History of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Part 30

Author: Bell, Herbert C. (Herbert Charles), 1868- ed; John, J. J., 1829-
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago, Brown, Runk
Number of Pages: 1424

USA > Pennsylvania > Northumberland County > History of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania > Part 30

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).

HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.

by justices of the peace throughout the State at one time, and was perhaps as well known as the author of this work as from his connection with journal- ism. He died in Philadelphia at an advanced age.

Matthew Huston became proprietor of the Argus in 1807 and published it until his death, August 10, 1809. The paper was continued after that date by his son, Andrew C. Huston, and when it was finally discontinued is not known; but, as Republican Advertiser appears as part of the caption of the Gazette, it is highly probable that the Republican Argus was ultimately merged into Kennedy's paper, although such a conclusion is only matter of inference. The issue of Wednesday, April 24, 1811, the latest copy exam- ined by the writer, is a four-column folio, seventeen inches long and eleven inches wide, and bears intrinsic evidence of having been "printed and pub- lished by Andrew C. Huston at the book and stationery store in Queen street opposite Mr. Taggart's inn." Andrew C. Huston was born in Woolwich township, Gloucester county, New Jersey, March 27, 1787, and died at North- umberland on the 10th of January, 1876, one of the oldest printers in Penn- sylvania at the time of his death.

The Columbia Gazette was published by George Sweney, a former part- ner of Andrew Kennedy, and supported the national administration in the war of 1812. The first number was issued on the 2d of November, 1813, but the length of time it continued is not known.

The Religious Museum, edited by Rev. Robert F. N. Smith, of North- umberland, and devoted to general missionary and religious intelligence, was published in 1818. The writer has examined the issue of August 5, 1818 (Volume I, No. 4), a three-column folio ten by thirteen inches in dimensions; the only contents of local interest is a notice of the Susquehanna Bible Society.

The Northumberland Union was published by Alexander Hughes about five years, beginning, it is supposed, in 1832. It was a Democratic organ. The proprietor married Miss M. E. Burkenbine, daughter of Frederick Bur- kenbine, of Northumberland, October 22, 1833.

Public Press, a seven-column folio, was established in 1872 by C. W. Gutelius and W. E. Taylor; the latter subsequently retired, and Mr. Gutelius has since conducted the paper individually.

SUNBURY PAPERS.

Der Freiheitsvogel was the first newspaper published at Sunbury. From a comparison of the best evidence it is believed that it was established in 1800 and continued several years. Jacob D. Breyvogel was proprietor, editor, and publisher; nothing is known regarding his personal history beyond the fact that he married Miss Susanna, daughter of Colonel Christopher Baldy, of Buffalo valley (Union county), Pennsylvania, on Sunday, September 27, 1801. The ceremony was performed by William Irwin, justice of the peace. In the

277

THE PRESS.

notice of this occurrence in Kennedy's Gazette, Breyvogel is referred to as the "printer at Sunbury." As indicated by the title, Der Freiheitsvogel was a German paper.

The Times was established in 1812 by William F. Buyers, and was the second paper at Sunbury. Mr. Buyers was born at that town, January 12, 1782, son of John Buyers, a prominent merchant and early resident of the county seat. He learned the printing business with Breyvogel; in Ken- nedy's Gazette of October 26, 1801, the statement is made that "William Buyers has now established a printing office at Williamsport," from which it is evident that he entered upon his career as a newspaper publisher immedi- ately after completing his apprenticeship. This was the Williamsport Ga- zette, the pioneer journal of Lycoming county, Pennsylvania; he published it, under many difficulties and often irregularly, until 1808. Returning to Sunbury, which had been without a local paper since the suspension of Der Freiheitsvogel, he began the publication of the Times in the summer of 1812. The statement has been made that he retired at the expiration of three years, but this seems improbable, as the paper was certainly published by him in 1816 and 1817. He commanded a company in the Seventy-seventh regiment of Pennsylvania militia in the war of 1812; on the 13th of December, 1815, he married Miss Martha, daughter of Alexander Hunter, of Sunbury; in 1815-18 he served as commissioner of Northumberland county; and on the 27th of June, 1821, he died at the age of thirty-nine. In 1816 he was a Federal Republican candidate for Congress, but was defeated. The issue of the Times for September 26, 1816 (Volume V, No. 13), is a four-column folio, eighteen inches long and eleven inches wide; the congressional election occurred in the following month, and this number is correspondingly replete with political articles. It is probable that Captain Buyers published the Times throughout its continuance under that name. His printing office was in the second story of the "state house," which occupied the site of the present court house, and at a small frame building on the west side of Second street at the corner of Barberry alley, where the Neff House stable now stands.

Publick Inquirer was the caption of a paper started in January, 1820, by Samuel J. Packer. He acquired his knowledge of the " art preservative " at Bellefonte, whence he came to Sunbury and purchased the plant of the Times, of which the Inquirer was virtually a continuation. It was estab- lished with the immediate object of advocating the re-election of Governor Findlay, and the issue of October 5, 1820 (Volume I, No. 39), a four-column folio perhaps twenty inches in length and the only one that has been exam- ined by the writer, is devoted almost entirely to reports from various parts of the State regarding the progress and prospects of the campaign. Among the apprentices in the office was William F. Packer, a kinsman of the proprietor, then in his thirteenth year and subsequently member of the board of canal

278

HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.

commissioners and of both branches of the legislature, auditor general, and Governor of Pennsylvania, 1858-61. During Mr. Packer's ownership the Inquirer was published at a two-story frame building which formerly stood at the southeast corner of Chestnut street and Center alley. It is supposed that it was subsequently published by Jacob W. Seitzinger, a Mr. Vander- slice, and Francis P. Schwartz, all of whom are known to have been con- nected with newspapers at Sunbury. Seitzinger was a man of much native ability but little education; he subsequently removed to Schuylkill county and became wealthy through fortunate investments in coal lands. Vander- slice was a member of the family of that name which was prominent at Sun- bury at the beginning of this century. Schwartz had been employed in one of the departments at Washington when a young man; in the war of 1812 he served as ensign in Captain Jacob Hummel's company from Northumber- land county; he taught school at Sunbury and in the vicinity, and served as town clerk at an early date in the history of the borough. He was the father of John J. W. Schwartz, of the Shamokin Herald, ex-treasurer of Northum- berland county. Of Samuel J. Packer, the founder of the Inquirer, extended mention is made in this work in the chapter on the Bench and Bar.

The Gazetteer was the third and last paper in the line of direct succes- sion from the Times. The earliest number examined by the writer is the issue of March 24, 1825 (Volume I, No. 21), a five-column folio. It contains a notice from Peter Martz, dated February 24, 1825, stating that he had " sold the establishment of the Gazetteer to James R. Shannon;" it is quite evi- dent, therefore, that the paper was established by Martz. He was a mill- wright by occupation, but attained some prominence in local political affairs as member of Assembly and associate judge. It is thought that William Shannon also published the Gazetteer ; he kept a hotel in the old jail build- ing at the southeast corner of Market street and Center alley, and the Gazetteer was printed in a large room on the second floor in the rear end of this building. His son, James R. Shannon, was the publisher in 1832, and the issue of Saturday, February 25th of that year (Volume II, No. 28, New Series), is the latest that has been examined by the writer. This number is a five-column folio, twenty-one inches long and fourteen inches wide, printed on quite heavy paper. The only matter of local interest it contains is an account of a celebration at Sunbury on the 22d of February, 1832, in honor of the centennial anniversary of the birth of Washington. The day was ushered in with the firing of guns and ringing of bells, and, after a parade, the Sunbury Grays and many leading citizens sat down to a sumptuous re- past at one of the leading hotels. Peter Lazarus was chosen chairman and H. B. Masser, secretary; thirteen regular and many volunteer toasts were responded to. The town was illuminated in the evening and a large con- course of people moved in procession through the streets, preceded by a splendid transparency of Washington. As a whole it was not, the paper .

279

THE PRESS.

states, surpassed by any similar demonstration since the celebration of the peace in 1815. It is not probable that the publication of the Gazetteer was continued more than a year after this date. William Shannon was sheriff of Northumberland county, 1818-21, and James R. Shannon, 1821-24.

Der Northumberland Republikaner was issued for the first time on the 12th of August, 1812, and was the third paper at Sunbury. It was founded by John G. Youngman, and, as indicated by the name, was a German paper. Mr. Youngman was born near Hummelstown, Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, January 6, 1786, and was descended from a Moravian family that emigrated from Lusatia, Prussia, to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in 1740. His father, Jacob Youngman, was a blacksmith and farmer, and his grandfather, Rev. John George Youngman, who died at Bethlehem in 1808 at the age of eighty-eight, was a Moravian missionary to the Indians. At the age of eight years he was adopted by his uncle, Gottlieb Youngman, a soldier of the Revolution, who established the first German paper in Berks county, Pennsylvania, " The im- partial Reading Newspaper," on the 18th of February, 1789, continued its publication until 1816, and died at Louisville, Kentucky, June 10, 1833, at the age of seventy-six. Under his tuition he acquired a thorough knowledge of the printing business. In 1802 he left his uncle on account of some misunder- standing, walked to Somerset county, and was employed at his trade by a Mr. Ogle. Four years later he secured employment on the Hornet at Frederick, Maryland; in 1807 he was connected with the Times, one of the first daily papers of Baltimore, and from that city he went to Hagerstown, Maryland, where he secured a situation under John Gruber, the well known almanac pub- lisher. In 1812 he returned to Reading, procured the necessary materials from his uncle, and forthwith established the Amerikaner at Sunbury. The files of this paper are still extant for 1815-18, beginning with the issue of August 11th of the former year and ending with January of the latter. It is a three-column folio, fourteen inches long and nine inches wide, and credit- able in typography and composition. In 1818 the name was changed to Nordwestliche Post, which espoused the cause of Findlay in the gubernatorial contest of 1820, thereby alienating the large body of the German population among whom it circulated, who were almost a unit in support of Hiester. In consequence of this disaffection among his subscribers Mr. Youngman sus- pended the publication of the paper (subsequent to July, 1827, however), and for several years devoted his attention to the printing of books and pamphlets.

Shamokin Canalboot was the caption of Mr. Youngman's next venture. A great popular agitation in favor of internal improvements was in progress throughout the State, and it was with the idea of promoting local enterprises of this nature that the paper was established and supported. The only copy examined by the writer is the issue of Saturday, March 5, 1831 (No. 162); this is a folio fifteen and one half inches long and eleven inches wide, embel-

280

HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.

lished with the representation of a canal boat on the head-line of the first page. The paper was published under this name until 1833.

The Workingmen's Advocate, a four-column folio eleven by sixteen inches in dimensions, was first issued by John G. Youngman on Monday, April 29, 1833; it was the first English paper published by him, and was the immediate chronological successor of the Canalboot. In his salutatory the editor stated that his paper would be Democratic in politics, reserving to himself, however, the right of differing from party conventions as to what platforms or candidates were really Democratic should occasion require. The Advocate was continued with success and profit until 1838, and the popularity of the editor is shown by the fact that several rival papers at Sunbury and Northumberland suspended during that period.

The Sunbury Gazette was established in 1838. The earliest issue exam- ined by the writer is that of Saturday, January 7, 1843 (Volume V- No. 240), which is a five-column folio twenty-one and one half by thirteen inches; the full title at that time was "The Sunbury Gazette and Miners' Register." The publishers were John G. Youngman & Son. The senior member of this firm was actively connected with the press of Sunbury almost continuously from the time he established the Amerikaner in 1812 until his retirement from the Gazette in 1867, a period of fifty-five years. He was also prominent in the public affairs of the county, and was the incumbent of several important pub- lic offices. In 1814 he served as county treasurer, and in 1818-21 as county commissioner; on the 5th of February, 1839, he was commissioned as register and recorder, and in the autumn of that year he was elected to those offices, to which he was thus the last person appointed and the first person elected in this county. He took great delight in type-setting, and worked at this in the com- posing room of the Gazette until within a few months of his death, which occurred on the 13th of September, 1871.

The Gazette was published by John G. Youngman & Son from its in- ception in 1838 until 1867. George B. Youngman was the junior member of this firm from 1838 until 1855. He learned the printing trade with his father, and it was principally through his influence that the Gazette was started. In 1850-51 he served as treasurer of Northumberland county. After his retirement from the paper he engaged in fruit and grape culture on a farm several miles east of Sunbury, and continued this business success- fully until his death, April 9, 1880, at the age of sixty-six years. He was succeeded as junior member of the firm in 1855 by his brother, Andrew A. Youngman, upon whom much of the responsibility in connection with the paper devolved until the retirement of his father in 1868. The style of the firm then became A. A. & John Youngman, by whom the paper was contin- ued until the 11th of April, 1879, when it was consolidated with the Ameri- can under the name of the Gazette- American. A year later the publication of the Gazette individually was resumed by A. A. & John Youngman and

281

THE PRESS.

continued until March 16, 1883, when it was issued for the last time after forty-five years' continuous publication. The last number gives a review of the political policy of the paper, in which it is stated that the Gazette was one of the four Democratic organs in Pennsylvania "that came out boldly in favor of the national administration as against the rebel cause " in 1861, and although it was constrained "to protest against certain tendencies and meth- ods in the management of the Republican party " on several occasions, it could not be said "that the Gazette ever went back on the principles of that great political organization." Andrew A. Youngman still resides at Sunbury, at the former residence of his father on the southwest corner of Third and Arch streets. John Youngman, who was editor of the Gazette from 1855 until its final suspension, now fills a similar position upon the staff of the Belle- fonte (Pennsylvania) Watchman.

The Amerikaner was originally established at a small frame building on the north side of Market street at the present site of Rippel's photograph gallery. When the elder Youngman purchased the property at Third and Arch he removed the printing office to a frame structure adjoining his resi- dence and fronting Arch street. The next location was a wooden building at the site of the Dewart block, corner of Market and Third, occupied in 1847- 50, when the office was removed to the north side of Market street nearly op- posite the City Hotel; the Gazette was published there at the time of its sus- pension in 1883, but had occupied several different places in the meantime, the principal of which was the second story of the Geyer block, northeast corner of Market square, to which it was removed in 1868.

Susquehanna Emporium was the caption of a paper established at Sun- bury by Ezra Grossman, a native of New Berlin, Pennsylvania, who married Eleanor M., daughter of Samuel Awl and sister to Dr. R. H. Awl, of Sunbury. He published the paper about a year and a half and then disposed of it to Hamlet A. Kerr; the only copy examined by the writer is the issue of Mon- day, August 10, 1829 (New Series, Volume I, No. 10-Whole No. 88), a five- column folio about as large as its contemporary, the Gazetteer. If published without interruption, it is evident that the paper first appeared in December, 1827. It was first published at a small frame building which occupied the site of P. P. Smith's store on the south side of Market street between Front and Second; after his marriage Grossman resided at a house that stood upon the present site of Dr. R. H. Awl's, and printed his paper in an adjoining building at the quarters subsequently occupied by the Youngmans. He was afterward engaged in the publishing business at New York on an extensive scale. 'Mr. Kerr continued the Emporium a few years, and afterward estab- lished a paper at, Milton.

Der General Staats Zeitung was originally established at Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania. The discontinuance of the Canalboot in 1833 left Sunbury without a German newspaper, and the favorable opening thus presented was

282

HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.

embraced by the proprietors of the Zeitung; the materials of their establish- ment arrived at Sunbury on the 17th of February, 1835, and the office was opened on Market street next door to the Jackson Inn. On the 13th of April following Bartholomew Hauck retired from the Zeitung, which thus became the property of his former partner, Henry Zuppinger. The paper supported Van Buren for President and Muhlenberg for Governor, but it is not known how long it was continued.

The Sunbury American was established by Henry B. Masser in 1840, and has now been continuously published longer than any other paper at Sunbury. Its inception was, however, the outgrowth of unexpected political developments rather than the result of deliberate purpose. At that time Northumberland county was overwhelmingly Democratic, and a nomination by the dominant party was virtually equivalent to an election; it was in the nominating convention, therefore, that the principal battles of the local cam- paign were fought. In 1838 and 1839 Charles W. Hegins was elected to the legislature from this county, but when he appeared for renomination in 1840 the candidate from the northern part of the county, Jesse C. Horton, defeated him; the methods employed by Horton's supporters were regarded as irreg- ular by the friends of Hegins, who thereupon withdrew in a body and organ- ized another convention, which placed Hegins in nomination. The Democratic papers in the county at that time were the Sunbury Gazette and Milton Ledger; the latter naturally supported Horton, but when the Gazette also recognized him as the regular Democratic candidate it was a great surprise to the friends of Hegins, whose cause was thus left without an organ. In this emergency Henry B. Masser, Charles G. Donnel, and others resolved upon the establishment of a new paper; the execution of the project was intrusted to Mr. Masser, and within ten days after the convention the first number of the American was printed at Sunbury, September 12, 1840. Its publication was begun without a subscription list, but large editions were distributed gratuitously, notwithstanding which Horton was elected by a small popular majority. Although the immediate purpose of its inception was thus defeated, the American early became one of the most influential journals in central Pennsylvania. In politics it was Democratic, although its support was not infrequently given to the opposition candidates, and under Mr. Masser's editorship it was particularly active in its advocacy of a pro- tective tariff and the internal development of the State. Early in Buchanan's administration it became identified with the "free soil" movement in the Democratic party; its support was transferred to President Lincoln shortly after his election in 1860, and from that time it has been a stanch Republican paper.

The American was published by Masser & Eisely from September, 1840, until April, 1848, when Joseph Eisely, who had had charge of the mechanical department but no proprietary interest, retired. Henry B. Masser then con-

283

THE PRESS.

ducted the paper individually until September 19, 1864, when Emanuel Wil- vert secured an interest. N. S. Engle became a member of the firm on the 1st of April, 1866, but his interest was acquired on the 1st of January, 1869, by Mr. Wilvert, who became sole proprietor on the 28th of April in the same year by the retirement of Mr. Masser. Wilvert continued the publication individually until April 11, 1879, when the Gazette and American were merged into the Gazette-American, in which the former proprietors of both were jointly interested. One year later this connection was dissolved, and the American reappeared on the 9th of April, 1880, with Emanuel Wilvert & Son as publishers. Austin Wilvert, the junior member, retired several months later, after which Emanuel Wilvert was individual proprietor until August 15, 1887. Hudson Withington and Thomas J. Silvius next published the paper under the firm name of Withington & Silvius; the former with- drew on the 5th of December, 1889, and the present (1890) editor and pub -- lisher is Thomas J. Silvius. The American was originally a six-column folio twenty-two inches long and sixteen inches wide; it is now an eight-column folio.

Der Deutsche Amerikaner was published from 1843 to 1864, and was identical in ownership and management with the Sunbury American, of which it was virtually the German edition. It was a five-column folio, four- teen by twenty-one inches, and circulated extensively in the southern part of the county.

The Daily American was established by Emanuel Wilvert on the 30th of November, 1877, and continued thirteen months. It was a five-column folio, seventeen inches long and eleven inches wide, and appeared as an evening paper.

Der Deutsche Demokrat was first issued on the 1st of January, 1856, by Cyrus O. Bachman. In 1861 it became an adjunct of the Northumberland County Democrat, and was discontinued several years later.

The Northumberland County Democrat was established in 1861. The first movement in this direction was made in 1859, when a coterie of local party leaders, prominent among whom were Dr. R. H. Awl, William H. Kase, Dr. David Waldron (then sheriff of the county), Colonel Wright, and others, jointly raised a fund for the purpose of enlarging the plant of the Milton Democrat and removing it to Sunbury; although the idea was never consummated under these auspices, Doctor Awl subsequently purchased the materials of the Democrat at sheriff's sale, removed them to Sunbury, and permitted Cyrus O. Bachman to use the press, type, etc. in the publication of his German paper gratis, thereby materially strengthening that journal. Theretofore both the Gazette and American had been Democratic, but both adopted the principles of the Republican party after the election of Lincoln in 1860, thus leaving the Deutsche Demokrat the only organ of its party in this county. It soon became apparent that an English paper was necessary

284

HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.

for the support of party interests, and, upon the representations of promi- nent Democratic leaders, Truman H. Purdy, formerly editor of the Argus at Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, agreed to take charge of the journal it was pro- posed to establish, if preliminary support to the extent of eight hundred subscribers should be obtained. Measures were accordingly inaugurated to meet this requirement, principally through the efforts of Dr. R. H. Awl and Jesse Simpson, who made a thorough canvass of the county, and with the assurance of sufficient support Mr. Purdy was induced to begin; in addition to the materials that then constituted the Demokrat office he purchased new type, press, etc., and on the 8th of March, 1861, the first number of "The Northumberland County Democrat" was issued by Truman H. Purdy and Cyrus O. Bachman. For some time the publication of the paper was attended with may difficulties, owing to the violent partisan feeling which pervaded political discussion at that period. An extreme instance of the hostility with which it was regarded occurred on the night of January 18, 1864, when the office (which then occupied the third story of a brick build- ing on the south side of Market street between Third and Center alley) was mobbed by the Ninth New York Volunteers while passing through Sunbury en route to their homes. An outrage such as this strengthened the paper with its party in this county, however, and within a few years the Democrat became an influential and lucrative journal.

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.

History of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Part 30

Author: Bell, Herbert C. (Herbert Charles), 1868- ed; John, J. J., 1829- Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Chicago, Brown, Runk Number of Pages: 1424

Author: Bell, Herbert C. (Herbert Charles), 1868- ed; John, J. J., 1829-
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago, Brown, Runk
Number of Pages: 1424