Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1916-06-21
Some Early South Carolina
Newspapers-The Advertiser .
the Oldest Now Published.

While examining some old docu'
ments not long ago in desk that
was formerly used by the late Capt
L. NJ. Grist, a member of The En-
quirer staff, can across some writ
ten pages in the handwriting of that
veteran printer and publisher THAI
contain some facts that will prove
Of some little interest 10 the young
er printers and publishers of this
gener; ton, and prub IDLY also to
the historian as well. The pages
were written July 81, 1899. and al
though not intended for publica'
tion in the form in which they were
found, their contents are reproduc
I'd herewith, substantially without
change:
"My father was printer. When
he caused me to enter the printing
office in May, 1910, it was for the
purpose Of commencing the publi-
cation of the Yorkville Compiler, a
pr ospeclus for which had been is-
81, d sometime previous. He. had
arraLged to use press that had
been brought to 1orkville about
1922 for the purpose of printing
the lectures of Rev. VIM. G. Davis,
learned and able Presbyterian
minister. The press was what was
known as a Ramage'' and was
similar in style to that used by Ben
iam,n Franklin, in his day. The
forms Of type were linked by what
were technically known as balls,
made of buckskin bags, stuffed with
wood. They were provided with
wooden handles and the ink was
distributed by rubbing the balls
together, and then pounding them
down lightly on the type. A
year after this we dispensed with
the balls and instead used roller,
made by stretching piece of wool
en- blanket over cylinder and COW
ering it with buckskin. We first
commenced to use composition
roller in ls49. When / went to
the case in 1910, the only daily pa
pers printed in the state were in
Charleston. They were the Char
lesion Courier, the Charleston Mer-
curry, the Southern Patriot, and the
Charleston Evening Transcript.
The Evening Transcript was issu. d
from the office of the Southern Ia.
triot. The Courier and Mercury
issued tri. ri.weeklies, making them up
from the first and fourth pages of
two daily issues and sending them
out on each alternate day. There
was no caption across the pages as
at present. Besides the dailies there
were in Charleston the following
weekl;es: Southern Baptist, Catho-
lie Missionary. Southern Christian
Advocate. In Columbia there were
three weeklies, as follows: South
Carolinian, Southern Chronicle,
Temperance Advocate. There were
three weekly papers in Edeefeld
county, two at Hamburg and one
at Edge6eId courthouse. hese
were the Edgefeld Advertiser, the
Hamburg Journal and the Hamburg
Republican. The Edge6e!d All
vertiser was published by w. f.
Drrisoe. There was also the
Monntaineer of Greenville, the Com
piIer of Yorkville, the Journal of.
Camden, the Messenger of Pendle-
ton and the Gazette Of Chesterfield.
To the best of my recollection there
were no other papers in the state.
There was none in Chester, Winns-
boro, Newberry, Union. Spartan
burg, Abbeville, Anderson, Sumter,
Orangeburg, Barnwell, Colleton,
Laurens, Horny, Williamsburg. The
Edgefeld Advertiser and the South
ern Christian Advocate are the only
papers that have been printed con-
tinuously under the same name. l
remember the early numbers of all
the other papers in the state not
mentioned above. The Pioneer was
the first paper published in York
vile and the date of the first issue
was August 16, 1928. The first
issue of Tne Yorkville En-.
quirer made its appearance on jan
uary 4, 1855. This was the first
South Carolina newspaper outside
of Columbia and Ch arleston to use
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