USA > Ohio > Portage County > Portage heritage; a history of Portage County, Ohio; its towns and townships and the men and women who have developed them; its life, institutions and biographies, facts and lore > Part 26
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But the story handed down by the Hall family is a little different. This relates that after the engagement young Grant decided to go to southern Ohio and start a tannery there. Prudence was to go later. They would write regularly. But for some reason Grant never received Pru- dence's letter, although she said that she had written. Grant considered that he had been jilted and later married anoth- er. Not hearing from Jesse, Prudence married a man named Coe.
As the mail service of that time was poor and uncertain, it is quite possible that failure of the mail in this case was a prank of fate that was to have impor- tant results later on.
Grant must have thought well of Pru- dence because years later he came to Portage County and made a friendly call on her when she was a grandmother.
They talked over old times and Pru- dence told about her family. Then, ac- cording to the story, Jesse slyly reminded her "But you must remember, Prudence, that you are not the mother of a presi- dent."
All for One-One for All
The Quintinkle Club had an odd name and an odd origin. It was formed in 1861 by James A. Garfield, Chaplain J. H. Jones, Rev. Isaac Errett and Dr. and Mrs. J. H. Robinson, at a farewell party for Garfield and Jones who might never return from the war. Members pledged themselves to go to each others' aid in times of distress. Other members came in later.
The "Spirit of '76"
The central figure of the famous paint- ing "The Spirit of '76," was a Disciple minister who once served churches in Mantua, Aurora, Kent and Stow. He was S. R. Willard, father of A. M. Willard, who painted the picture and made one figure to resemble his father. For a short time A. M. Willard lived in Aurora.
CHAPTER XVI Newspapers and Editors
By J. B. HOLM
When Portage County was organ- ized no newspapers were yet issued within its limits. For that matter, very few were being received from the out- side. The newspaper as we know it as the mighty institution of today, was taking its first infant tottering steps. Papers printed elsewhere con- tained little of news of any sort, ex- cept political, but they were mediums of expression of a sort.
But the county's early residents thirsted for news and information and such newspapers as they could get, were eagerly received. Naturally, the first papers were those received from the East, preferably those from home states, or towns. Daily papers then were unthought of. Papers were monthly, or weekly. But the circula- tion of any newspaper in Portage County was small indeed. When a set- tler did obtain a paper from friends back home, he not only read it care- fully, but he passed it along to neigh- bors and friends, and after that, kept it for re-reading.
In that early period, newspapers contained a great deal of literary ma- terial, poetry and discussion of na- tional news and politics. Only a presi- dent or a person in high position rat- ed mention. Wars, and threats of wars, here and abroad, were followed eagerly. But definite information on national matters usually was hard to get and weeks and months were like- ly to elapse before anyone in Ohio could read about it.
READ TRUMP OF FAME
Previous to 1825, when the first Portage County newspaper was born, people read the Ohio Patriot, started in Lisbon in 1807, and a sheet called the Trump of Fame which began life in Warren in 1812, changing to the Western Reserve Chronicle in 1816. The Trump was located nearest to Portage County and thereby gained a start over contemporaries of a later day.
The start of Portage County jour- nalism was made in 1825. In that year a man named J. B. Butler came from Pittsburgh, where he had been engag- ed in the printing business. He thought he saw a need and an op- portunity here and proceeded to open up a printing and newspaper plant in Ravenna. There he started the Western Courier and Western Public Advertiser. He announced that sub- scriptions could be paid in produce if delivered at a certain store (Kent's). A large part of the first news was the inaugural address of John Quincy Adams, the new president, though the paper was printed several weeks after delivery of the address.
Two years later the publication was sold to William Coolman and C. B. Thompson. In the following year James Walker bought an interest in it. This newspaper started life as a non-partisan affair but in 1830, the Courier became the organ of the Dem- ocratic party under an editor named
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Harsha. In 1831 William Coolman be- came the sole proprietor. One year later John Harmon bought the paper. Then Selby & Robbins took it over in 1838 and it soon went out of business. It had lasted thirteen years with eight different ownerships.
The advertising patronage upon which modern newspapers depend was then unknown, or rather was just beginning. The advertising was con- fined mainly to single column brief announcements calling attention to the type of business.
OHIO STAR SHINES
In the meantime, another Ravenna paper had come into existence and was making progress. This was the Ohio Star, started in 1830 by Lewis Rice, with the backing of Jonathan Sloane and Cyrus Prentiss, men of means. It began life as an anti-Ma- sonic sheet. Sloane was a lawyer and at one time prosecuting attorney. In 1833 Laurin Dewey appeared on the scene and took over the Star. Previ- ously he had been a Ravenna printer who had gone to Akron, then a small place still in western Portage County, and started the Ohio Canal Advocate for the purpose of influencing the route of the new canal. That issue was settled before the new paper first appeared and the name was changed to the Portage Journal, which ran un- til 1828, after which Akron had no paper until 1846.
When Dewey took over the Star he made it the organ of the Whig party, then coming into full life. But more changes were in the way and in 1838 Lyman Hall became senior part- ner. In 1839 Dewey got himself elect- ed sheriff and sold out his interest to Mr. Hall, who was an important fig- ure in the county. But the very next year, for some reason, Hall sold out to
the firm of Root & Elkins, with A. L. Lewis as editor. In the same year El- kins bought out Root and one year later William Wadsworth took over as sole owner.
Later, Dewey came back in with Wadsworth and the partnership lasted until 1844, when Wadsworth bought out Dewey and again took Lewis as editor. In 1845, Lewis bought an in- terest in the paper but Wadsworth soon bought him out again. Whether these swift changes were due to per- sonal differences, or because of fi- nancial matters, is not clear.
In 1849 Lyman Hall again bought The Star and enlarged it, staying with it several years as editor. Party fol- lowing was then unsettled. The Whig party was dying out and the Repub- licans were gathering strength. Party support was important to early news- papers. In 1854, Hall changed the paper's name to The Portage County Democrat, though the name did not mean what it now appears to mean. Previously, Hall had started the West- ern Cabinet and Family Visitor (1843). It ran only for a short time under this name.
PAPERS ARE POLITICAL
The name of Dewey was also an important one in early Portage Coun- ty journalism. Laurin Dewey, who had gone to Akron to start its first newspaper, was venturesome and ac- tive. In 1844 he went back to Akron and became part owner and editor of the Beacon. He dabbled in politics and in 1848 he quit Akron and be- came warden of the Ohio penitent- iary, later going to Iowa.
The Independent Press was started in Ravenna in 1855, but it soon be- came the Reformer. It was religious and anti-slavery and lasted about two years. Successive publishers were W.
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B. Orvis, A. Pryne, James Gregg and Willard Burr.
Temporary publications for politi- cal purposes were put out often. One such was the Campaign Democrat, is- sued just before election in 1855, as a Republican paper. The Hickory Flail and Fusion Thresher also was started in Ravenna in 1855 and died the same year. It was nominally Dem- ocratic but its objective was to boost a certain candidate. When he was de- feated, the paper died.
In the year 1848 John S. Herrick established the Portage County Whig at Ravenna. It ran under that name until 1853, when it became the Home Companion and Whig and in the fol- lowing year was merged with the Obio Star. Hall, Herrick and Wads- worth made the Star into the Portage County Democrat as noted above. Herrick and Wadsworth then retired and Hall alone published it for many years.
As the name "Democrat" seemed incongruous for a Republican paper, readers demanded a change. Hall was willing but he went at it cautiously. He made a new heading to read "Democrat & Republican" with the "Republican" in very small type be- neath "Democrat". He then proceed- ed to make the "Republican" type larger and larger each year when the two words were equal in size. The word "Democrat" was then eliminat- ed by degrees in the reverse way and the readers were made happy.
A paper called the Portage County Republican was started in Ravenna in 1878 but was soon absorbed by the Republican-Democrat Co.
A newspaper called the Signal en- tered the Ravenna field in the early '70s but operated only a short time.
REPUBLICAN REORGANIZED
According to reports, The Repub- lican of Hall began to "run down" in the '70s. Hall had met with financial reverses. In 1878 he made an assign- ment and the assignees sold the paper
Edward Y. Lacey
Probably no one knew as much about Portage County history in general in his time as did Edward Y. Lacey of Ravenna. He was an active newspaper man in Ravenna more than half a century, and
his father before him (W. C. Lacey) was also a journalist. Born in Ravenna in 1859, he read law and was admitted to the bar but soon drifted into newspaper work.
Late in life he became a minister and for a time was rector of Ravenna's Epis- copal church as well as the church in Hudson. A kindly and modest man, he probably had as many friends and acquaintances over the county as anyone could have.
At one time he was editor of the Democratic Press, Ravenna, but later went to the Ravenna Republican, later The Record. Mr. Lacey's historical sketches appearing in his paper, have been of great help in preparing the present county history. He had the repu- tation of being a "flowery" writer, in which he was unexcelled.
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to a group of citizens of which C. A. Reed and J. D. Horton were leaders. Worthy of note is the fact that James A. Garfield was a stockholder in the new company, holding shares in it at the time of his death. Halsey Hall was the editor. Halsey Hall later went to Minnesota and became a well known editor there. The paper became the Ravenna Republican about 1883 and in 1885 John Meharg became owner and editor. He was also a lawyer and was prosecuting attorney. In 1886 he made the paper daily and weekly and the daily continued until 1888. Me- harg was an able man and operated successfully until 1895 when he sold out and went to California.
In March, 1885, the first issue of the Ravenna Daily Courier made its appearance. It was a revival of the name of an earlier Courier. It was printed in Alliance and sold only in connection with a Cleveland daily. However, this paper, too, operated only for a short time.
In 1893 The Sherwood Press had started The Graphic, a weekly, with C. W. S. Wilgus as publisher. In 1895 Wilgus bought out the Republican from Meharg and combined it with The Graphic, remaining as its pub- lisher until his death in 1910. His brother-in-law, A. D. Robinson, suc- ceeded him. The paper became a semi- weekly and later a tri-weekly. It was sold to the Dix organization in 1927 and shortly after that became a daily under the name of The Record, which continues today. Thus the newspaper first called the Ohio Star has survived through dozens of changes of owner- ship, names and editors, to exist today as The Record-a continuous life of 127 years at the present time, which is quite long as newspapers go.
DEMOCRATS ACTIVE
In the meantime, there were other journalistic developments. The Dem- ocratic party was a vital force. Away back in 1835 John Harmon began to issue The Watchman from the Cour- ier office, and about this time, too, John B. King, Rufus Spalding, Joseph Lyman and Ashael Taylor started the Buckeye Democrat which lasted less than a year.
The Plain Dealer was started in Ra- venna in 1841 by a Mr. Canfield but it, too, had a short life, and S. D. Har- ris, Jr. and Roswell Batterson estab- lished the Portage County Sentinel. Batterson retired in 1851. In 1852 Harris sold out to Alphonso Hart and R. E. Craig, but Hart soon disposed of his interest to R. E. Somerville. In 1854 the paper became The Weekly Portage County Sentinel but it was discontinued in 1862, probably due in some way to the war sentiment. It was succeeded by the Argus, which soon gave up. But in 1868 the Dem- ocratic party began to recover strength and Samuel D. Harris, Jr. established The Democratic Press. He had previously been on The Star and Sentinel and had been active in pol- itics, being county treasurer at one time.
Later, his son George went into business with him as S. D. Harris & Son. They ran the paper as the Dem- ocratic organ until 1899 when Col. David Fisher took it over. He changed the name to The Portage County Democrat.
In 1906 Wilhelm and Holm be- came owners with J. B. Holm as edi- tor. Following them, in 1912, W. A. Weygandt came from Akron to take it over. Weygandt became state sena- tor and in 1919 sold out to J. B. Sher- wood, son of Congressman Isaac Sher-
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wood. James Morehead later became associated with him and Sherwood sold the Democrat to The Record in 1928, to be absorbed by that publica- tion. Sherwood died in 1937.
L. R. Benjamin started The Stan- dard in Ravenna in 1909 but in 1911 he went to Kent and bought and op- erated The Bulletin.
THEY COME AND GO
These dates and figures may not be very interesting but they do point out the high mortality rate of the early newspapers. In the three decades of 1825 to 1855 there was a change of ownership or name virtually every year. Many men had gone into the publishing business without previous experience and usually without much capital. Since publishing newspapers was a new business, it is little wonder that many of the publishers failed to make it go.
But we should not conclude that they were an ignorant, unthinking lot. They were sailing in unknown seas. The wonder is that any survived. Usually, a paper was started on a few hundred dollars capital. By present standards, the product was poor, but the editors made their way. They did prepare the soil for better and more profitable papers later on. The rea- son for the large number of papers in Ravenna, of course, was that Ravenna was the county seat and therefore the logical place for a newspaper.
. In Franklin Mills, now Kent, a publication appeared in 1859, under the staggering name of Omnium Gatherum. It was started by Dr. Alon- zo Dewey from Ravenna. It had hard going and soon died. Dewey promptly started another paper, this time under the name of The Family Visitor. When that failed he started again with The Literary Casket and later
with The Saturday Review and Com- mercial Bulletin, the latter operated by Marsh Dewey.
After a suspension of several years the plant was taken over in 1876 by Napoleon Jeremiah A. Minich. He revived the Bulletin and called it The Saturday Bulletin, then just The Kent Bulletin. Mr. Minich was a careful manager and did well. At one time he was mayor of Kent. In 1903 he re- tired, selling The Bulletin to Capt. A. D. Braden. In 1907 Braden sold it to W. L. Boyle, who sold it to L. R. Benjamin. A few years later the paper was discontinued but the name, Bul- letin, was kept alive for a time in a newspaper published by P. B. Bonsall in 1935-36.
CHANGES CONTINUE
The Kent News was established in 1867 by L. D. Durbin. H. E. Gridley was editor. It soon ceased operation but was revived by A. C. Davis and Richard Fields, with Paul Conant as editor. In 1883 Scott Rockwell, a lawyer, became editor. The News ceased operation in 1886. In the same year The Kent Courier was started by the Kent family with Charles Scott as editor.
In the 1840s considerable friction a- rose between the Yankees living in Ran- dolph and the Germans living over the line in Stark County. The Germans said they had been swindled by Yankee ped- dlers and used the term, "being Yanke- ed" after that. The Yankees gave the Germans the name of "Penna-mites", probably from the name Pennslyvania from which state most of the Germans came. When "Penna-mites" began to move into Randolph, all got better acquainted and there was no trouble at all.
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J. G. Paxton Kent editor over 40 years
In 1891 J. G. Paxton became editor but the paper was sold in 1915 to Abner Lawson and a few years later G. E. Marker and U. G. Arthurs bought in. In 1923 Lawson returned, replacing Marker.
When J. G. Paxton left The Courier in 1915, he established The Kent Tribune together with Sam Baker. In a few years Baker retired and in 1923 J. B. Holm became half owner. This ownership lasted until 1930 when both The Tribune and Courier were sold to M. L. Davey and consolidated by him. In turn, Davey soon sold out to the Dix interests and a daily paper later was put out as The Courier-Trib- une.
In Garrettsville we find today The Journal which holds the distinction of being the newspaper published un- der the same name longest of any in the county. Garrettsville's first pub- lication was The Western Pearl, pub- lished in 1836 by Lyman Trask. It was "literary" and soon fell by the way- side.
In the early '60s Warren Pierce started The Monthly Review but it did not succeed. But Pierce made an-
other start in 1867 with The Journal which has come out under that name for ninety years.
In 1873 The Journal was sold to C. B. Webb and on his death in 1900 it was taken over by Myers & Snow. D. G. Myers became sole owner in 1905 and when he died Mrs. Myers became publisher. In 1927 Dean Arthur Cul- ler and L. A. Harrington bought the paper but Herbert Fickes soon re- placed Harrington. In 1947 The Jour- nal was taken over by W. J. Dickey, who continues as this is written.
In 1800 The Saturday Item appear- ed in Garrettsville with O. S. Ferris as publisher. It ran about ten years.
TOWNSHIP PUBLISHERS
Mantua got its first newspaper in 1875. It was called The Register. The name of the publisher is not clear. Later, it was put out variously as The Review and The Gazette. In 1888 D. B. Sherwood was publisher and in 1900 E. M. Dewey was in charge, fol- lowed by Mr. Russell. In 1913 L. M. Sherwood took over the paper and it was then The Herald. Mr. Sherwood died in 1937, after which Mrs. Sher- wood published it until 1946 when Charles Butcher became publisher with C. D. Yount, editor.
Growth of Windham brought a newspaper there in 1955, The News.
In the '70s and '80s many of the smaller towns wanted newspapers. Papers often were started but were unable to survive long. In Atwater The Sharp Sickle operated in 1878-79, followed by The Atwater News in 1884. Existence was brief for both.
In Hiram The Bugle-Echo was pub- lished for a time by D. H. Beaman and about the same time Windham had its Herald. In the '80s Aurora had a paper for a short time, John Gould, editor. In Palmyra The Wide Awake
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was published briefly by Rev. Erastus Lewis.
In earlier days a man with a desire to be a publisher could start on a few hundred dollars. But the old-time publisher usually had to be editor, printer, pressman and everything else. One who ever operated an old Wash- ington hand press needed a strong back more than he needed a power- ful intellect-although the latter was useful. First newspapers usually had four pages of five columns each. At first there was little local news. Na- tional news, however stale, came first. Much matter was reprinted from East- ern papers, especially about matters political.
Often the printer-editor set up type for his news "out of his neck," mean- ing composing it as he set type
JOURNALISM WAS PERSONAL
Delivery was by mail and often papers did not reach subscribers for a week. Subscriptions were frequently paid in produce, cordwood or services of some kind. Until 1900 and later, most of the big city newspapers had weekly or semi-weekly editions that were taken by the rural people every- where.
The early publishers were pretty much rugged individualists. It was a day of personal journalism. Opinions were forcibly expressed in type. Com- petitors were either numbskulls, fools or thieves. Inevitably, this situation led to personal encounters. In 1886 Editor Scott of the Kent Courier and Editor Rockwell of the Kent News developed a strong feud that led to a fist fight in the street. Publisher Minich of the Bulletin criticised Scott and was sued for $10,000 worth of libel, but Minich won out in court.
In time, newspapers swung from the personal stuff and became as po-
lite toward rivals as anyone else. But recent years have seen a complete turn of the cycle through the growing pop- ularity of the column. Nearly every paper, big or little, now has from a single column up to 15 or 20.
Portage County has had some very good newspapermen, both as working individuals and as business men. There was a time when many news- papers were published as side issues by lawyers and politicians. Today newspaper publishing is more of a business in its own right.
Albert Dix of Atwater started a paper and founded a chain of success- ful publications that now includes the Ravenna and Kent dailies.
J. L. Waite of Ravenna became edi- tor of the famous Burlington, Iowa, Hawkeye.
Charles C. Green, a Kent boy, be- came an important New York City advertising executive.
Fannie Ward, a once well known traveler and feature writer, was a Ravenna woman. Florus B. Plimpton of Palmyra, journalist and poet was editor of the Pittsburgh Dispatch and Cincinnati Commercial Gazette.
Everest P. Derthick of Mantua is currently managing editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Robert Sto- pher is associate editor of the Beacon- Journal, Akron.
Today, Portage County newspapers compare well with any elsewhere. The county is given good daily local and general news service, and its daily papers enjoy a reputation for picture service. Smaller towns are well served by its weeklies, and journalism, as a whole, is more settled.
NEW PUBLICATION TYPES
In addition to the regular news- papers, there are today many school publications. Virtually all the larger
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high schools have weekly or monthly papers. Hiram College long has had a number of excellent publications, and at Kent State University a course in journalism provides training for stu- dents. By reason of clinics, short courses, etc., budding journalists from many towns meet here and workshops in various branches bring experts from various cities. Newspaper pho- tography is especially emphasized. The university publications give prac- tical training to many.
There are also numerous church and industrial publications that are ex- pertly gotten up. Two daily news- papers are published, the Ravenna Record and the Kent Courier-Tribune, both under the same ownership and general management of Robt. C. Dix. Local editors are A. R. Sicuro of Ra- venna and Loris Troyer at Kent. These newspapers have established a reputa- tion for liberal use of pictures in small city journals.
Newspapers today are far more "local." Old editors usually consider- ed it their duty to have something to say on political subjects, and, as in- dicated before, they often became per- sonal in their observations. General local news was absent. Gradually lo- cal political matters were discussed. Then items about meetings and or- ganizations began to appear, particu- larly about church activities. Up to the time of the Civil War, few, if any, items about local people and social activities were used. Then a few "personals" started to appear and grew in number. Editors discovered that newspaper readers liked to read about themselves and their activities. Up to 1900 the picture of a local man in the newspaper was a rare event. More and more were then used and to- day local papers use as many pictures as they can. Today's local newspapers are truly local in nature for the most part.
Sand used in the manufacture of glass in Ravenna came mostly from deposits on the east shore of Sandy Lake, now Stafford.
The state commission on canals in 1907 reported that revival of canal oper- ation meant $5.23 spent in upkeep for each $1.00 in revenue.
Nelson's Fifty-Niners
Portage County produced several real Forty-Niners in the gold rush days. But it also produced some Fifty-Niners, as they called themselves.
In March, 1859, a party of Nelson boys decided to hunt gold in the West. The party was made up of Wells Colton, George Caldwell, Alfred Mowbray, Wells Clark, Heman Clark and John S. Beardsley, the latter a lad of sixteen. Wells Colton, the oldest, had been a real Forty-Niner with experience in gold hunting. They out-fitted themselves with two one-horse wagons of the prairie schooner type. These they took to Beaver, Pa., and loaded them on a steamboat, on which all were carried down the Ohio, up the Mis- sissippi and Missouri to Kansas City, Mo. Here they struck out overland, using the old Santa Fe Trail for a large part of the way. Arriving in the mountains of Colorado, they went to work and were able to locate gold, after buying out another man's claim. In October they set out for home over the prairies of Nebraska where they had a brush with hostile Indians but joined up with another party to escape. They reached home in No- vember. Net profit for each man was $50.00 for the trip, which was probably as much as the majority of gold seekers made in a similar period. Thereafter the adventurers were known as the Nelson Fifty-Niners.
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