FRANKLIN county has
been prolific in newspapers. Since the
organization of the county, no less than sixty
four newspaper publications, of various kinds,
have been started and published, for varying
lengths of time, of them were of an ephemeral
character, and had but a brief existence.
Started in support of some short-lived political
organization, as the exponent of some social or
political theory, as campaign journals, and for
purposes of a transient character, they passed
out of existence when the cause which evoked
them disappeared. Some were removed to
other points, and are still published there; and
others, perhaps the greater part of the whole
number, became merged in the stronger journals,
and in the newspapers of to-day still have their
existence. The Ohio State Journal and Ohio
Statesman, during the many years of their
eventful history, swallowed up many of their
weaker contemporaries, adding to their own
strength thereby. To write the full
history of all these journals were impossible,
with the space at command. Most of them
are forgotten. The generation which knew
them, and the issues for which they have
contended have passed away. Yes, to write
their history fully would be to write the
history of seventy eventful years, and the
biographies
of many men, eminent in politics as well as
journalism, and who have left their mark upon
the history of the State. The Columbus
press has been a powerful factor, in moulding
and controlling the politics of the State.
Its influence has been powerful, and has been
felt beyond the confines of the State. For
years the State Journal was the central
and principal organ of the Whig and Republican
parties in the State, as the Statesman of
the Democracy. Connnected with both
these journals have been men whose reputation is
national, and were, in their day, powerful in
the political councils of their respective
parties. A mere outline of the more
important history of these journals is all that
is attempted in this work.THE
OHIO STATE JOURNAL
Pg. 161 -
THE COLUMBUS DEMOCRAT.
THE SUNDAY CAPITAL
SUNDAY NEWS.
THE COLUMBUS GAZETTE.
Pg. 162 -
THE OHIO STATESMAN.
DAILY COURIER.
DAILY DISPATCH.
Pg. 163 -
is a German weekly and semi-weekly paper, with a
very large circulation and powerful influence
among the Germans. It was started in 1843,
by Jacob Reinhard and Frederick
Fieser, who still publish it. It is
Democratic in politics. Mr.
Fiescr is editor.
THE SONTAGSGAST,
a German Sunday paper, was
started Feb. 24, 1878, by L. H. Hirsch.
It has since been much enlarged and improved,
and is at present published by Hirsch &
Hirschberg. It is a Republican paper.
THE LEGAL RECORD,
a weekly paper, devoted to the
publication of legal advertisements and for
family reading, was started in December, 1878,
by J. F. Linton, former publisher of the
Ohio Statesman. It is still
published by Mr. Linton who is also
editor. It is independent in politics.
THE NEW ERA,
THE MUTES' CHRONICLE
THE DEAD.
The Crisis was a weekly paper, which had
an existence during and after the war of the
Rebellion. It was started by ex-Governor
Samuel Medary, Jan. 31, 1861. The
Crisis was established as an advocate of the
Monroe doctrine. It was essentially a
States'-rights paper. Samuel Medary,
so well known in Columbus journalism and in
State politics, continued to control the paper
until his death, Nov. 7, 1864, and edited it
with great ability. After his death it
passed into the possession of Willoughby W.
Webb, who bore the responsibility of its
management for a short time and until Dr.
William Trevitt became its owner.
Webb was associated with Dr.
Trevitt in the discharge of editorial duties
until his death. The high reputation of
The Crisis was fully sustained by Dr.
Trevitt, who gave it a certain solidity
of value which few journals of the State have
enjoyed. It was his design to make the
paper a compendium of the history of its own
times, and it was made a medium for the
transmission to the public of all of the
important news and opinions of that critical
period in which it was established. lt
contained all of the important public documents
of the time and the utterances of high
authorities on questions of state. For
this reason its files are much esteemed by, and
very useful to, the students of politics and
civil history. Dr. Trevitt
built up a circulation for The Crisis
which has seldom, if ever, been equalled by that
of any weekly paper in the city, and by but two
or three in the State. At one time, during
an exciting campaign, the circulation reached
the great number of eighteen thousand copies.
The paper was sold by Dr. Trevitt,
in 1870, to Charles H. Matthews and
John M. Webb. Soon after Webb
sold his interest to Matthews, and, after
a very brief period of ownership, the latter
transferred the property to R. Nevins and
F. H. Medary, who merged it with the
Statesman.
It is necessary to say something of the papers of the
past—those that have lived out their lives, and
are no longer published. The list is a
lengthy one, as Columbus has been, through all
its history, prolific in newspapers, and the
mania for starting them has always strongly
prevailed. Some of these have an
interesting and honor able history; some were
merged into other papers; others still continue
their existence, under new names, in the papers
of the present day; still others were removed to
other cities: but most of these sheets were of
an ephemeral character, and died and left no
record but a name. They can only be
mentioned briefly.
The
Freeman's Chronicle. This was one of the
earliest papers in the county, being started in
1812, in Franklinton, by James Gardner.
It was an active supporter of the war of 1812.
It discontinued publication in 1815.
The
Columbus Gazette was a successor to the
Freeman's Chronicle, being published in Columbus
by John Kilboune, with the
material of that paper. It only survived
two issues.
The
Ohio Monitor was the third paper started in
Franklin county, and was the root from which
sprung the Ohio Statesman. It was
begun in 1816, by David Smith and Ezra
Griswold, jr. It underwent various
changes, and, in 1836, was sold to Jacob
Medary, who merged it in the Western
Hemisphere, and ultimately in the Ohio
Statesman. It was a Whig paper,
originally, but became Democratic in 1828,
supporting General Jackson for president.
The
Western Statesman was started in 1825, by
Zachariah Mills and Martin
Lewis, and was published, subsequently, by
Capt. Elijah Glover. In 1828
it was bought by the proprietors of the State
Journal, and merged in that paper.
Ohio
State Bulletin. This paper was issued
in July, 1829, by John A. Bryan and
John A. Lazell. In 1831 it passed into
the hands of Geo. Kesling and John H.
Wood, and was called the Columbus
Sentinel. In 1835 it was merged in the
State Journal.
The
Western Hemisphere, , as has already been
noted, was the immediate predecessor of the
Ohio Statesman, and lost its identity in
that paper.
The
Franklin Chronicle was started at Worthington in
1818, and lasted a year or two.
Ohio
Register and Masonic Review was an anti-masonic
paper, published in the days of the Morgan
excitement, by Warren Jenkins and
Elijah Glover. When the anti-masonic
excitement subsided, in 1833, the paper was
discontinued.
The
People's Press was a Whig paper started in
1836. It only lived six months.
The
Ohio Confederate was commenced in 1838 by
John G. Miller. It was A States'
rights organ. The name
Pg. 164 -
was subsequently changed to Old School
Republican, but the paper died in 1839.
The
Cross and Journal was a weekly paper devoted
to the interests of the Baptist church. It
was removed to Columbus from Cincinnati in 1838,
and was published there for nine years by
Geo. Cole. It was continued another
year by Revs. Randall and Batchelder,
when it was taken back to Cincinnati.
The
Ohio Cultivator, an agricultural
semi-monthly, was started by M. B. Bateham
in 1845. In 1857 Mr. Bateham was
succeeded by Col. S. D. Harris, who
removed the paper to Cleveland, where it is
still published as a weekly
The
Western Agriculturist was first issued
in 1851. It only lasted a short time.
The
Ohio Standard was a Free-Soil paper, started
in 1848 by E. S. Hamlin and Israel
Garrard. It was published weekly, and,
for a short time, daily. It had a
checkered career, starting and stopping several
times, but died out for good in the spring of
1851.
The
Columbian was also a Free-Soil paper,
started by a stock company in 1853, with L.
L. Rice as editor. It was merged in
the State Journal in 1855.
Daily State Democrat was started in 1853 in
opposition to the Statesman, by Knapp,
Osgood & Blake. Subsequently H. W.
Derby, of Cincinnati, came into the concern,
and it was consolidated in 1854 with the
Statesman.
Capital City Fact. This was started in
1851 by a company of journeymen printers out of
work. It passed through various changes,
and in 1863 became merged in the State
Journal.
Thompsonian Recorder. Published as the
organ of the Thompsonian school of medicine from
1832 to 1842, when it was removed to Cincinnati.
Dr. S. Curtis was editor.
Modern Argo, established in July, 1878, by
S. H. Dooley, as a literary and society
weekly. In December, 1868 it was removed
to Quincy, Illinois, where it is still
published.
National Greenback Leader, a paper devoted
to the interests of the National Greenback
party, was removed from Canal Dover to Columbus
in April, 1879, by the Phelps Brothers,
and established as a daily and weekly. It
only lived until July, when it suspended
publication.
The
Commonwealth, organ of the Prohibitionists,
was started in the fall of 1878, and died in the
summer of 1879.
There
have been many other papers started in Franklin
county, and which had a brief existence, but
none others sufficiently important to deserve
further record.
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