Ohio History Journal

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ORIGIN OF SOME EARLY BELMONT COUNTY

ORIGIN OF SOME EARLY BELMONT COUNTY

NEWSPAPERS*

 

By FRANCIS C. HIBBARD

 

The history of the early newspapers of Belmont County,

Ohio, is, to some extent, confused and contradictory. Much that

has been written on the subject is based apparently upon tradition

and second-hand information. An attempt will herewith be made

to clear up some of the confusion and rectify at least some of

the errors.

Two of the present-day papers of the county--the St. Clairs-

ville Gazette and the Belmont Chronicle--have been in existence

since the early part of the last century. As would be expected,

both originated in St. Clairsville, the oldest town, and, almost

from the beginning, the seat of county government. The weekly

papers of the early days depended upon the bounty of legal adver-

tising for much of their income; and as the county seats were

usually the political centers, they were the source of much of

the news. Location in the county seat was, therefore, decidedly

advantageous.

Probably the first journalistic venture in the county was the

Impartial Expositor, published by Gilkison & Company at St.

Clairsville in 1809. The American Antiquarian Society has the

initial issue of March 25. No other issues have been located.

Second in the field came the St. Clairsville Gazette, first pub-

lished December 14, 1811, by Alexander Armstrong, with the

title of Belmont Repository. C. N. Gaumer (one-time editor of

the St. Clairsville Gazette), in his history of the St. Clairsville

Gazette--written for the Centennial Issue of 1912--states that

the original name was the Belmont Repository, and accepts 1812

as the founding date. The present-day Gazette carries the 1812

date in its masthead; this date also appears on the facade of the

old Gazette building in St. Clairsville. The Cincinnati Public

 

* Acknowledgment and thanks are made for valuable information supplied by

Arthur Mink, acting head of the Newspaper Department of Ohio State Archaeological

and Historical Society and Dr. Clarence S. Brigham, director of the American Anti-

quarian Society.

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