CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

P. 344 JOURNALISM

FIRST ILLINOIS NEWSPAPERS—

SLAVERY QUESTION STIMULATES JOURNALISM—

UNCERTAINTIES OF PIONEER JOURNALISM—

ABLE OLDTIME EDITORS—LATER STIMULATING ISSUES—

PAPERS FORCED TO SUSPEND— FOUNDED PRIOR TO 1880

       The history of journalism in Illinois is the record of the growth of a territory of 15,000 souls and one newspaper, to a commonwealth of more than six million people and publications numbering more than one thousand. Probably no other state west of the Alleghenies can boast of a more successful career in all the phases of journalistic endeavor than can Illinois. When we remember the character of the early presses and other parts of a newspaper equipment, the absence of large centers of population in the territory west of the Alleghenies, the meager means of communication, and the lack of real newsy news, it is a matter of some surprise when we are told that with the first decade after the adoption of the constitution for Illinois there were as many as five newspapers flourishing in Southern Illinois.

       The first newspaper established in Illinois was the Illinois Herald, and the place of publication was Kaskaskia. The earliest issue preserved is No. 30, Volume 1, December, 1814, “by Mathew Duncan, printer to the territory and publisher of The Laws of the Nation.”

FIRST ILLINOIS NEWSPAPERS

       By this it would appear that the Herald was an official organ. It is understood that newspapers had been previously published in both Vincennes and St. Louis, The Herald was a four column paper given over to publishing the laws chiefly. The second paper established was the Illinois Emigrant. It was published in Shawneetown, and was controlled by Henry Eddy and Singleton H. Kimmel. The date is fixed as early as December 1818, probably in September 1818. The Emigrant was also a four column sheet and contained recent news which came from Pittsburgh by boat. In 1819 the name was changed to Illinois Gazette. It eventually came into the hands of James Hall who was a man of rare literary accomplishments.

       The third paper was the Spectator, published in Edwardsville. It was established by Looper Warren who was assisted by George Churchill. The Spectator was strongly anti-slavery. The first number was issued some time in 1819.

       The fourth paper was The Star of the West. It too was published in P 345
 

 

THE OLDEST KNOWN COPY OF ANY ILLINOIS PUBLICATION

P 346 Edwardsville as early as 1822. Its editor was one Mr. Miller assisted by a Mr. Stine. The paper was Democratic. Its name was changed to the Illinois Republican in 1823.

       The fifth paper was the Republican Advocate established in Kaskaskia as early as 1823. It was a pro-slavery paper and was edited by R. K. Fleming, probably assisted by Elias Kent Kane.

SLAVERY QUESTION STIMULATES JOURNALISM

       Prior to the action of the Legislature in 1823 calling for a vote upon the question of a state convention, the newspapers seemed to have but little life in them. The news which came from the Atlantic seaboard was several days and even weeks old before it reached the Illinois region. There was little to be said of the every day life of the people, for that life was so simple and uneventful that there was little to be recorded. But with the passage of the bill which brought the slavery question before the people each paper became a sort of forum for public discussion. The Spectator published at Edwardsville was very strong against the convention. It was a pronounced anti-slavery publication. It was the only paper which was opposed to slavery on principle, and up to the early part of 1824 stood alone against making Illinois a slave state. The Gazette of Shawneetown was on the fence as to the convention, but received contributions from both sides. It is certain that Morris Birkbeck and George Flower of Albion would have started an anti-convention paper, had not the columns of the Shawneetown Gazette been open to their contributions. Putting together all the information available it is certain the management of the paper favored the convention till the early part of May, 1824, when a change in ownership brought a change in attitude toward the convention and during the summer of 1824 the Gazette was anti-convention. The Illinois Intelligencer of Vandalia was owned by William Berry and William H. Brown. The latter was anti-convention while the former favored slavery. Berry was bought out by Governor Coles and the paper became a hard fighter against slavery. The Star of the West founded in Edwardsville in 1822 was changed to the Illinois Republican in 1823. It was pro-slavery, and attempted to counteract the influence of the Spectator. It was controlled by Judge Theophilus W. Smith and Emanuel J, West, The Republican Advocate of Kaskaskia was pro-convention. It was controlled by R. K. Fleming and Elias Kent Kane. It thus appears that there were three papers against slavery and two for slavery.

UNCERTAINTIES OF PIONEER JOURNALISM

       One serious drawback in this early period to the newspaper business was the uncertainty of receiving ink, paper and other supplies from the east. One paper was suspended for three weeks because of the failure of ink and paper from Cincinnati. It has been pointed out that the newspapers of those days dealt largely with political matters and neglected personal and local affairs, and that for two years from 1822 to 1824, the character was controversial and often bitter. One thing that has been noticed is that the real owners of those early newspapers were usually silent partners. Among the prominent men of the day who were more or less financially and morally interested in the newspapers P 347 were—Sidney Breese, John McLean, Hooper Warren, Gov. John Reynolds, Daniel P. Cook, James Hall, Elias Kent Kane, Ninian Edwards, and Henry Eddy. In addition to these men there was a large number of contributors among whom we may mention Morris Birkbeck, George Flower, John Russell, Rev, John M. Peek, Judge James Hall and a host of others.

       The War of 1812, the admission of Illinois into the union, and the slavery struggle made an abundance of political capital for the earliest newspapers. In 1825 the papers could turn their attention to such subjects as immigration, new towns, new counties, public roads, navigation, establishment of schools, and internal improvements.

ABLE OLD-TIME EDITORS

       It must not be thought that there was no literary ability among the pioneers of 1820 to 1840. On the contrary there were several men of wonderful native ability in the domain of real literature. James Hall a man of unusual literary skill began the publication of the first magazine in Illinois. It was called the Illinois Monthly Magazine. The publication was begun in 1830. It was published one year at Vandalia and then removed to Cincinnati. Here the magazine was continued under the name of the Western Monthly Magazine. Among those who contributed to Mr. Hall’s magazine were Morris Birkbeck, Rev, John M. Peck, Governor Edward Coles, Dr. Asa Fitch, George Russell and Salmon P. Chase. In 1854 Mr. Hall brought out the Legends of the West, a collection of a dozen tales descriptive of the life of the west. The longest one was Harpe‘s Head. Others were The Backwoodsman, The Seventh Son, The Indian Wife’s Lament, The Emigrants, etc. The book was published in New York and had a generous patronage.

       As has been intimated the people were free after the convention fight was over to turn their attention to other and more profitable subjects. The state grew rapidly after 1824. The Sangamon country was opened up, the Military Tract was settled, Chicago was large enough to be chartered in 1832, and villages and towns were spreading northward toward the future capital of the state.

       The Western Emporium, a newspaper published in Centerville, Indiana, estimated that in the fall of 1825 within fifteen days as many as one hundred and twenty wagons passed through that town destined for the prairies of Illinois. Transportation facilities improved; steam boats were plying the Illinois river by 1828, the legislature had authorized the opening up of roads connecting various important towns and rivers in the central part of the state. The Black Hawk war checked immigration somewhat, but by 1834 the normal condition was restored. The Internal Improvement schemes of 1836-7 greatly stimulated immigration into the central part of the state.

       Springfield in the center of Sangamon county was settled in 1819. In 1821 it was selected as the county seat of Sangamon county. In 1837 it contained eight hundred people. Jacksonville was as big as Springfield in 1837 and the Military Tract contained thirteen thousand people. Peoria county contained twelve hundred people in 1825.

       It was natural to expect that the printing press and the newspaper would follow this northward movement of population. The Miner’s Journal was established in Galena in 1826. Its editors were P 348 James Jones, and Thomas Ford, later governor of the state. The Miner’s Journal took an active part in politics though claiming to be non-partisan.

       The Sangamon Spectator was begun in Springfield in 1827, the editor being Hooper Warren. Jacksonville launched the Western Observer in 1830. It was published by James G. Edwards and was “Devoted to politics, education and religion.” The Alton Spectator appeared in 1832. For a while it was published in Upper Alton but in the fall of 1832 it was moved to what we call Alton. The first paper in Chicago was the Democrat. It appeared in November 1833 and was edited by John Calhoun, and later by John Wentworth.

       Prior to 1840 as many as nineteen newspapers were established between Alton and Chicago by way of the Illinois river and the Canal. The census report of 1840 shows that there were forty-five printing offices in the state. At that time there were three daily newspapers, thirty-eight weekly papers, nine periodicals, and one hundred and seventy-five men employed in the forty-five printing establishments, with seventy-one thousand dollars invested in this business.

       The Rev, John M. Peck began the publication of the Pioneer of the Valley of the Mississippi at Rock Springs, near the present town of Lebanon, St. Clair county, April 25, 1825. It was a Baptist journal and was largely supported by gifts of eastern people of that religious faith. It was moved to Alton in 1836, and in 1839 was merged with the Baptist Banner published at Louisville, Ky.

LATER STIMULATING ISSUES

       The Illinois State Temperance Society began the publication in Alton in 1836 of the Illinois Temperance Herald, a monthly journal which waged a bitter fight against intemperance. In 1840 occurred the great “Harrison and Tyler” campaign, and this opened up a newspaper war that was as bitter as the one over the slavery question of 1824. Many new papers were started to champion the cause of some one or more of the candidates, and when the election was over the publication of such papers was abandoned. In like manner in the years just preceding the Civil war there was great activity in the founding of newspapers. There were many papers bold enough to attack the administration in the dark days of ‘63, and many of these were dealt with summarily by the government. Others were raided by mobs who had become indignant at the bold criticisms of the president or at the sympathy expressed for the secessionists. Eight papers were forced to suspend operations in Illinois. These were located in Bloomington, Chester, Chicago, Jonesboro, Maroa, Mason, Mendota and Olney. Three of these it will be noticed were located in Southern Illinois.

PAPERS FORCED TO SUSPEND

       Volume VI of the Illinois Historical Collections gives an account of the action of the government in suspending the publication of the Jonesboro Gazette. It is as follows: “A temporary suppression without violence or material damage was enforced against the Jonesboro Gazette in the spring of 1863. Lieut. Colonel Joseph H. Newbold was sent to Jonesboro with a part of the Fourteenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry to gather up and return to the service a number of deserters from the One P 349 Hundred and Ninth Illinois Infantry, who had returned to their homes. His work was seriously impeded by the radical utterances of the Gazette, which, like a majority of its constituents, was bitterly against the war. Consequently he closed the office during the six weeks of his stay. Col. Newbold so conducted himself, however, as to make many warm friends, and helped materially to change local sentiment toward the government. As a resident of Jonesboro at that time, still living, has written, 'the episode turned out very well.’ The Loyalist, published by George Brewster at Mason, Effingham county, was so outspoken in favor of abolition of slavery that those who sympathized with slavery forced the suspension of the paper and the editor moved. The Picket Guard of Chester was so strongly tinctured with secession that some soldiers broke into the office in July, 1864, and destroyed the type but did not damage the press. At Olney the Press was said to be so radical in sympathy for secession that it was forced to suspend in 1864.

       The origin of the “patent inside” is told as follows: A. N. Kellogg of the Baraboo, Wisconsin, Republic, was unable to print a full folio because his printers had enlisted in the army. He printed one side of the folio on his own press, the other side having been printed in Madison. The plan worked well and afterwards Mr. Kellogg had the Madison Journal get out the “inside” of his paper regularly. From this the plan grew to the present “boiler plate” arrangement. As early as 1866 the Belleville Advocate was furnishing “insides” for several papers in Southern Illinois.

       The newspaper business declined after the close of the Civil war. There was, however, some growth in monthly journals and similar publications. There were only three counties in Southern Illinois which supported daily publications in 1880. These were Alexander with three dailies: Madison with two; and St. Clair with three dailies.

FOUNDED PRIOR TO 1880

       The following is a list of the first papers published in the several counties of Southern Illinois prior to 1880. The counties are arranged in alphabetical order. Under the county comes the town, name of the paper, and the year the paper was established, then the editors, when their names can be had.
 
COUNTY TOWN PAPER DATE EDITOR
Alexander Cairo Gazette 1841 Mr. McNeer
Bond Greenville Protestant Monitor 1845 E. M. Lathrop
Clark Richmond Index 1879 G. L. Watson
  Marshall Illinois State Journal 1848 John M. Crane
Nathan Willard
  Casey Times 1872 John Garrison
Nathan Willard
Clay Clay City Times 1879 Unknown
  Flora Southern Illinois Journal 1870 M. L. Wilson
J. K. Clarkson
  Louisville Jackson Democrat 1859 Thomas H. Dawson
P 350
 Crawford		 Hutsonville Wabash Sentinel 1852 George W. Cutler
  Palestine The Ruralist 1856 Samuel R. Jones
  Robinson The Gazette 1857 George W. Harper
Clinton Carlyle The Beacon 1843 George W. Price
  Huey Clement Register 1875 J. W. Peterson
  Trenton Courier 1873 E. H. Elliff
Cumberland Majority Point Cumberland Democrat 1869 B. Frank Bowen
  Neoga Advertiser 1874 S. Z. Bland
  Toledo Register 1876 D. B. Sherwood
Edwards Albion Independent 1865 J. E. Clark
Effingham Effingham Pioneer 1860 J. W. Filler
  Mason Loyalist. 1863 George Brewster
Fayette Farina News 1877 Ed. Freeman
  St. Elmo News 1875 Johnson & Ramsey
  Vandalia Illinois Intelligencer 1820 Elijah C. Berry
Franklin Ewing Baptist Banner 1874 Kelley & Allen
  Benton Standard 1849 Ira Nortwick
Gallatin Shawneetown Illinois Emigrant 1818 Henry Eddy &
Singleton H. Kimmel
Hamilton McLeansboro News 1855 J. D. Moody
Hardin Elizabethtown Hardin Mineral 1870 Solomon S. Burke
Jackson Ava Register 1876 George Jahn
  Carbondale Transcript 1857 J. A. Hull
  De Soto Farmer 1855 James Hull
  Grand Tower Item 1875 M. F. Swartzcope
  Murphysboro Jackson Democrat 1870 George C. Bierer &
F. C. Bierer
Jasper Newton Enquirer 1856 George E. Hoar
Jefferson Mt.   Vernon Jeffersonian 1851 John S. Bogan &
Mr. Stickney
Johnson New Burnsides Johnson County Journal 1874 A. J. Allen P 351
  Vienna Egyptian Artery 1865 Wright & Company
Lawrence Lawrenceville Star Spangled Banner 1847 J. F. Buntin
  Sumner Lawrence County Press   James A. Ilger
Madison Alton Spectator 1832 O. M. Adams &
Edward Breath
  Collinsville Argus. 1871 A. W. Angier
  Edwardsville Spectator 1819 Hooper Warren
  Highland Erzaehler 1859 Rudolph Stadtmann & John Harlan
  Troy Weekly Bulletin 1873 James M. Jarvis
  Upper Alton Qui Vive 1868 College Students
Marion Central City Gazette 1854 Edward Schiller
  Centralia Gazette 1856 Gall & Omelvany
  Kinmundy Telegram 1867 Colonel John W. Fuller
  Odin Southern Illinois Journal   Mr. Wilson
  Richview Phoenix 1856 M. L. McCord
  Salem Weekly Advocate 1851 John W. Merritt &
John H. Merritt
  Sandoval Prairie Farmer 1861 Not known
Massac Metropolis Promulgator 1865 J. F. McCartney
Monroe Waterloo Republican 1843 Elam Rust
Perry DuQuoin Mining Journal 1858 Paul Watkins
  Pinckneyville Perry County Times 1856 William Ewing
  Tamaroa Egyptian Spy 1861 Not known
Pope Golconda Herald 1857 James D. Monday
Pulaski Caledonia Pulaski Democrat   Mr. Miller
  Mound City National Emporium 1856 Dr. Z. Casterline
Randolph Chester Southern Illinois Advocate 1839 John Smith &
H. M. Abbott
  Coulterville Chronicle 1879 John A. Wall
  Kaskaskia Illinois Herald 1814 Mathew Duncan
  Red Bud Egyptian 1868 John Briskey &
William Briskey
  Sparta Columbus Herald 1839 James Morrow
Richland Olney News 1849 Daniel Cox &
Alfred Kitchell
Saline Harrisburg Chronicle 1859 John F. Conover P 352
  Stone Fort Journal 1874 A. J. Alden
St. Clair Belleville Western News 1826 Dr. Joseph Green
  East St. Louis American Bottom Gazette 1841 Sumrix & Jarrott
  Lebanon Advocate & Lebanon Journal 1848 E. Wentworth
  Mascoutah News Letter 1860 August Hamilton
  New Athens Era 1869 Bauman & Schild
  O‘Fallon Advance 1874 T. W. Eckert
  Rock Spring Pioneer of the Valley of the Mississippi 1829 John Mason Peck
Union Anna Union County Record 1860 W. H. Mitchell
  Cobden Enterprise 1877 W. H. Mitchell
  Jonesboro Gazette 1849 Thomas J. Finley & John Evans
Wabash Mt. Carmel Sentinel & Wabash Advocate 1834 Horace Roney
Washington Ashley Enquirer 1856 M. L. McCord
  Nashville New Era 1851 P. W. Skinner
Wayne Fairfield Independent Press 1852 John M. Walden
White Enfield Journal 1874 Lemuel Potter
  Grayville News 1853 J. James Prather
  Norris City Journal 1874 A. J. Alden
Williamson Marion Western Family Monitor 1850 William H. Willeford

 

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