409 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY (RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE) CHAPTER XXXIV ERIE COUNTY NEWSPAPERS On the 24th day of April, 1822, David Campbell issued the first number of the Sandusky Clarion, which afterward became the Daily Sanduskian, and after passing through the hands of several owners was succeeded by the Daily Register. The Toledo Blade of May 20, 1862, says, under the head, A TYPICAL NARRATIVE: "The history of some of the job type burned with the Register office at Sandusky is of sufficient interest, at least, to induce a short notice. We have no trace of them back of 1819. They were then taken to Courtland Co., N. Y., by the late David Campbell, where they were used until 1822, when he brought them to Sandusky. There they formed a part of the Clarion establishment until 1837, at which time ear they were purchased by a joint stock company at Lower Sandusky (now Fremont), who then started the Lower Sandusky Times, with Dr. A. G. White, later of Elmore, Ottawa Co., as publisher. In 1838 they passed ea. with t14 Times establishment into the hands of Peter Yates, and in the spring of 1839 another change brought them into possession of the writer of this notice (understood to be Clark Waggoner, Esq.), who, with a variety of 'job letter' as not often falls to the lot of the craft, for four years executed jobs with neatness and despatch' in the office of the Sandusky Whig, at the end of which time (1843) the material was removed to Milan. Here, reinforced by 'large additions,' the original stock continued to do business for eight years and until 1851, when they returned to Sandusky and remained there the eleven years intervening before they were melted, in company with a great variety of younger and more modern associates. One 'font' was a 'fourteen line' Roman metal letter, a kind not now much cast, the large sizes being made cheaper of wood. "It is a curious fact that these type were destroyed on the very spot of ground from which they were taken 25 years before, the old Clarion office having some ten years since been supplanted by an elegant substantial stone block." The early volumes of the Sandusky Clarion are an interesting study. There was, of course, no telegraph, but the remarkable thing in this and all Erie County papers down to about 1870 is the scarcity of local news. The paper was made up mostly of short stories, political editorials and advertisements. The lack of newspaper enterprise is shown by the fact that there being no file of the Sandusky Clarion for the year 1840 acces- 410 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY sible, the files for 1840 of both Norwalk papers were investigated for an account of the hanging of Evans on September 23, 1840, no report of the matter being found. The Clarion for 1824, for instance, in its issue of May 26th, advertises the sale of Huron town lots to take place June 15th. In its issue of June 9th it advertises the Milan .dry goods store of R. & G. Lockwood. The issue of June 23d contains an advertisement of a runaway slave named James, owned by Williams Adams, of Mount Vernon, Kentucky. The issue of July 14th advertises the removal of the Clarion office to the Old White Store, and the issue of September 22d described the welcome to Lafayette. The Clarion of 1825 in its issue of January 22d publishes the advertisement of J. N. Sloan as a silversmith, the first Sandusky jeweler. The issue of May 7th contains the ad. of Dr. H. Brown, with his office at A. Root 's Tavern, and described the meeting of the Huron County Medical Society, with Doctor Tilden as president. The issue of May 28th contains the advertisement of the cabinet factory of Thomas T. White on Wayne Street, opposite the Steamboat Hotel. The issue of June 18th advertises the drug store of Doctor Anderson, and Seth Hull's tailor shop, opposite the Steamboat Hotel. The issue of July 9th contains the advertisement for the first time of a stage line twice a week from Columbus to Sandusky. The issue of October 29th contains an advertisement by Abraham Everett and A. N. Boalse, as blacksmiths, for apprentices, and the first temperance meeting of which there is any record in Sandusky is advertised in the issue of August 15th. According to a communication in the Register of August 15, 1878, one column of the first issue of the Daily Sanduskian, April 24, 1848, was devoted to an editorial by D. K. Campbell on the necessity of a daily paper for Sandusky. He says that twenty-six years ago this date as a young man and newcomer he printed the first number of the Weekly Clarion, and, among a good many discouragements, always got his paper out every week. He states that .then there were no steamboats on the lakes, as the one was wrecked that had been built ; no Erie Canal, no railroad, no telegraph. There were about forty schooners on the lake doing the lake business. It took more than two weeks to get news from New York. He then embarked in an experiment, and now, with his two sons, was about to embark in another experiment. The paper cost $5 a - year. There was one column of telegraph, then a new thing, and one column of a bank note list. There were advertisements by P. Cook & Co., W. T. & A. K. West, Taylor & Lee, W. F. Converse, J. G. Camp, Beecher & Leonard, and A. W. Hendry. D. K. Campbell issued his valedictory editorial May 23, 1851, four columns long, saying he had sold out to younger men, and this is the last issue of the Clarion, which he had labored over and loved for twenty- nine years. He laments the death of his two sons and the removal of the third, and the impossibility of continuing publishing the paper. The first issue of the paper appeared May 27, 1851, which was called the Daily Register, with Earl Bill and Clark Waggoner as editors. The office was then where the Commercial Bank is now. HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 411 As late as October 30, 1834, Oran Follett advertised in the Clarion as follows : "The subscriber wishes to procure for some Eastern friends a pair of live wild turkies, male and female. Also six dead ones that have been ' caught in pens and killed without breaking the skin below the first two or three joints of the neck. A liberal compensation will be paid for the above, if delivered at the store of M. L. Babcock & Co. in Sandusky a week or two before the close of navigation in the month of November. The live ones will be received if delivered immediately, and would be preferred soon, so as to send them down the Erie Canal. 0. FOLLETT." The Clarion had hard sledding. From November 13 to December 18, 1822, it was not published because the paper did not come from Buffalo. In those early times Mr. Campbell printed the names of delinquent subscribers in black type and made lively remarks about the fellow who would not pay for his paper. In one case he hoped he would meet with a better fate than he believed he would. He states the first number of the Clarion was issued at the corner of Columbus Avenue and Water Street, in a building yet standing (but since destroyed), next door south of A. H. & W. V. Moss' store, on Wednesday, April 24, 1822. There were no newspapers west of Buffalo, except one at Erie, two at Fredonia, one at Cleveland, and one at Detroit. The first number of the Clarion, was 18 1/2 by 23 inches, printed in small pica, with eight advertisements. As late as June, 1847, one issue contained no editorial except a notice that the editor had no time to write editorials. In 1878 F. D. Parish had taken the paper and paid for it, including the Register, fifty- six years. On the - day of , 1822, the Clarion editorially declared it would accept eight gallons of whisky as full pay for a year's subscription. In 1847 he declares editorially that in these temperance times he would not venture to make such a proposition. During the height of the cholera the Daily Sanduskian, or Clarion, was somewhat irregular in its publication, frequently missing a day or more, and on one occasion not being published from July 11, 1849, until July 23, 1849. THE SANDUSKY REGISTER The journal now known as the Sandusky Register was founded in .the year 1822 by David Campbell, a New England printer. An effort was made, however, in the year 1821, by this same person, associated with Adonijah Champlin, to establish a paper in Sandusky, to be known as the Ohio Illuminator, but from lack of that substantial support so essential to the successful conduct of a newspaper, or any other enterprise, the Illuminator never sent forth its rays of light upon the people of the county. The Sandusky Clarion, a weekly publication, succeeded the Illuminator project, and made its first appearance on the 22d of April, 1822, David Campbell acknowledging its paternity and assuming its maintenance. It was a four-page sheet, four columns to the page, printed on 412 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY what would now be called coarse paper, and the advertisements and reading matter appeared in much the same size and style of type. Under the name of the Clarion the paper was continued until 1843, when Mr. Campbell issued a daily edition, which he called the Daily Sanduskian. After continuing for some years longer the proprietor sold the entire plant to Earl Bill and Clark Waggoner. The former of these persons was afterward chosen clerk of the United States District Court for the District of Northern Ohio, while the latter became editor of the Toledo Blade. Still later he was on the editorial staff of the Toledo Commercial, but at a quite recent day embarked in the limitless field of history. Messrs. Bill & Waggoner subsequently sold an interest in the paper to Henry D. Cooke, and the firm style was thereupon changed to H. D. Cooke & Co. Upon taking formal possession of the office, this firm dropped the old name and called the paper, in all its editions, the Commercial Register, three editions, daily, tri-weekly and weekly, being printed. H. D. Cooke & Co. continued the Register publications for some twelve years, when Mr. Cooke retired to become the editor of the State Journal, Mr. Waggoner to accept a position on the Toledo Blade, whereupon the paper passed into the hands of Bill & Johnson. The Commercial Register changed hands three or four times between 1855 and 1869. In the last named year Isaac F. Mack purchased a half interest, and in 1870 the other half. He dropped the first part of the name, and since that time the paper has been called the Register. In 1874 John T. Mack became a part owner, and for fourteen years the paper has been published under the firm name of I. F. Mack & Bro. In 1882 a Sunday edition was started, and since that date has been published every morning in the year. In 1869, when the present editor took charge, the Register was an evening daily, but he changed it to a morning paper in May, 1869. The Register, from the time of its establishment to the death of that party was an ardent advocate of whig principles. It became republican in 1856, and has since remained so, being all these years the recognized organ of that party in this county. After the death of I. F. Mack the Register has been published by a corporation of which John T. Mack was the editor and business manager to his death. John Talman Mack, born in Rochester, New York, July 26, 1846, spent his entire business life in connection with the Sandusky Register, part time as business manager, during the latter years of his life as editor of the paper. He was the youngest of seven sons of Isaac Foster Mack, Sr., of Rochester, New York. In 1848 the Mack family moved to Decatur, Green County, Wisconsin, where his boyhood was spent in the village and on the farm, his father being an extensive land owner, operating farms in conection with his law practice. A little later the family moved to Brodhead, Wisconsin, where the son John attended the grammar and high schools. After graduating from the Brodhead schools, Mr. Mack spent six months in Beloit College, entering that institution in January, 1864. In the fall of that year he entered the preparatory HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 413 department of Oberlin College, spending six years there in securing a classical education. He graduated in the class of 1870 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and two years later Master of Arts. Immediately after leaving college he became connected with the Register of Sandusky, of which his older brother, I. F. Mack, Jr., was editor. The two brothers published the paper until 1909, when I. F. Mack withdrew from all active connection and retired. From that date until Mr. John Mack's death, July 8, 1914, he edited and published the Register. Mr. Mack was one of six publishers of Ohio daily newspapers who founded the Associated Ohio Dailies, November 5, 1885, the largest state daily newspaper organization in the country. From 1889 until his death he was president of that organization. In February, 1893, he succeeded ex-President Hayes as trustee of the Ohio State University, serving continuously on that board until his death. He was a member of the Sons of the American Revolution and of the Masonic lodge. February 10, 1873, Mr. Mack married his classmate at Oberlin, Flora Alice Davenport. Five children blessed their union—John D. and Egbert H., of Sandusky ; Mrs. Alice Ritchart Snyder, of Norwalk ; Mrs. Ethel Beebe Blinn, of Evansville, Indiana ; and Mrs. Penelope Cornelia Stark, of Westfield, New Jersey. The editorial work of Mr. Mack at times was equal to that of any metropolitan editor. His personality was a pleasant one, and he left behind him a record of achievement unusual for an editor of a paper published in a small city, and of which his children may well be proud. After the death of John T. Mack, his son, Egbert Mack, succeeded him as editor and business manager, with the result that the Register has progressed in several lines creditably under his management. The Register of January 26, 1852, announces the destruction by fire of the Clarion office; by which fire the files of the Clarion were nearly all consumed. In the year 1868 the Register office was again visited by fire, which destroyed most of its files, so that the newspaper records of Erie County are much mutilated. For the benefit of future generations, it may be stated that the Firelands Historical Society, of Norwalk, has complete files of the Clarion from 1824 to 1831, except 1827, said to be in the possession of the family of Clarke Waggoner, of Toledo. In the Sandusky Library there are several files of the Clarion prior to 1836, but not complete, and then there are no known files of the paper until in the '40s, when Mrs. Kate Thomas has several bound volumes between 1845 and 1852, part of the time the Clarion had for its head the picture of Sandusky published in Howe's First History of Ohio. There is a volume of the Mirror of 1854 in the Sandusky Library, presented to it by the author. There are no known files extant of the Sandusky Journal, or the Journal and Local. The extant Register files begin on May 27, 1853, continue to November 1, 1854, skip to 1862, include 1862 and 1863, and, together with those in the library, are complete to the present time. The Sandusky Journal was established as a daily and weekly in 1866 414 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY in an office located on the third floor of the Cooke Block, over where Edward Alstaetter's insurance office is now located, being edited by Addison Kinney and Frank B. Colver. A brother, John C. Kinney, soon joined the firm. At the end of six months Mr. Colver retired, and the paper was published by Kinney Brothers until January, 1868, when M. F. McKelvey became associated with the firm, but retired in September of the same year. The daily was suspended but the weekly continued until in 1879. Compelled by failing health to retire, John C. Kinney sold the Journal to Frank and Charles A. Layman, who, in turn, sold out the establishment on March 1, 1886, to Frank Stible and Felix Breen, who published a daily and weekly for six weeks, at which time Mr. Breen retired, and the publication continued until January, 1887, when A. E. Merrill and C. C. Bittener became the owners, and was consolidated with the Sandusky Local, which had been in existence several years as a democratic opposition publication. Later C. C. Bittener purchased the interest of A. E. Merrill and for several years published the Journal and Local as sole owner. Another democratic paper, the Star, was later published, and after a few years was combined with the Journal and Local and published under the name of the Star-Journal by the Alvord Peters Company, in whose hands it is understood to have been a profitable enterprise. THE MILAN ADVERTISER From the statistical information furnished by Rawell's Directory of Ohio newspapers, it is learned that the Advertiser is a weekly paper, issued each Saturday, in size 30 by 44, and having a circulation of over 500. It appears as a fact, but not upon the above quoted authority, that the Milan Advertiser is issued only in this county, the type and presswork being performed in Tiffin. W. B. Starbird, now an attorney of Sandusky, is the resident editor. A paper of this same name was founded in the year 1869 and was issued through that part of the county as an advertising sheet, and without expense to its readers. In the year following it became a subscription paper. at $1 per annum, but subsequently the price was raised to $1.50. Several changes and enlargements weer made in the size of the paper to keep step with its increasing circulation. Of this paper the present Advertiser is the outgrowth. It is now succeeded by the Milan Ledger which is successfully conducted by Miss Anna Howe. The Register of June 15, 1915, says : "The Vermillion News, Thursday, celebrated its nineteenth birthday. "The News made its bow in June, 1896, with Robt. M. Whitmore as publisher. The equipment was moved to Vermillion from Greenspring, 0. The first file to be found at the office however is of June 24, 1897, and from its columns it is learned that F. E. Engelbry was the town's Mayor ; J. A. Klaar, clerk ; D. H. Stevens, marshall ; John Wagner, postmaster. "Pearl Roscoe is the present editor of the News ; Basil N. Henry, assistant editor, and Miss Ethel Battomley, compositor." HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 415 The Erie County Reporter, published at Huron, has a large circulation and is edited by T. M. Clock. The first number of the Advertiser was printed at Huron on January 17, 1837, edited by H. C. Grey. It appeared regularly until 1842, when the office was moved to Sandusky, the name of the paper being changed to the Commercial Advertiser and edited by M. H. Snyder & Company. In December, 1842, the paper again changed hands, being purchased by William S. Mills and Sylvester Ross, who ran it as the Democratic Mirror until 1847, when John Mackey, recently admitted to the bar but not yet practicing, became part owner, the firm being Mills, Ross & Mackey. A daily was started in connection with the weekly edition and was continued for two years under this management until John Mackey retired to active practice of law, J. W. Taylor taking his place in the firm. Ross dying in 1849 of cholera, the publication was continued by Mills and Taylor until 1852 when Taylor retired. The paper again changed hands in 1853, being sold to Joseph and- Fielding Cable, who changed the name to the Bay City Mirror. It shortly was sold to Asa Dimmock and soon after to Ray Haddock ; at this time the daily edition was discontinued. In May, 1856, it was purchased by Charles Orton and a year later the publication was suspended. In April, 1851, August Ruemmele and Herman Ruess began the publication of the first German newspaper published in the county, called The Intelligente Blatt. It ceased publication in 1854. The Bay Stadt Demokrat was the next German paper and was established in 1856 by Louis Traub. In 1873 it was purchased by William Senn and appeared under the name of The Sandusky Demokrat by which name it has ever since been known. It is now the only German paper in the county. It is now published by William Ruemmele and has a strong influence among the German element. In 1853 The Beacon was published at Huron for a short time and in 1885 The Vindicator was published for a very brief period.