New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1903-09-30
EDITORS GOLDEN WEDDING.
Mr.. and Mrs. ]. ]. Green Observe
Fiftieth Anniversary.
Former is Now Third Oldest Pub.
Usher in Minnesota.
Came West Before Stirring Days
of State Capital Fight.

Last Sunday at their. pleasant Ger
man street home Editor and Mrs.
J ames J. Green quietly observed the
fftieth anniversary of their marriage.
An interesting event, indeed, was the
golden wedding of this worthy couple,
it marking the completion of half
century of happily welded life and
proving one of the most joyous days
in the career of the Nestor of New
Ulm journalism and one of Minnesota s
pioneer newspaper men-a man who
was connected with North Star pub
locations when the state was in it's in
fancy and who is still actively engaged
in the pursuit of newspaper making.
Mr.. Green is native of Lancaster
county, Pennsylvania, where he was
born Jan. %, 1880. Miss Minerva
Whitridge was born at Lewisburg,
Ohio, Feb. 4, 1886. On September a.,
1858, when the veteran editor had COM
pleted his apprenticeship to the print
ing trade and shortly after the grad
uation of Miss Whitridge~ from the
Ohio Methodist college,, they were
united in marriage at Springfield,
Ohio, and the following year Mr..
Green established his first paper. 1t
was called the Springfield Nonpareil,
but after conducting it through 1855
failing health compelled the proprietor
to relinquish the tripod and seek a
change of climate. One year later
1885, the couple came to Minnesota
and spent their first winter in the ter
ritory at the village of St. Anthony.
It was at this time that the capital re-
moval bill was being discussed by the
legislature and when events seemed to
indicate the selection of St. Peter as
the seat of government Mr.. Green was
naturally attracted toward that place.
In May, 1857, he made the trip from
St. Paul to St. Peter and few weeks
later launched the Traverse des Sioux
Reporter, a sheet which was doomed
to be short-lived, for the 6nancia al
panic of that year coming on, it's pub
LEGATION was suspended after five num-
bers had been issued. For twelve
months the proprietor followed other
avocations but in June, 1858, he es-
tablished the Minnesota Statesman at
St. Peter; continuing to run the paper
until the fall of 1862, when he enlisted
in Troop E, First Minnesota Mounted
Rangers. He was promoted to regi-
mental quartermaster sergeant and
served thirteen months with Colonel
McPhail's command, being mustered
out at the close of the Dakota cam
paign and after the rout of the Sioux.
April, 1865, found him the owner OF
the first and only paper in LIE Sueur
county. He had revived the Mime
sofa Statesman, which was not issued
during the Indian war, and moved the
plant to LIE Sueur. One of the early
issues of the paper contained an &C
count of the assassination of President
Lincoln but within two months Mr..
Green was himself the victim of dis
aster, a fire breaking out at LIE Sueur
and completely destroying his type
and materials. His removal to Wi
mona followed and from 1866 to 1869
he published the Winona Democrat,
going from there to St. Cloud, where
he owned half interest in the Times.
The St. Anthong Democrat was his
next love: he conducting the paper for
two years and then returning to LIE
Sueur to establish the Sentinel, which
he edited and published for nineteen
years. In 1892, however, he removed
to Hutchinson and established the
Democrat, remaining in control of the
paper until 1895, when he came here to
buy the New Ulm News, his present
property.
All his life Mr.. Green has staunchly
advocated the principles of democracy.
His first vote was cast in 1852 for John
P. Hale, the free soil candidate fol
president, and during the years which
have elapsed he has supported the
Jeffersonian tickets strenuously. In
1857 he was elected clerk of court Of
Nicollet county, serving the first term
under the state administration, and
later was postmaster of ST. Peter fol
one year. While clerk of court he
studied law and was admitted to the
bar in 1860. Eight years later he went
to New York city as a delegate to the
democratic national convention and in
the campaign of 1883 was his party s
candidate for secretary of state. Mr..
Green is charter member of the
Minnesota Editorial Association and
with the exception of Joseph Wheelocl
of the st. Paul Pioneer Press, and w
A. Hotchkiss of the Preston Repub.
lican, is now the Oldest newspaper
man in the state.
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