The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1900-07-19
THE OLDEST NEWSPAPER.
Centennial Of the scioto Gazette Of
hllicothe--Interestin History.

Centennial Of the Scioto Gazette Of
Notwithstanding History.
On April 25. 1900, there appeared
the first number of little newspaper,
called the Scioto Gazette, published
in Chillcothe, Ohio, then a town of
some 1900 people, and the seat of
government of the Territory of the
United States Northwest of the Ohio
River. The Office of the paper was
one.story log addition to two-story
log house, the latter being the resi-.
dence of the editor. The paper itself
was fourpage affair, each page be-
ing 12x15 inches. All the material
for its publication had been brought
from Winchester, Va. by pack train
and keel boat. Under the date line
of the quantity ornamented heading
was the line in big black italic type:
Northwestern Territory; printed at
the seat of government, Chilicothc,
by N. Willis, printer to the Honorable
Legislature"
Since that first issue the paper has
been published continuously for 100
years, without break, under one
name. In its first number it an
nounced its political faith, "Repub-
lican Whig," of the old Jeffersonian
school; and has never changed its
political principles, having advocated
the doctrines of the Wings so long
as that party had an existence, and
then becoming a Republican paper in
1853, to which faith IL still adheres
The Gazette claims that it's record of
100 years of continuous publication,
under one name. and with the same
political faith, constitutes il the old.
est newspaper now in existence in
the United States.
Nathaniel Willis, the founder of the
paper. was the father of Nathaniel
Willis, Jr., founder of the Youths
Companion, in 1927, and grandfather
of N. p. Willis, the poet. Nathaniel
Willis, the first. was born in 1855,
and was one of the Boston tea
party" of 1878. He was an appren-
tice in Franklin's Office In 1774 he
founded the Independent Chronicle in
Boston. He afterward founded n pa
per in Winchester, Va, and the Po-
tomac Guardian, in Martinsburg, Va,
after which he came to Chollicothe.
1t is rather remarkable coincidence
that Nathaniel Willis, Sr., published
four newspapers; that Nathaniel Will
lis, Jro founded three papers, the
Eastern Argus of Portland, Me-, the
Boston Recorder, the first distinct
lively religious newspaper, and the
Youths Companion; his grandson, N.
p. Willis, published and was editor
of three papers, the New York Mir
ror, the Corsair and the Home Jour
nal; and another grandson, Mr.. Rich
ard Storrs Willis, now of Detroit,
Mich, has likewise edited three pa
pers, the Musical Times, the Musical
World and Once a Month.
In the first four decades of this
century the Scioto Gazette was one
of the most influential papers pub
| lished west of the Alleghanes; in the
| first two decades it was by far the
most influential 1t was largely in
strumental in shaping the public SEN
| timent of the Northwest Territory,
and was one of the chief factors in
the fight against slavery which re-
suited in the exclusion of that insti-
/ tuition from the new State of Ohio.
/ Until 1916 Chillicothe, with the excep-
| tion of two years, was the capital of
| Ohio, as it had been the capital of
the Northwest Territory, and during
this formative period in the history of
the new State the Gazette exercised
| a powerful influence. The Gazette
was the first newspaper to name Will.
lam Henry Harrison as candidate
for the Presidency, the suggestion
! having been made to the editor by
the father of Mr.. William Dean How
ellis, w. G. Howells, who was then
foreman of the paper. The first log
cabins in the famous Western cam
paign of 40 were built at the Gazette's
suggestion, and Chillicothe was the
first place in the West where women
attended political meetings, also at
the suggestion of the same paper. 1t
was also the first paper in the West,
and one of the first in the country, to
name Gen. Zachary Taylor for the
/ Presidency, "A fact recognized by him
in the offer of diplomatic appoint
ment to the editor, Seneca w. Ely,
who, however, declined it,
The Scioto Gazette now issues an
eight.page daily and a sixteen-page
weekly. On April 2S the paper issued
It's centennial edition, volume 101, No.
I, containing a complete history Of
its existence, n history of the town in
which it has been published, and much
important and some little known his.
tory Of the Northwest Territory.