USA > Vermont > Windham County > Brattleboro > Brattleboro, Windham County, Vermont; early history, with biographical sketches of some of its citizens > Part 29
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BRATTLEBORO NEWSPAPERS.
Brattleboro's first newspaper was the FEDERAL GALAXY, which was started by Benjamin Smead, in 1797. The Galaxy was printed on a four-page sheet measuring about 17 by 21 inches, four columns to a page, in type of similar size to that used in this work, but of the "old style," and was sold to subscribers for $1.34 per year, pay- able on the last day of every quarter. An idea of what was considered news in those early days may be gained from the con- tents of No. 71, Vol. 2, dated May 8, 1798, a copy of which is now in possession of the writer. The entire first and second pages, and nearly one column of the third page, are taken up with a copy of the "In- structions to Charles Cotesworth Pinck- ney, John Marshall and Elbridge Gerry, Envoys Extraordinary and Ministers Plen- ipotentiary to the French republic," signed by Timothy Pickering, Secretary of State,
and bearing date July 15, 1797-nearly ten months previously! Following this arti- cle, under the general head of "Domestic Events," is given about a column and a half of news from South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, New York and Massachusetts. Then follows a half-column of editorial matter, the leading article treating upon the then all absorbing topic of our rela- tions with France. Something more than a column of this page is occupied with advertisements. Two and a half columns of the fourth page are devoted to a report of the proceedings of the American Con- gress, House of Representatives, extending from Wednesday, March 28, to Tuesday, April 3. The remainder of the page is taken up with advertisements, among which are three applications for divorce. There is not a local or State paragraph in the entire paper. The Galaxy was con- tinued until about 1802, when Mr. Smead removed to Dansville, N. Y.
Not long after the death of the Galaxy, (in 1803) THE REPORTER was started, by William Fessenden. Mr. Fessenden was the son of Rev. Thomas Fessenden of Walpole, N. H., and learned his trade at that place. As related by Mr. Joseph Steen (who served as apprentice in the Re- porter office, beginning June, 1814), Mr. Fessenden had arrived in Brattleboro on his way to New York to procure employ- ment as a journeyman printer, and the fact becoming known to the landlord, Mr. Sam- uel Dickinson, John W. Blake, Esq., and other leading men of the place, who great- ly desired to have a Federal paper pub- lished here, Mr. Fessenden was induced to remain and embark in the undertaking. He obtained a press and other necessary materials in Boston, at second hand, estab- lished the Reporter, and remained proprie- tor of it until his death, in 1815. Becom- ing largely interested in the publication of books, the editorial charge of the paper, after the first few years, was largely left to other hands, being for some time in care of his brother, Thomas Green Fessenden, who was a lawyer by profession and a writer of note, and who afterwards went to Boston and established the New En- gland Farmer.
Another newspaper, called "THE INDE- PENDENT FREEHOLDER AND REPUBLICAN JOURNAL," was started about 1808, by a
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printer named Peter Houghton, who was backed up in the enterprise by Judge Cha- pin, father of the late Dr. Charles Chapin, but it was continued only a short time.
The Reporter, soon after the death of Mr. Fessenden, passed into the hands of his father-in-law, Deacon John Holbrook, by whom it was continued until merged in the Messenger, about 1826.
The year 1817 saw the advent of the AMERICAN YEOMAN. The publisher, Mr. Simeon Ide, had worked as pressman on Webster's spelling book the greater part of the year 1813, for William Fessenden. In 1816 he had printed "the first New Ipswich (N. H.) edition" of the New Testament, in his father's blacksmith shop in that town; but the work proved unremunerative, and after having disposed of most of the edi- tion to pay his debts, he found himself possessed of a good Ramage press, a font or two of type, and a few other necessary utensils of the trade, and he resolved upon publishing a newspaper. Failing to find the necessary encouragement at Keene, he next turned to Brattleboro, and issued the first number of the Yeoman, February 5, 1817. The first number contained a spicy article from the pen of Hon. John Phelps of Guilford, laying down before the inex- perienced young editor certain rules to be observed in his editorial career, by follow- ing which (in the ironical sense of the en- tire article), he says, "I am certain your paper will want nothing-but subscribers." Mr. Phelps, Hon. James Elliot, Hon. Roy- all Tyler, Dr. Allen, Dr. J. P. Warren (then a student with Dr. Allen), and other men of some note, were occasional con- tributors to the columns of the Yeoman. A circulation of 300 copies was insuffi- cient, however, to satisfy Mr. Ide's ambi- tion, and at the end of one year he removed to Windsor, Vt., and united his paper with the Vermont Republican, in the office of which he had commenced his apprentice- ship in the fall of 1809. At this writing Mr. Ide is still living in serene old age at Claremont, N. H.
In 1822 the BRATTLEBORO MESSENGER (Whig) was started by Alexander C. Put- nam, a printer, who learned liis trade at Windsor, and married a sister of the late Deacon Anson Barber. After continuing the paper four years, Mr. Putnam sold (1826) to George W. Nichols, whose first
wife was a sister of the Fessendens, and who for some time had been employed on the Reporter, as foreman. Mr. Nichols was born at Stowe, Vt., in 1782, and learned his trade at Walpole, N. H. In politics he was a Democrat. He continued the Messenger until it was merged into the Vermont Phœnix, in 1834. After two years' connection with this paper, he sold out, and soon purchased the Windham County Democrat, which was started in 1836 by an association of Democrats, and run for one year under the editorial man- agement of Mr. Joseph Steen. Mr. Nich- ols' second wife, Mrs. C. I. H. Nichols, who was a sister of Judge Howard of Townshend, was for some years the real and accredited editor of the paper. Under her administration the Democrat became one of the earliest champions of woman's rights in the country, and took a promi- nent position among the newspapers of the State. The paper was discontinued in the fall of 1853, and in the spring of 1855 Mr. Nichols removed with his family to Kan- sas, where he died the same year, at the age of 73.
The SEMI-WEEKLY EAGLE was started by B. D. Harris and William B. Hale- two youths just emerging from boyhood, and, as one of them has since expressed it, with considerable more pluck than discre- tion, there being already two well-estab- lished newspapers in the village of 2500 in- habitants, and neither of the firm under- standing the printing business. It was a Whig paper, with strong partisan procliv- ities, and decidedly belligerent. The first number was issued Aug. 10, 1847, and its publication was continued about three years before passing into other hands. In the meantime Mr. Hale became cashier of the bank at Winchester, N II., and Mr. Harris, having accepted the position of first Secretary of the Territory of Utah, then recently organized by act of Congress, was compelled to relinquish his connection with the paper. Accordingly, in the spring of 1851 the establishment was sold to a party of gentlemen in the county who were interested in maintaining the paper, and its management was committed to the hands of Pliny H. White, then a young lawyer, residing at West Wardsboro, whose letters and occasional essays had already attracted attention, and who, in after years,
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as Rev. Pliny H. White, became well known throughout the State. Mr. White, not finding editorial pursuits, as developed in a country newspaper office, entirely congenial to his tastes or his talents, re- mained in charge of the Eagle only a little more than a year, when Mr. Harris, having returned from Utah, was persuaded to re- sume control of it. He enlarged and changed it to a weekly sheet, and continued to conduct it until 1855, at which time, an adjustment of local political differences having taken place, the paper was united with the Vermont Statesman, conducted by O. H. Platt. The Eagle, under the management of Messrs. Harris and Hale, attained a circulation of about 1500 copies, which was considerably above the average circulation of country newspapers at that day. Being contemporary, and to some extent in rivalry with such well-known journals as the Windham County Demo- crat, edited by Mrs. Nichols, with which it had many a friendly bout; the Bellows Falls Gazette, edited by John W. Moore; the Montpelier Watchman, Patriot and Freeman, conducted respectively by E. P. Walton, Jr., Charles G. Eastman, and Charles W. Willard; the Burlington Free Press, Sentinel and Courier, under the edi- torial management, respectively, of De- Witt C. Clarke (and afterward of the elder Benedict), John G. Saxe and E. A. Stans- bury, and other journals of like character and ability that might be named, it had to be both wide-awake and pungent to main- tain a reputable standing. The original projectors of the Eagle are still living and in the prime of life. Mr. Harris, still a resident of Brattleboro, is a well-known railroad contractor, while Mr. Hale has for many years been engaged in the banking business at Northampton, Mass.
THE VERMONT PHOENIX
Was first published Sept. 12, 1834, by Geo. W. Nichols and William E. Ryther, Mr. Nichols being the publisher of the Brattle- boro Messenger, a Whig paper in politics, and Mr. Ryther publisher of the Independ- ent Inquirer, a liberal paper in religious matters, owned by an association of gentle- men. It was first published for the propri- etors by Hiram Tupper for a short time. The Inquirer having been published one year, the association sold it to Mr. E. H.
Thomas. The proprietors of the two pa- pers then agreed to let both die, and from their ashes resurrect another paper, to be called the Vermont Phoenix. The Phoenix was published by Nichols & Ryther until Sept. 30, 1836, when they transferred their interest to Mr. G. C. Hall and Mr. J. C. Holbrook, the politics of the paper not be- ing satisfactory to some of its patrons. The paper was then put in charge of Mr. Calvin Walton, from Boston, whom the proprietors engaged for the purpose, Mr. Ryther being retained in the office, and the paper advocating the election of Wil- liam Henry Harrison for President. Mr. Walton's name, however, appears in only four numbers of said paper. Five weeks afterward Mr. Ryther, having purchased the paper of the proprietors, assumed its publication, and continued the same until July 8, 1847, when a partnership was formed with Mr. O. H. Platt (since of St. Louis, Mo.,) which lasted until April 18, 1851, when Mr. Platt, having purchased Mr. Ryther's interest, became sole proprie- tor. The Phoenix was enlarged in 1845, eleven years after its first publication. June 5, 1851, Mr. Platt, having purchased the Bellows Falls Gazette, united the same with the Phoenix, announcing that the pa- per would be published simultaneously at Brattleboro, Bellows Falls and Ludlow. How long this arrangement lasted we do not know. The Phoenix was again en- larged January, 1852. About this time the name of the paper was changed to The Statesman. January 1, 1855, it was merged with the Eagle, published by B. D. Harris, and the combined paper was called The Republican. George W. Nich- ols, publisher of the Windham County Democrat, having given up his paper and gone West, the type and fixtures were pur- chased by Dr. Charles Cummings, (who had had some connection with the Eagle), and Feb. 3, 1855, he revived the Vermont Phoenix, with which The Republican was merged in 1857. Mr. Cummings remained editor and proprietor of the Phoenix until he went to the war, in 1862, as Lieutenant- Colonel of the 16th Regiment Vermont Vols. At this time the publishing of the paper was in charge of Mr. Charles S. Prouty, and the editorial charge was as- sumed by Rev. Addison Brown, formerly
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pastor of the Unitarian Society in Brattle- boro. Cummings was killed before Rich- mond, Sept. 30, 1864, while in command of the 17th Vt. Reg't, which he had re- cruited on the expiration of the time of the 16th. Col. Cummings was a native of Royalston, Mass., where he was born Feb. 6, 1821. Attending medical lectures at Castleton and Woodstock, he received his diploma in 1847, and after practicing a while at Fitzwilliam, N. H., came to Brat- tleboro in 1850. Messrs. Brown and Prouty purchased the Phoenix of Cumming's es- tate, in December, 1864. Jan. 1, 1868, Mr. Daniel B. Stedman bought a third interest in the paper, which was then enlarged to its present size. Mr. Brown died May 11, 1872, and Sept. 1, 18 3, Mr. Prouty [sold his interest to Mr. Olin L. French, who had formerly been editor of the Keene, N. H., Sentinel. The present firm is French & Stedman. The veteran founder of the paper, Mr. William E. Ryther, is still liv- ing at Bernardston, Mass., and furnished many of the above facts .- D. B. STEDMAN.
VERMONT RECORD AND FARMER AND ITS EDITORS.
In July, 1863, Daniel L. Milliken, editor of the Brandon Monitor, a local paper, changed the name and character of his pa- per, with the view of better adapting it to the wants of the whole State, and styled it "The Vermont Record." Mr. Milliken removed to Brattleboro Jan. 1, 1865. Here he had with him for a time H. M. Burt, now of Springfield, Mass., publisher of the paper printed on Mt. Washington, and who was connected with the New England Homestead, a paper which has gone out of existence. Rev. Mr. Ketchum was also associated with the editor of the Record for a limited time. Soon after tlie removal to Brattleboro, another department was added, with a separate heading, entitled, "The Vermont Farmer." In April, 1867, Mr. Milliken sold out to Ed. P. Ackerman, of Newark, N. J., who conducted the pa- per for nearly two years. In January, 1868, the two departments were united under the present title, The Vermont Rec- ord and Farmer, and C. Horace Hubbard, Esq., of Springfield, conducted an agricul- tural department for a number of years. In March, 1869, Mr. Ackerman sold to F. D, Cobleigh, a Brattleboro printer, who
had a job office in connection with the of- fice of the Record and Farmer. In May, 1874, Mr. Cobleigh died, and for the fol- lowing year the Record and Farmer was under the editorial charge of J. M. Tyler, Esq., administrator of Mr. Cobleigh's es- tate, now Representative to Congress from the Second Vermont District. In April, 1875, Rev. A. Chandler, the present editor, purchased the paper of Mr. Tyler, and in January of the present year (1879) H. L. Inman of Ballston, N. Y., formerly one of the proprietors of the Ballston Democrat, purchased a half interest, the name of the firm now being Chandler & Inman.
While in Brattleboro, D. L. Milliken published also a School Journal, a month- ly publication. He subsequently removed to Boston, Mass., and started "The Cottage Hearth," a literary and family magazine, which was continued until the present year, when it was merged into the Golden Rule, W. H. H. Murray's new monthly, with which Mr. Milliken is now connected. Mr. Ackerman, on leaving Brattleboro, went to New York, and has been engaged in different kinds of business. He is now in the lecture field. Mr. Cobleigli was a Knight Templar, and was buried with Ma- sonic honors. Mr. Chandler, previous to taking charge of the Record and Farmer, had been a Congregational minister, preaching in several places in New Hamp- shire and Vermont for fifteen years.
REV. A. CHANDLER.
THE HOUSEHOLD.
The Household is the pioneer in its class of periodicals; the first, and, for several years, the only journal published in the country entirely devoted to domestic af- fairs. It was founded in the belief that the literature furnished by the various "ladies magazines" and kindred publica- tions, though well-adapted to the needs of a large portion of its readers, was not such as to meet the requirements of those caru- est working women who constitute so large a portion of the wives and daughters of our land; that they needed something more practical in its nature, whose tendency should be to elevate that peculiar labor of caring for and managing the family, known by the general term of "housework," from a mere drudgery to a science, and at the same time extend a hand to those who
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have a longing to make their home an in- dex, as it were, of their characters-a reach- ing out for an attractiveness of surround- ings which, with much or little expendi- ture, according to their means, shall attract and retain their husbands and friends, edu- cate and refine the boys growing from youth to manhood, and cultivate a love for the good, the beautiful and the true in the daughters of the household, and in this way to make home, however humble, the dearest place, and the family the happiest people. Such is the purpose of the House- hold, and the patronage it has received may be taken as evidence that the faith of its projectors was well founded, especially in view of the fact that, unlike many, if not all of the successful journals of the present day, it was in no sense a child of fortune, either by birth or adoption. It is a well- known saying, "it takes a fortune to estab- lish a paper;" the history of nearly every prominent periodical bears witness to its truth. The Household was reared and schooled in the hardships and privations incident to the life of a country printer, starting in January, 1868, with a subscrip- tion list of thirteen, with no capital to sus- tain it, and but little experience in news- paper life to direct its course, amid doubts and fears, gaining a little firmer foothold every year, it has solved the problem of success, and has to-day the largest circula- tion of any monthly published inNewEng- land. Four pages were added to its origi- nal sixteen, in the early part of 1869, the publisher having offered to make such an enlargement when the circulation of the journal should reach 12,000, and at the same time promised to make another and equal enlargement when the subscription list should number 20,000. The latter promise he was able to redeem with the commencement of the third volume, two years from the time the first number of the paper was issued; and since that time it has contained twenty-four large and well-filled pages, making it considerably the largest dollar monthly issued from an American press.
Instead of being disposed of through newsdealers, as a large portion of most of the monthly publications are, the large edition of the Household is mailed almost entirely from the publishing office, and fills nearly a hundred" of "Uncle Sam's large
mail sacks per month. These are mailed from the middle to the last of the month preceding the date of issue, those having the farthest to go taking the earliest trains, and the whole edition reaches its readers with the regularity of clock work. It goes to every State and Territory in the Union, besides a large number are sent to foreign countries; the Household is not a local paper with a circumscribed field, but a cos- mopolitan journal, adapted to all sections of the country, pretty generally found wherever there is a representative of the class to whose interests it is devoted. Its subscribers are found in nearly every county in the Northern and Western States, while in the far South and on the Pacific Coast its patrons are already numbered by the thousands. It has a large and efficient corps of agents throughout the country, many of whom have canvassed for it from its commencement, and it is a fact, since the first number was issued not a week-day has passed without bringing some addition to its subscription list. A good idea of the scope of the Household may be de- rived from a brief review of the special departments into which it is arranged. These are ten in number, corresponding to the apartments of a dwelling, as follows: The Veranda, the Drawing Room, the Con- servatory, the Dressing Room, the Nursery, the Dining Room, the Dispensary, the Li- brary, the Kitchen, and the Parlor.
In the Veranda are given the architectu- ral notes, hints for out-door work, while a lookout is kept upon the surroundings of the dwelling, and assistance given toward beautifying the premises. The Drawing Room has articles on the art of furnishing the house, care of furniture, etiquette, and interior decorations. In the Conservatory are gathered the pets of the family in pots, cages and aquarium, and information given upon all matters pertaining to their treat- ment. The Dressing Room contains a brief review of the fashions, toilet recipes and practical suggestions upon needle-work and kindred topics. The Nursery is de- voted to the care and management of in- fants and children, and furnishes the little folks with an assortment of entertaining reading and puzzle work. The Dining Room is furnished with hints upon table etiquette, the analysis of food, table talk, and a column of jokes as a "dessert." The
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sanitary articles of the Dispensary are from some of the best writers in the coun- try, and abound in valuable information concerning the care of the sick and the preservation of health. In the Library, literary and educational topics are freely discussed, and there are also notices and reviews of books and current publications, and a page of original music in every is- sue. The Kitchen is a large department, where contributions are received every month from many of the most successful housekeepers in all sections of the country upon the various subjects that please or perplex their younger and less experienced sisters, with a large number of original and well-tried cooking recipes, a column of "Questions and Answers" upon all subjects pertaining to home life and domestic econ- omy, a fund of practical information un- der the title of "Chats in the Kitchen," and a page of "Letters" from the House- hold Board, which is not surpassed in in- terest by any other feature of the paper; last, is the Parlor, which is a collection of original and selected stories, miscellaneous reading, poetry, etc. In short, the House- hold labors to promote the sweetness and grace of true womanhood in its presiding genius. And as an advertising medium the Household is especially valuable to all who desire to attract the attention of house- keepers and heads of families. It is gen- erally preserved through the entire month for family reading, and then quite fre- quently laid away to be bound at the close of the volume and kept for future refer- ence .- From the Book of the Centennial Newspaper Exhibition.
ODD FELLOWS.
Odd Fellowship was introduced into Brattleboro by a dispensation granted by R. W. Grand Sire Thomas Sherlock, July 13th, 1846, to John H. Willis, Henry Burn- ham, Thomas C. Lord, Frederick Franks, John B. Miner, and Horace D. Brackett, for a Lodge at Brattleboro, to be named Wantastiquet Lodge, No. 5, which was duly instituted at Brattleboro, Aug. 3, 1846, by D. G. Sire Albert Case. The Lodge was then put in working order by electing the following officers: John H. Willis, Noble Grand; Tliomas C. Lord, Vice Grand; Horace D. Brackett, Secre- P
tary; Frederick Franks, Treasurer; who were duly installed into their respective chairs.
The Encampment branch of the Order was introduced by a dispensation granted by R. W. Grand Sire James L. Saunders, for an Encampment to be named Oasis Encampment, No. 5. This Encampment was duly instituted by James L. Saunders, R. W. Grand Sire, April 9, 1868. The En- campment was organized by electing and installing the following officers: Sewall Morse, Chief Patriarch; Henry M. Currier, High Priest; Timothy Vinton, S. W .; James M. Allen, Scribe; Henry Glover, Treasurer; George H. Clark, J. W.
The Rebekah branch of the Order was introduced by the institution of Dennis Lodge, No. 1, by Commissioner B. W. Dennis of Michigan, Febuary 9, 1869, and was organized by electing and installing the following officers: Henry M. Currier, N. G .; Mrs. H. Atherton, V. G .; Mrs. L. M. Burditt, Secretary; Mrs. L. S. Higgins, Treasurer.
TIMOTHY VINTON.
BANKS.
PEOPLES NATIONAL BANK.
Organized October 25, 1875. Capital $100,000. Parley Starr, President; Julius J. Estey, Vice President; W. A. Faulk- ner, Cashier.
BRATTLEBORO SAVINGS BANK.
Chartered in October, 1870; commenced operation in spring of 1870. Deposits, about $700,000. R. W. Clarke, President; B. D. Harris, Vice President; C. W. Wy- man, Treasurer.
THE VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY Held their semi-annual meetings in Brat- tleboro in 1860 and 1862. At the meeting, July 16-17, 1862, the 16th, morning ses- sion, the Educational Secretary (of the Vermont Board of Education), John S. Adams of Burlington, introduced with timely suggestions Vermont geography and local history, for action of the Society upon, later. At the afternoon session, Rev. Pliny H. White read a memorial pa- per on Gen. Win. Barton, who settled in the town of Barton, Orleans County, from whom the town derived its name. Henry Clark of West Poultney read interesting extracts from addresses he had delivered
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