USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Memoirs of Milwaukee County : from the earliest historical times down to the present, including a genealogical and biographical record of representative families in Milwaukee County, Volume I > Part 46
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of Missouri, setting forth the needs of "the region known as Wiscon- sin"; on the third page was a strong Democratic editorial and the an- nouncement that the Advertiser was to be published at a subscription price of three dollars a year.
Col. Hans Crocker was installed as editor, while Mr. Richards looked after the interests of the business and mechanical departments. With the sparse population of Milwaukee and its environs, it is hardly to be supposed that the proprietors of the Advertiser depended to any great extent upon their subscription list for a revenue. The office of publication was located upon the west side of the river, and the chief support of the paper was derived from the real-estate interests of Mr. Kilbourn and others who owned land on that side. The paper's main object was to call the attention of prospective settlers in the West to the advantages of Milwaukee, particularly to the West side of the river. Solomon Juneau, who owned a considerable tract of land on the oppo- site side of the stream, saw the effects of the persistent booming of the new paper, and determined to start a rival organ to sing the praises of the East side. Consequently, on June 27, 1837, the new Richmond in the field of journalism made its appearance under the name of the Mil- waukee Sentinel with John O'Rourke as editor. Mr. Juneau's name did not appear as an interested party in its publication, though it was an open secret that he either furnished or guaranteed the means for the establishment of the paper.
Both these papers are still living, though the Advertiser bears a different name. In 1841 Mr. Richards sold the paper and its appurte- nances to Josiah A. Noonan, though he continued to live in Milwaukee, deeply interested in public enterprises, until his death on Feb. 6, 1877. Some years before his death he made the following statement, which will give the reader of the present day some idea of the obstacles en- countered by the publishers of newspapers on the western frontier three-quarters of a century ago: "The difficulties attending the con- tinuous publication of a weekly paper were such as can scarcely be
conceived now. A year's stock of paper, ink, cards, etc., had to be supplied; and it was with the greatest difficulty that the two printers, whose passage and expenses to this place had been paid, in addition to their regular weekly compensation, could be induced to continue their labor. The rage for speculation at this time had seized upon all classes. The paper, however, was regularly continued. A number of very able contributors added much to its usefulness and success. Among these the principal ones were Messrs. Byron Kilbourn, Dr. L. I. Barber, J. HI. Tweedy and J. A. Noonan. Most of the internal improvement arti- cles were furnished by Mr. Kilbourn."
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Mr. Noonan assumed control of the Advertiser on March 27, 1841, and changed its name to that of the Milwaukee Courier. He was an experienced newspaper man, having founded the Wisconsin Enquirer at Madison in 1838, and under his editorial management the Courier be- came a vigorous exponent of the political principles advocated by the Democratic party, being the only Democratic paper east of Rock river in the Territory of Wisconsin. In September, 1842, George Hyer be- came a half-owner and associate editor, and with the issue of Nov. 9, 1842, the Courier was enlarged to a seven-column folio, which made it the largest newspaper in the Territory of Wisconsin. Mr. Hyer's con- nection with the paper was of short duration, as he withdrew in Feb- ruary, 1843, to become a partner of John P. Sheldon in the ownership and management of the Wisconsin Democrat at Madison. A few months later Mr. Noonan was appointed postmaster, and John A. Brown, formerly connected with the Rockford Pilot and the Chicago Democrat, was made editor, the office being then removed to the East side. Under Mr. Brown's management the system of cash in advance for subscriptions was introduced. Those who paid in advance secured the paper for two dollars a year, while the old price of three dollars was retained for credit subscribers. On May 14, 1845, William H. Sullivan succeeded Mr. Noonan as proprietor of the Courier, Mr. Brown still remaining in the editorial chair. Under this business and editorial combination the first issue of the Daily Courier was published on March 19, 1846. The new departure won popular favor and was given a liberal patronage, but the pressure of financial embarrassments, the uncertainty of the mail facilities in bringing news from abroad, and the personal inability of Mr. Sullivan to give his attention to the busi- ness forced the suspension of the daily, the last edition being published on July 9. On Feb. 22, 1847, the daily again appeared, this time as the Evening Courier, "with 300 paid-up subscribers, a new outfit and flat- tering prospects." But once more the attempt to maintain the publica- tion of a daily with limited capital proved too much of a burden, and the Evening Courier went the way of its predecessor on June- 2, 1847. The ownership of the paper at that time passed to William E. Cramer and Joseph Curtis, who changed the name to The Wisconsin.
John A. Brown, who for nearly four years conducted the editorial columns of the Courier with such signal ability, was born at Canan- daigua, N. Y., Nov. 10, 1812. After receiving a common school educa- tion he entered a printing office at Batavia, where he set type on Mor- gan's so-called Exposition of Free Masonry. In 1831 he became editor of the Intelligencer, published at Hartford, Conn., but being of an ad- venturous disposition gave up this occupation to become a sailor. In
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1837 he abandoned a sailor's life, formed a partnership with his brother, and published the Tecumseh (Mich.) Democrat. After about a year there he went to Niles, Mich., where he engaged in newspaper work for a short time with C. C. Britt, the proprietor of the Intelligen- cer. He then worked in Galena, Rockford and Chicago, Ill., until he assumed the editorial management of the Milwaukee Courier in 1843. Upon retiring from the Courier, he left Milwaukee, afterward establish- ing newspapers at Port Washington, Janesville, and Portage. He was one of the founders of the Wisconsin Editorial Association and in February, 1860, was one of a committee to go before the legislature to urge the passage of a bill regulating the rates to be charged for legal publications. While in Madison he was stricken with paralysis and died on Feb. 8, 1860.
Cramer & Curtis quickly revived the daily edition, the first num- ber of the Daily Wisconsin, a neat six-column folio, coming from the press on June 8, 1847. In his salutatory, the editor (Mr. Cramer) said : "It seems to us that we briefly comprehend the Democratic creed when we say that we shall labor to make the Wisconsin an exponent-but, as we trust, fair and honorable-of the sound and radical principles of Democracy as illustrated by that great apostle of liberty, Thomas Jeff- erson, deeply convinced that these are best calculated to diffuse more widely the blessings of a good Republican government, while, at the same time, they promote the substantial interests of the whole country. We shall cordially support the national and state administrations in carrying out the principles of the Democratic party."
In addition to the daily, tri-weekly and weekly editions were also issued; the former a six-column folio, while the latter retained the old seven-column form established by the Courier. In April, 1848, the daily and tri-weekly editions were enlarged to seven columns. In September, 1850, Mr. Curtis sold his interest to Charles S. Hurley, who assumed the business management, leaving Mr. Cramer free to devote his entire attention to the editorial work. Mr. Hurley retired from the paper in November, 1852, when Mr. Cramer became sole proprietor. In Au- gust. 1854. the Mitchell block, in which the office of the Wisconsin was located, was destroyed by fire, but with commendable enterprise Mr. Cramer moved to the Phoenix block, on the opposite side of the street and immediately resumed publication. In this change he was assisted by A. J. Aikens, who shortly afterward became business manager and later one of the proprietors, the firm taking the designation of Cramer, Aikens & Cramer. In 1856 the paper severed its connection with the Democratic party and espoused the principles of the Republican party, just then coming into existence. During the war Hiram Potter. Maj. J.
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M. Bundy and Lewis A. Proctor were among the editorial writers that made the Wisconsin an influential factor in upholding the Union. On June 1, 1868, the name of the daily edition was changed to the Evening Wisconsin, under which it is still issued. It was at that time removed from the Phoenix block to the corner of East Water and Michigan streets, where it remained until the spring of 1879, when it was established in its own domicile at the corner of Milwaukee and Michigan streets, well-equipped with all the modern appliances neces- sary for the production of a first-class newspaper. The Wisconsin has been a member of the Associated Press ever since that institution was organized. In Janury, 1893, the co-partnership was merged into a corporation known as The Evening Wisconsin Company. under which name it is still published. The history of this first paper estab- lished in Milwaukee county would be incomplete without something more than passing mention of the men who piloted it through the breakers of the journalistic sea to its safe anchorage.
William E. Cramer, who was identified with its publication for half a century or more, was born at Waterford, N. Y., Oct. 29, 1817. He graduated at Union College : studied law and was admitted to prac- tice at the same time as Gen. John A. Dix; became interested in jour- nalism and from 1843 to 1846 was a contributor to the Albany Argus, then the Democratic organ of New York. His friends and relatives tried to dissuade him from becoming an editor, chiefly on account of his health. In his boyhood he was nearly drowned in the Hudson, from which he contracted a fever that seriously affected both sight and hearing. His first visit to Milwaukee was in 1840, before he had completed his education, when he spent a portion of one of his vacations with his brother Eliphalet. who had settled there in 1837. It was on this occasion that he formed the acquaintance of several leading Democrats, whose influence induced him to buy the Courier in 1847. Always willing to fight for his political principles, he never held office with the exception of having been a presidential elector on the Republican ticket in 1872. He traveled extensively in both Europe and America. and his letters of travel were highly appreciated by his subscribers. Before his death his sight and hearing failed to such an extent that he was incapacitated for active newspaper work, but he retained his mental faculties and was frequently consulted con- cerning the policy and management of the paper. He died on May 21, 1905.
Josiah A. Noonan, editor of the Wisconsin while it bore the name of the Courier, was born at Amsterdam, N. Y., May 13, 1813; received his education in the Amsterdam academy; learned the printer's trade
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at Rensselaerville, N. Y .; was employed on various papers until 1832, when he went to New York city and worked on a case by the side of Horace Greeley. He then returned to Amsterdam and with Klein Woodward published an independent paper for a time, when he bought his partner's interest and made the paper Democratic. His next newspaper venture was at Columbus, Ohio, where he remained but a short time, when he came to Milwaukee and worked for awhile for Mr. Richards on the Advertiser. In 1838 he went to Madison and started a paper called the Wisconsin Enquirer. This he sold to C. C. Sholes in 1841, when he bought the Milwaukee Advertiser. He served as postmaster of Milwaukee from 1843 to 1849, and in 1853 was again appointed to the office by President Pierce. When Buchanan was inaugurated in 1857 he retired from politics and devoted his attention to manufacturing paper and conducting a type foundry. In 1872 he went to Chicago and started a paper called the Industrial Age, but the venture proved unsuccessful and he returned to Milwau- kee, where he died on Dec. 11, 1882.
A. J. Aikens, who, as already stated, became connected with the paper in the 50's and one of its proprietors in 1868, was a native of Vermont, where he was born in 1830. Like most of the pioneer journalists, he served his apprenticeship at typesetting, and before attaining to his majority was foreman and editorial writer on several Vermont papers. About 1855 he was sent to the "Far West" as a correspondent for the New York Post. In the course of his rambles he visited Milwaukee and formed the acquaintance of Mr. Cramer, who offered him a position on the Wisconsin. Returning to New York, he settled up his affairs there and became business manager of the Wisconsin about 1857.
As previously mentioned, the Milwaukee Sentinel began its career on June 27, 1837, under the editorial guidance of John O'Rourke, then in his twenty-fourth year. The Sentinel of Dec. 12, 1837, contained the following obituary: "It becomes our painful duty to record the death of our worthy fellow-citizen, Mr. John O'Rourke, late publisher of the Sentinel, formerly of Watertown, N. Y., who died of consump- tion on Wednesday last, aged about 24. Mr. O'Rourke came to this place about eighteen months since, and after some months' residence as an assistant in the office of the Advertiser, became so much attached to our place and so well satisfied with the growing prospects of our village that he determined upon a permanent residence here and the establishment of a second paper. With the generous assistance of one of our most prominent citizens he was enabled to commence the publi- cation of the Sentinel, which he has successfully prosecuted until
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death has called him hence. His funeral was attended on Thursday afternoon by a larger concourse than we have seen congregated on any similar occasion in this place."
Harrison Reed, who became the editor of the Sentinel upon the death of Mr. O'Rourke, was born at Littlefield, Mass., Aug. 26, 1813. He came to Milwaukee in 1836, and was for awhile a compositor and writer on the Advertiser. When he severed his connection with the Sentinel in 1841 he went to Madison and from there to Menasha, where he published a paper. He was a member of the Wisconsin constitu- tional convention ; was appointed tax commissioner of Florida by Presi- dent Lincoln in 1862 ; was made special agent of the postoffice depart- ment for Florida and Alabama in 1865; was elected governor of Florida in 1868 and served until 1873, and in 1878 was elected to the legislature of that state.
At the begining of its career the Sentinel pledged its support to the Van Buren wing of the Democratic party. That policy was evi- dently not in harmony with Mr. Reed's views. In February, 1838, he acquired partial control of the paper, and in the political campaign of that year supported James D. Doty for delegate to Congress as against George W. Jones. That the paper wielded an influence in the contest may be seen in the result, Doty receiving 562 votes in Milwaukee county and Jones 193. In the presidential campaign of 1840 the Sen- tinel remained inactive until late in the campaign, when Mr. Reed came out with the following announcement: "Having within the past few days obtained sole proprietorship of the Sentinel, and thereby come into full and unlimited control of its operations, we shall now put in force a resolution formed some months since, and declare our- selves distinctly and decidedly for Harrison and Reform."
The paper continued as a Whig organ until Aug. 3, 1841, when it passed into the hands of H. N. Wells, a Democrat, right at the height of a Congressional campaign. Mr. Wells dropped the name of J. E. Arnold as the candidate for delegate and hoisted that of Henry Dodge. The Whigs were filled with consternation at the change and Mr. Reed was charged with "selling out," but it developed that the transfer was made by the foreclosure of a mortgage held by Mr. Wells. Finding themselves without an organ, some of the leading Whigs called a meeting, at which a committee was appointed to make the necessary arrangements for the establishment of a new party paper. Elisha Starr was selected to conduct the enterprise. He immediately went to Chicago, where he purchased the outfit of a paper called The Tribune, removed it to Milwaukee, and on August 27, only a little over three weeks after the Sentinel changed its political policy, the Milwaukee
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Journal made its appearance in the form of a six-column folio. In his prospectus, which preceded by several days the first issue of the paper, Colonel Starr said : "During the last year but two papers have been published in the Territory friendly to the present administration, viz .: The Madison Express and The Milwaukee Sentinel. The Sen- tinel has, within three weeks past, by premeditated treachery, stealthily concealed from its patrons and the public, been surrendered into the hands of our opponents, and thus more than one-half of the Whigs of Wisconsin have, at a most critical time, been deprived of the only organ by which they could utter their political sentiments. At no time have either the Sentinel or Express, either in character or ability, justly and worthily represented the principles and feelings of the mass of the Whigs of Wisconsin-much less in the latter paper, at this time, able, single-handed, to contend with five opposition presses, con- ducted with tact and energy." Soon after beginning the publication of the Journal, Colonel Starr expressed his regret at having made insinuations in his prospectus reflecting upon the honor of Mr. Reed.
In the meantime Mr. Reed again obtained control of the Sentinel on Oct. 23, 1841. He added an agricultural department and changed the name to The Sentinel and Farmer. He also renumbered the volume and started a "New Series." His connection with the paper was short, however, as he retired on May 7, 1842, when the paper passed under the editorial management of Colonel Starr, who, with the financial backing of George M. Shipper, enlarged the paper to seven columns and changed the name to The Milwaukee Sentinel. In May, 1843, he started a tri-weekly publication called the Commercial Herald, as an adjunct to the Sentinel. It was discontinued in December following, but was resumed in April, 1844. About that time C. L. MacArthur became associated with the paper as editor.
Dec. 9, 1844, was a red-letter day for Milwaukee journalism, as it marked the issue of the first daily paper ever published in the town- The Daily Sentinel-with David M. Keeler as manager and C. L. MacArthur as editor. Colonel Starr at that time severed all connec- tion with the Sentinel, but continued the publication of the Commercial Herald until the 27th of the same month, when the whole concern was purchased by Mr. Keeler.
Elisha Starr was born at Cazenovia, N. Y., July 14, 1806. He received an academic education and at the age of fifteen years began his apprenticeship at the printer's trade in the office of the Ontario Repository. Five years later he became the proprietor of the Gazette at Le Roy, N. Y., which paper he successfully conducted for several years. He spent the greater part of the year 1835 in Michigan looking
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for a desirable location, and the following spring came to Milwaukee. For about a year he was connected with the Bellevue hotel, and in 1837 was appointed assistant postmaster under Solomon Juneau. His connection with the Sentinel and Journal has been already traced with the history of those papers. In 1845 he was one of the editors of the Gazette, which was consolidated with the Sentinel after a career of about four months. He was postmaster in 1849-50, after which he was for many years connected with the printing and publishing business. His last journalistic venture was the Western Advance, a temperance paper, which suspended publication in 1871. Mr. Starr died in 1893.
On March 1, 1845, the Sentinel was sold by Mr. Keeler to Fill- more & Downer. Early the following autumn the firm name was altered to Fillmore & Bliss, Gen. Rufus King at the same time suc- ceeding Mr. Downer as editor. In October of this year the Milwaukee Daily Gazette was started by William Duane Wilson, with I. S. Row- land and Elisha Starr as editors. Its political policy was identical with that of the Sentinel, and for a little while it looked as though the latter was to have a formidable rival in the field. But in February, 1846, the two papers were consolidated under the name of The Sentinel and Gazette, General King assuming the editorial management. Not long afterward he bought Mr. Wilson's interest, and later formed a partnership with W. J. A. Fuller. In the fall of 1846 a power press was added to the equipment and a tri-weekly edition started. In July, 1857, General King became the sole proprietor and a few months later sold out to Jermain & Brightman, though he remained as editor until after the inauguration of President Lincoln in 1861.
Rufus King was born in the city of New York, Jan. 26, 1814, a son of Charles King, who was president of Columbia College from 1849 to 1864, and a grandson of Rufus King, one of the first United States senators from the State of New York. General King graduated at the West Point military academy in 1833, when he was assigned to the engineer corps, but resigned to enter the field of journalism and was for several years connected with Albany papers. In 1845 he located in Milwaukee; became the editor of the Sentinel as above noted; was one of the regents of the state university ; superintendent of the Milwaukee public schools; was appointed minister to Rome by President Lincoln early in April, 1861, and was about to sail for his post of duty when Fort Sumter was fired on by the Confederates. He gave up the mission ; volunteered his services as a soldier; was commissioned a brigadier-general of volunteers on May 7, 1861 ; was assigned to the "Iron Brigade"; commanded a division at Fredericks-
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burg, Groveton, the second Bull Run and other engagements in Virginia until Oct. 20, 1863, when he resigned on account of his fail- ing health. Soon after this he was again appointed minister to Rome and remained there until the office was abolished in 1867. He died in New York city on Oct. 13, 1876.
Under General King's management the Sentinel had wielded con- siderable influence in public matters, but it had not been a profitable undertaking from a purely business point of view. Jermain & Bright- man placed the paper on a sound financial basis for the first time in its history. From the profits of the publication they erected a new home for the Sentinel on Mason street, into which the offices were moved in 1863. The issue of Jan. 1, 1864, reviewed the history of the paper for the whole period of its existence up to that time, and announced a circulation of the daily edition of from 12,000 to 14,000 copies ; of the tri-weekly, 7,000 copies; and of the weekly, 21,000 copies. Succeeding General King, the editorial writers were C. L. Sholes, J. M. Bundy, C. W. Willard and Hayden K. Smith. In 1870 the Sentinel became the property of W. G. Roberts, A. M. Thompson, Daniel Wilcox and others, who incorporated under the name of the Milwaukee Publishing Company, but two years later the name was changed to the Sentinel Company. From 1870 to 1874 A. M. Thompson was president and editor, when Matt. H. Carpenter secured a controlling interest and N. S. Murphy was elected president. A. C. Botkins succeeded Mr. Thompson as editor, but resigned in 1877, when J. L. Kaine assumed the editorial management. He was suc- ceeded by Amos Wright in 1880, and the latter gave way to Theron W. Haight in 1882. The Sunday edition of the Sentinel was first started in the spring of 1873, but was discontinued the following October. In November, 1879, its publication was again undertaken and this time the effort was crowned with success, the edition appear- ing regularly ever since.
In these days telegraph lines and long distance telephones, coupled with the ramifications of the Associated Press, make the work of obtaining foreign news an easy matter. It was not so in 1845, when the Courier and the Sentinel supplied the people of Milwaukee with the news. At that time the president's message was looked forward to with interest, and the paper that produced it first was regarded as the most enterprising and worthy of patronage. The following ac- count from the Courier tells how the message of President Polk was obtained in December, 1845: "Mr. Brown started for Chicago by private conveyance early in the week, to intercept the express mes- senger at Chicago, and from him obtain a copy of the message. The
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