediums there are no better papers in the state for a town of its size, a fact which is attested to by the large amount of local and foreign advertising which the papers carry. The two dailies have a combined circulation of over five thousand. J. A. Chew, the third of the generation, is the general manager of the papers; J. P. Chew, the first of the family to become identified with the paper, and a man of eighty-six years, is the editor ; W. B. Chew is assistant manager; F. W. Chew is the advertising manager ; C. F. Ridenour is the city editor ; Rose Higgins and Raymond Higgins are reporters; Katharine Landaker is bookkeeper and Janice Owens is stenog- rapher. There are three linotype operators and five other printers connected with the mechanical force.
554
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
THE XENIA NONPAREIL.
If the paper established on November 7, 1878, by Warren Anderson had lived up to its name, there could have been no doubt concerning its pros- perity. Just what flitted through the brain of Anderson when he christened his paper the Yenia Nonpareil will never be known, but he must be given credit for originality if nothing else. In the history of the Gazette, it was noted that Anderson was one of the owners and the first editor of that paper, maintain- ing his connection with the Gazette until the fall of 1870.
In this connection it is fitting to give a brief sketch of this man, who, in many respects, was a remarkable man. He was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, May 28, 1832, and when six years of age accompanied his parents to Elkhart county, Indiana, where he grew to manhood. Before he reached his majority he was clerking in a store at Goshen, Indiana, and when twenty years of age was teaching a rural school a few miles south of Goshen. In 1854 he was back in Ohio and clerking in a book store of an uncle on Wolf creek, ten miles west of Dayton. In 1856 he entered Antioch College and remained there until he was graduated in 1860. He taught for the fol- lowing two years, one year being principal of a so-called Industrial Academy, near Richmond, Indiana. In 1862 he located at Goshen, Indiana, to study law with George D. Copeland, and when his preceptor bought the Goshen Times the same year, Anderson was promptly installed as assistant editor. . He remained with the paper, at the same time continuing his law studies, until the summer of 1863. The fall of that year found him teaching in Miami county, Ohio, but in the spring of 1864 he resigned his school and enlisted as a member of Company I, One Hundred and Forty-seventh Regiment, Ohio National Guard. He saw active service in the field before his final dis- charge from the service on August 30, 1865.
It was at this time that Anderson first became identified with Xenia. He located in that city after securing his discharge and took up the study of law with R. F. Howard. In the winter of 1865-66 he taught school at Alpha and in the following year served as principal of the Xenia high school. In February, 1867, he was appointed mayor of Xenia, and in the following April was elected to the office for the regular term of two years. In April, 1869, he was admitted to the bar, and in April of the following year was admitted to practice by the supreme court of the state.
In the meantime, however, he had been one of the organizers of a com- pany to establish the Xenia Gazette. The history of that paper shows his connection with the newspaper life of the city up to 1870. In November of that year Anderson located in Ottawa, Kansas, where he proceeded to estab- lish the Ottawa Herald on December 4. In 1871 he sold his paper and pur-
555
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
chased an interest in the Journal of the same place, but a year later sold his interest in that paper on account of failing health. He had been admitted to the Kansas bar in December, 1871, but did not devote much of his time to the profession, confining most of his attention to his newspaper business. In the fall of 1872 Anderson returned to Xenia and resumed the practice of law, but the following year found him back in the newspaper business as editor of the Xenia Enterprise. He continued his connection with the news- papers of the city until he established the Yellow Springs Review in 1880. He became mayor of Xenia again in February, 1876, by appointment, and served out an unexpired term.
To return to the history of the Xenia Nonpareil. Anderson issued the first number of this sheet on November 7, 1878, but the name was evidently too much of a burden for it to carry. At least, on a bright, summer day in 1879 he dazzled his readers by sending it out under the name of the Xenia Sunlight. One is left to wonder whether Anderson was not under the spell of the Torchlight.
THE XENIA SUNLIGHT.
The Sunlight of Anderson proved to be such a radiant affair that he induced Oscar W. Marshall to become his partner with the beginning of January, 1880. But Anderson was not destined to continue his connection with the paper much longer. May 18, 1880, witnessed his departure and the transference of his interest in the illuminating sheet to J. M. Milburn, the new firm being known as Marshall & Milburn. The paper was a stanch Republican organ and took a prominent part in the campaign of 1880; in fact, its office was the headquarters of the Republican county committee. The name of the paper was eventually changed to the Xenia Republican, under which name it continued until absorbed by the Gazette in 1915.
THE XENIA REPUBLICAN.
The history of the Republican during the years that it was an independent paper shows that it became one of the best papers the county has ever had. The firm of Milburn & Marshall remained in charge of the paper for several years, and then Milburn disposed of his interest to John A. Beveridge, the *new firm continuing under the firm name of Marshall & Beveridge. The firm was dissolved by the death of Beveridge, Marshall then becoming the sole owner and proprietor. The next change in ownership resulted in the paper passing into the hands of Frank L. and Burch Smith, brothers, on January I, 1907. Under their management the paper began to show a marked improve- ment, new equipment being added and within a short time it became a real news and advertising sheet.
ยท
5,56
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
The Smith brothers sold the paper to Austin M. Patterson, who took charge on January 1, 1912. The new owner proceeded to inaugurate a new era in Greene county journalism. He was a man of fine scholastic attain- ments and introduced to the readers of his paper a number of new features which soon made it a prominent factor in the life of the county. He was a fearless writer and had no hesitancy in his advocacy of reform measures of all kinds. Patterson had charge of the paper for about two years, disposing of it in February, 1914, to the Xenia Publishing Company.
The new owners were four local men, the company being officered as follows: J. F. Orr, president ; W. D. Wright, vice-president ; C. F. Ridenour, secretary ; George F. Eckerle, treasurer. The new owners proposed to make the paper as strong a contender as possible for a position among the papers of the county. C. F. Ridenour, who had been connected with the Xenia Gazette for a number of years, became the business manager and editor, while J. F. Orr, one of the owners, and at the time the postmaster of the city, conducted the editorial column. Orr also wrote special historical articles of real merit and the result was that the paper soon had a large subscription and advertising patronage. Ridenour was a practical newspaper man and knew the value of news, while he had a peculiar literary style that gave the paper what newspaper men are wont to call a "pleasing personality," an expression coined by Horace Greeley. For about eighteen months the paper made its daily appearance under the new management before it was consolidated with the Xenia Gasette. The merger of the two papers took place on August 16, 1915, and since that date both papers, the Republican and Gasette, have been issued by The Chew Publishing Company. The Republican is issued as a morning daily and the Gazette as the evening issue. Upon the consoli- dation of the two papers the present Chew Publishing Company was organized with a capital stock of seventy thousand dollars, the officers of the new com- pany being as follows: J. A. Chew, president and treasurer; J. P. Chew, vice-president ; C. F. Ridenour, secretary. The first directors of the new com- pany were J. A. Chew, J. P. Chew, W. B. Chew, F. W. Chew, J. B. Chew, J. F. Orr, C. F. Ridenour and C. L. Darlington. The subsequent history of the company is given in the sketch of the Xenia Gazette.
THE XENIA ENTERPRISE AND THE XENIA NEWS.
The Xenia Enterprise was established in 1872 by Frank Funk and John H. Fahey as an independent paper, but its career was never very prosperous. Within two years Funk was ready to sell out to his partner, and about the same time Coates Kinney, the poet, became the editor. This change in ownership and the addition of the distinguished poet as editor also brought about a change in name and it became known as the Xenia News.
Fahey remained the sole owner and Kinney the editor only one year
557
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
after the change in name, the year 1875 seeing the retirement of Kinney as editor and the acquisition of a half interest in the paper by W. V. Luce, who also became the editor. At this time the paper became Democratic in politics. Melville Mordecai Gaunce bought the paper on September 14, 1876, and continued as sole owner and editor until he disposed of it to Lewis H. Whiteman in 1894. The paper was consolidated with the Democrat some- time between the issues of December 15, 1877, and January 5, 1878. The paper was known as the Xenia Newes with the issue of December 15, 1877 (Vol. IV, No. 43), but when the issue of January 5, 1878, (Vol. IV, No. 46) appeared the paper carried the new title of Xenia Democrat-News. The issues of December 22 and 29 are missing from the files, but it would appear certain that the January 5 issue, the first of the year, was the first one to carry the new heading. The paper continued to be known as the Xenia Democrat-News until it was sold by Gaunce to Whiteman in 1894. Gaunce and Whiteman, both newspaper editors and both Democrats, were the candi- dates for the postmastership of Xenia when Cleveland began his second term, and Whiteman was the successful candidate. Sometime after he had taken the office Gaunce made a proposition to him to buy his (Gaunce's) paper, saying that the county could hardly afford two Democratic papers. White- man bought the paper of his unfortunate Democrat brother, and consolidated it with his own paper, the Xenia Herald.
THE XENIA HERALD.
The Xenia Herald had been established by Lewis H. Whiteman in 1890, and for fifteen years he owned and edited it. His first office was over Nor- kauer's grocery on West Main street, later moving it to its present location. As before stated Whiteman became the owner of the Democrat-News in 1894, and the paper to this day carries the names of the three former Democrat papers of the city at its head. The next owner of the Herald was George C. Barnes, of Sabina, a practical newspaper man and also a lawyer, who purchased the paper from Whiteman in 1905. When Barnes sold the paper a year later to the present owner he returned to Clinton county, where he is now serving as probate judge.
Harry E. Rice took possession of the paper on October 1, 1906, and has since continued as sole editor and owner. The paper issues only a weekly edition at the present time, although for a number of years in the 'gos, White- man issued a daily edition. Since Rice became postmaster in 1916 he has not had the time to devote to his paper that he formerly had, although he is still the editor. He is a writer and author of note, one of his novels, "Eve and the Evangelist," receiving some very complimentary notices from the reviewers.
558
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
SOME SHORT-LIVED SHEETS OF XENIA.
A number of papers with abbreviated careers have already been men- tioned, most of them coming in the days before the Civil War. There are still a few more to be mentioned, although it has not been possible to get much definite information concerning them.
The first daily paper in the town seems to have been started by James Winans, and to have made its appearance in the latter part of the '70s or the fore part of the '80s. J. P. Chew, of the Gasette, states that Winans had a small daily paper before the Gazette started its daily on Novem- ber 21, 1881. Winans printed his paper on a job press in a room on the second floor of the building which occupied the site of the present Steele building. It is not known how long this first daily came from the press, but it was only a short time.
A more pretentious daily was owned and edited by J. J. Horen in the middle of the 'gos, his paper bearing the name of the Daily Review. It was printed in a room over the old Eavey wholesale house on West Main street, and it appears that it was a very creditable sheet. The present editor of the Gasette says "it was good stiff opposition." The paper lasted about three years.
The last paper to appear in Xenia was known as The Tribune, a tem- perance sheet, which was transplanted from Cedarville where it had been started by Stephen C. Wright as the Cedarville Record in 1903. Wright sold the paper in 1911 and it was brought to Xenia and turned into an anti- saloon sheet, the year 1911 marking the last concentrated attack on the saloons of the county seat. The city went dry in April of that year and for a time the Tribune was in a fairly prosperous condition, but it could not attract the advertising support to make it successful, especially when there were already two flourishing daily. papers and one weekly paper in the field. Its career in Xenia lasted only about a year.
CEDARVILLE NEWSPAPERS.
The history of the newspapers of Cedarville is not as complicated as that of some of the other towns of the county. The present Herald has practically an unbroken history for about forty years under the same name, and for the past eighteen years the same owner and editor has been in charge, hence it may be said that the ownership of a paper in Cedarville has been uniformly a successful venture.
It is definitely established that the first paper in the town was the Enter- prise, that it made its first appearance on December 20, 1877, and that it was published by H. M. Northup. In June, 1878, James Miller, a practical printer, joined Northup and the plant was moved from its first location, a room
559
GREENE COUNTY, OHIO
on South Main street now occupied by C. H. Stuckey & Son, to the "Bar- racks." Unfortunately, the files of the paper are not complete and this makes it impossible to follow the successive changes in ownership and name of the paper. In February, 1878, the name of the paper was changed to The Herald and became known as The Cedarville Herald in 1900.
The files are missing prior to 1887 when W. H. Blair became the sole owner and editor, and this makes it impossible to trace the shifting owner- ship from 1878 to that year. A stray copy of 1882 shows that George B. Graham was then the owner and editor and it seems certain that he imme- diately followed Northup. The names of four owners are recalled as being connected with the paper between 1882 and 1887, namely': A. R. Van Fossen, George McNarney, a man by the name of Young, who tried to make a prohibition paper out of it, and James Winans. But the succession of own- ers for the past thirty-one years is definitely established. W. H. Blair became the owner some time in 1887 and continued as sole owner until April 25, 1896. He was followed by Rev. D. C. Woolpert, who appears as owner and editor with the issue of May 2, 1896. He sold to S. M. Ramsey, the latter taking hold with the issue of October 2, 1897. Ramsey was in charge of the paper for about eighteen months, disposing of it to J. Robb Harper and Karlh Bull, operating under the firm name of Bull & Harper, who appear as owners for the first time with the issue of April 8, 1899. The new firm continued to publish the paper regularly for a little more than one year, when Bull acquired his partner's interest. The paper has carried the name of Karlh Bull as owner and editor since April 28, 1900.
These eighteen years have seen the paper placed on a firm basis. The paper is issued weekly and is devoted primarily to local news. The office is equipped to turn out all kinds of job printing. Editor Bull at this writing expects to establish the paper in more commodious quarters on Main street, opposite the opera house, where he will be able to inaugurate several improve- ments which he has been contemplating. Wilbur D. Nesbit learned to set type in the office of the Herald and his brother, J. Emerson Nesbit, now city editor of the Dayton Herald, also learned the trade in the Herald office. J. N. Wol- ford, the owner and editor of the Yellow Springs News, is another newspaper man who got his start in the office of the Cedarville paper. One of the great- est newspaper men the United States ever produced, Whitelaw Reid, was born and reared at Cedarville, but left the town before it had a newspaper. It seems that Reid's first newspaper experience was with one of the Xenia papers, Reid making the statement in after years that he was editor of a paper in the county seat in the fall of 1858. G. A. McClellan, also of Cedarville, has headed several metropolitan papers in Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Florida, and Dayton, Ohio, and today is manager of a large magazine published in New York City.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.