Carolina Watchman

The Carolina Watchman was an American weekly newspaper published in Salisbury, North Carolina, from 1832 to 1937. It variously supported the Whig, Democratic, and Populist parties, as well as the Confederacy during the Civil War. For a few years, it was mostly politically independent and known as the Watchman & Old North State.

Carolina Watchman
First issue of the Carolina Watchman
TypeWeekly newspaper
Founder(s)Hamilton C. Jones
FoundedJuly 28, 1832 (1832-07-28)
Political alignmentVarious, including Whig, independent, Democratic, and Populist
Ceased publicationJanuary 29, 1937 (1937-01-29)
CitySalisbury, North Carolina, United States
Circulation1,000 (1898)[1]
2,327 (1913)[2]

History

Early years

The first issue of the Carolina Watchman was published July 28, 1832.[3] The founding editor, Hamilton Chamberlain Jones (1798–1868),[4] started it as a weekly newspaper competing with Salisbury's other newspaper, the Western Carolinian, which had turned from supporting President Andrew Jackson to supporting John C. Calhoun.[5] The Watchman has been described as being founded in opposition to nullification,[6] though it has been described as anti-Jackson as well.[4][7] Early editions frequently contained humor and had a couple sketches by Jones.[4] In the 1830s, it printed several advertisements seeking escaped slaves.[8]

In the 1830s and the next decade, the Watchman supported the Whig Party (while that party existed).[6][9][10][11] After that, the newspaper was described as "liberally conservative".[6]

1850–1890

John Joseph (J. J.) Bruner (1817–1890) left an apprenticeship at the Western Carolinian to join the Watchman in its early years, and he became part-owner at age 22 and full owner at 33, in 1850.[12] Though he often sold the paper to start other ventures, he often would buy it back too.[13] Bruner developed a reputation as a forceful voice for the common man, and he used his newspaper to advance his interests, such as supporting the Confederacy in the Civil War (he did not print anything negative about Salisbury nor the Confederacy).[12] A national newspaper directory from 1876 states that the Watchman "resisted the disunionists" before the war, was "thoroughly confederate during the war", and was "thoroughly union now, and democratic".[6] Publication was suspended for six months in 1865–66.[3]

In 1866, Lewis Hanes (1826–1882) launched a competing newspaper, the Old North State.[13] Two years later, the two papers merged as the Watchman & Old North State.[13][14] Upon the merger, Hanes became editor and Bruner remained publisher.[13] Hanes claimed that the paper was politically independent, which was true during his editorship except when it backed the unsuccessful conservative effort to stop the adoption of a new state constitution in 1868.[13]

Bruner bought the newspaper back when Hanes left Salisbury, rebranding it as the Carolina Watchman in 1871.[13] With Bruner as editor, the Watchman's circulation apparently reached about 50 counties in North Carolina, and it was said that he fended off competition from more than 50 other papers.[12] An 1889 newspaper catalogue lists the Watchman as a Democratic paper.[15] In Bruner's later years, while he was one of North Carolina's oldest editors running one of its oldest newspapers, other editors in the state called him "Father Bruner".[12]

20th century

An 1898 catalogue lists the Carolina Watchman as a Populist paper, with editor H. J. Gasque and a circulation of 1,000.[1] A catalogue fifteen years later says it was a Democratic paper, with a circulation of 2,327.[2] On January 29, 1937, the weekly Watchman announced that it would be succeeded by the Rowan County Herald beginning February.[16] The latest known issue of the Herald was published June 18, 1937.[17][18]

See also

References
  1. N. W. Ayer & Son's American Newspaper Annual, Part 1. N.W. Ayer and Son. 1898. p. 611 – via Google Books.
  2. Daniels, Josephus (1913). Report. Vol. 27. North Carolina Department of Labor and Printing. p. 194 – via Google Books.
  3. "About Carolina watchman. [volume] (Salisbury, N.C.) 1832-1867". Library of Congress. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
  4. Walser, Richard (1988). "Jones, Hamilton Chamberlain". Dictionary of North Carolina Biography. NCPedia. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
  5. Baldasty, Gerald J. (1992). The Commercialization of News in the Nineteenth Century. University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 17, 26 – via Internet Archive.
  6. United States Newspaper Directory: Containing Correct Lists of All the Newspapers and Periodicals Published in the United States, Territories and British Provinces. Cook, Coburn & Company. 1876. p. 147 – via Google Books.
  7. North Carolina University Magazine. Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 1892. p. 215 – via Google Books.
  8. "Advertising for Slaves". Dictionary of North Carolina Biography. NCPedia. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
  9. Inge, Thomas; Piacentino, Ed (2010). Southern Frontier Humor: An Anthology. University of Missouri Press. p. 224. ISBN 9780826272201 – via Google Books.
  10. Orser, Joseph Andrew (2014). The Lives of Chang and Eng: Siam's Twins in Nineteenth-Century America. University of North Carolina Press. p. 85. ISBN 9781469618319 – via Google Books.
  11. Huggins, Benjamin L. (2016). Willie Mangum and the North Carolina Whigs in the Age of Jackson. McFarland & Company. p. 114. ISBN 9780786498765 – via Google Books.
  12. Brown, Louis A. (1979). "Bruner, John Joseph". Dictionary of North Carolina Biography. NCPedia. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
  13. Brawley, James S. (2000). Powell, William S. (ed.). Dictionary of North Carolina Biography: Vol. 3, H-K. University of North Carolina Press. p. 25. ISBN 9780807867136 – via Google Books.
  14. "About Watchman & Old North State. (Salisbury, N.C.) 1868-1868". Library of Congress. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
  15. Branson, Levi (1889). Branson's North Carolina Business Directory. Vol. 7. p. 581 – via Google Books.
  16. "About Carolina watchman. [volume] (Salisbury, N.C.) 1871-1937". Library of Congress. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
  17. Rowan County herald and the Carolina watchman. WorldCat. OCLC 37427131. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
  18. Biennial Report. North Carolina State Dept. of Archives and History. 1966. p. 172 – via Google Books.
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