Illinois newspaper directory. History of the Illinois press association

Illinois Newspaper I)nu< iorv and History"The Carthaginian, at Carthage, Illinois, by Mr. Thomas Gregg, and the BountyLand Register, at Quincy, by Judge Richard Young, were contemporaneous venturesin 1836. The former was started in June of that year. The latter was soon after mergedin the Quincy Argus by John H. Pettit. About the same time, either shortly before orshortly after, Bartlett & Sullivan started the Quincy Whig. At Jacksonville, Mr.Edwards was then conducting the Illinois Patriot and Mr. S. S. Brooks (heretoforementioned) was publishing the Illinois Spectator. John Went worth was publishing theChicago Democrat, and Mr. Sweeney and his sons had a paper at Galena called the Intelligencer.In 1838, Samuel M. Davis, formerly of the Winchester, Virginia, Republican,came to Peoria, and started the Peoria Register. (Our friend Colonel Patterson, of theOquawka Spectator, served his apprenticeship with Mr. Davis at Winchester, Virginia,from 1824 to 1826.) Following Mr. Davis's death, which occurred a year or two later,his talented wife conducted the Register acceptably for a time. The Schuyler Advocatewas published at Rushville in 1837 by J. B. Fulks. It was succeeded by The Test, publishedby R. A. Glenn and T. L. Dickey. At that time Macomb, Monmouth, Galesburg,Oquawka, Rock Island, and most other towns in that part of the state were paperless.Stone— I cannot recall his given name—established the Fultonian at Canton as early as1837. Canton was then a village of possibly two hundred inhabitants, and was slowlyrecovering from the effects of a cyclone that had blown the village to atoms in about1836. Stone went from Canton to Rock Island a year or two later. Succeeding him,was Mr. Harmon G. Reynolds. Closely following him, if I mistake not, was that talentedgentleman and trenchant writer. Colonel J. B. Danforth, who, apparently never meaningto grow old or abate one jot of his vigor, is yet a power in the editorial field of labor.The Carthaginian printing office was bought by Dr. Galland in 1837 and removed toFort Des Moines, in Wisconsin Territory (now Montrose in Iowa) and there establishedas the Western Adventurer with Mr. Gregg at the fore as editor. There was one paperat least at Dubuque, and about that time Secretary Clarke, of Wisconsin Territory,established the Territorial Gazette at Burlington. These three or four papers in 1837were the only ones west of the Mississippi river and north of Palmyra, Missouri, to thePacific ocean. Galland and Gregg's paper at Montrose was bought by James G. Edwardsand moved to Fort Madison and was called the Patriot. It was afterwards moved toBurlington and called the Hawk-Eye. This is not Illinois history, but it is interesting,and a courtesy due to excellent neighbors."We now enter another nebula of notable Illinois editors in the western part of thestate—a few in the central part, also, who are remembered in this connection. Aboutthe period of 1840 to 1842, Hancock county became the battle ground of giant forces."In the fall of 1S39, when the Mormons settled in Hancock county, a paper wasestablished at Nauvoo called the Times and Seasons by Robinson and Smith—the latterthe youngest brother of the Prophet. In 1842, as the Mormon question was becomingsomewhat of a perplexing problem to the Gentiles, a son of the Prophet started a papercalled the Wasp. This was shortly followed by the publication of the Nauvoo Neighbor,a large and more reputable organ of that sect. Meanwhile, things were getting hot inHancock county."In 1840, D. N. White, of Pittsburgh, established at Warsaw a paper called theWestern World. After six months it came under charge, by purchase, of Thomas C.Sharp (yet in the full vigor of mind and manhood, the able and respected editor of theCarthage Gazette—my contemporary paper). Associated with Mr. Sharp in that undertakingwas James Gamble, a journeyman printer, at present a highly respected physicianat Le Claire, Iowa. The name of the paper was changed to the Warsaw Signal—a namethat was a household word to every publisher west of the Alleghanies at that time. As I59