When a genealogist or researcher needs to find information about their subject, they will typically turn to the old newspapers. In the old days, before computers and the internet, this meant a trip to the library and visually scanning each paper for a mention or a clue. If you didn’t have a date or event to begin with, the process was long and challenging. With the on-line availability of the papers, a search can take seconds, as long as you can find the magic combination of words to guide your search. But throughout it all was the newspaper. The information contained in the papers is priceless and timeless, and if you are willing to dig deep enough, it can help to bring your subject to life. No where else can you find things like; “Mrs. John Smith visited her ailing mother today before heading back to Auburn on the trolley.”
For those of us in Port Byron, the local paper was the Port Byron Chronicle (PBC). And although I use it almost daily, I knew little of the history of newspapers in Port Byron. So, I wanted to take a deep dive into the history of newspaper publishing in the village. Years ago, in those pre-internet days, I recall driving down to Cornell University to scroll through their microfilmed copies of the PBC. No one else had them, not even the Auburn library. And I recall that they only had copies back to 1905. Before that, the papers were lost, maybe in a fire. I tried to re-research what I had read about why nothing before 1905, but it was gone. Anyway, what is important to know is that there are no copies prior to 1905, unless they are held by private citizens. And sadly, all the original papers were destroyed after being microfilmed. Why someone allowed this to happen is simply a shame, but maybe the papers were so fragile that they were useless. However, I bet they could have been preserved. Even through the Weedsport Cayuga Chief was also microfilmed, the Old Brutus Historical Society retained their paper copies. Years ago I used these in researching my book on the Erie Canal.
Well, if you don’t know what microfilm is, here is a brief description (I am sure you can look it up on You Tube). Basically, someone took pictures of the paper, and each photo was one page. The microfilm was held on rolls which were in boxes that you picked out of a drawer. They would be labeled something like; Port Byron Chronicle – January 1, 1905 – December 31, 1910. You then took the roll to the large readers, loaded the film, and started scanning page by page. You hoped you had a date or an event to start with. So if you wished to find grandma’s obit, you found the date of her death and then started reading. To research my family, I had to go to the State Library in Albany or the Genealogical collection in Syracuse. You then loaded, scanned, read, scan more, read more, load more…all day long. You skipped lunch, you held your bladder till it burst, you didn’t move as you wanted to maximize your time with this resource.
The big step was the advent of digitization, and even better, OCR otherwise known as Optical Character Recognition. Now from the comfort of home a person can type in a name, phrase, or Boolean term, and in most cases, you will find what you are looking for in seconds. The only downside of this is that when you are scanning page by page of a paper, you will happen upon all sorts of interesting articles and photos that will waste your time, but maybe spur new research.
The history of the press can be found within the newspapers of the period as many would write articles such as, “The History of the Press of Cayuga County, From 1798 to 1877.” Also, the history of the paper would be covered when the company was sold or changed hands. And information can be found in the obituaries of the publishers. Certain printing based publications, offices of the state, and census records will even offer names and dates. However, as might be expected, all these don’t agree, so I have tried to piece together the best history I can.
Somewhat surprising for such a busy village, the first paper in the village didn’t began printing till October of 1844. The paper was called the Port Byron Herald. The first editor and publisher was Frederick Prince, who had published papers in Weedsport, Jordan and Auburn before coming to Port Byron. He was such a prolific newspaper businessman that he was given a full paragraph in the 1877 History article I mentioned before. The article seems to say that the Herald lasted two years, but Prince maintained his office in Port Byron doing job printing until 1849.
And then we find a conflict. The 1877 History says that in 1849, Charles T. White and his brother started the Port Byron Gazette. Who was the brother? Why isn’t he named? The 1851 Syracuse Daily Standard congratulates Mr. White, who had been living in Syracuse, for starting his paper in Port Byron. This might be the same Charles White who was listed in the 1860 census as a printer in Arcadia, Wayne County, and even later in Wolcott. (And whether the Gazette merely replaced the Herald, or if their was a gap of years is not known). The 1864 Cayuga County Directory notes that Charles White began the Gazette in 1851 and ran it to 1857, when he sold it to his previously unnamed brother Arthur.
However, in the Gazetter of 1860, I found a record of the Gazette being owned by a Oliver T. Baird between 1851 and 1857. And I found a census record of Oliver Baird in Port Byron in the 1855 census. Maybe he was the editor, since I have yet to find either White living in Port Byron. But regardless of who the owner was, it is clear that the Gazette was in publication in the 1850’s, as I found mentions in many newspapers. It was common for other papers to pick up stories and articles and reprint word for word, giving credit to the paper they pulled it from, so we can find our Port Byron papers at least in small mentions.
In 1861, Benjamin W. Thompson purchased the Gazette. The Delphi Republican noted that sale writing that the paper was, “neutral but loyal on the war question”. Civil war historians will likely recognize Mr. Thompson as he served as an officer in the 111th New York Volunteers. He saw service in Gettysburg and other campaigns and later wrote, “Personal Narrative of Experiences in the Civil War 1861-65”. This book is widely quoted, especially for his description of seeing a telescopic sight for the first time. Mr. Thompson then became an officer in the 32nd Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Colored Troops, where he finished out his service. Mr. Thompson only owned the paper for a year. Maybe his serving in the War forced him to sell? The other note is that Thompson’s commander in the 32nd was a George W. Baird, and I can only wonder if there was a connection between Oliver Baird, the previous owner of the paper, and George.
Beginning with Ben Thompson, the paper is then bought and sold a couple times. The next owner was William Hosford, who then turned around and sold it to Cyrus Marsh. Throughout, the name of the paper remained as the Gazette. Cyrus may have attempted to broadened the coverage of the paper as he changed the name to the North Cayuga Times, and then in 1867, it was changed again to become the Port Byron Times. The paper was described as a four-page weekly, published on Tuesday. Cyrus was a resident as he is found in the 1870 census, but soon after moved to Brockport to start the Brockport Democrat.
In 1871, the paper was sold to Charles Johnson and George Marsh. George was Cyrus’ son. The name was changed to become the Port Byron Chronicle. In 1873, George Marsh sold his share to John Ransom. After the sale, George moved to Brockport to help his father with his paper. Johnson and Ransom ran the paper till 1877. This was verified by the 1876 US Newspaper Directory.
It was then that Lasuveous Harrison King, or LH as he was known, purchased the paper. LH was the son of Richard and Mariah (or Maria) King. Richard was the son of Phillip King, one of the first settlers in the area. L.H was not only the owner of the paper. He served as a justice of the peace, he was the postmaster in the 1870s’, and he was appointed as the Section 7 Superintendent of the Erie Canal in the 1890’s.
L.H. ran the paper up till his death in 1923, although his son Richard and daughter Lois had stepped in to help in the later years of his life. After his death, Richard, with his sisters, Lois and Nellie, took over as publisher for a number of years. Richard was also the Cayuga County Sealer of Weights and Measures, a position he held for twenty-five years. Richard’s obit notes that he remained very interested in local history, and Lock 52 Historic Society has a copy of a letter that his brother Harry sent to Richard in 1955. The letter describes many events of note and makes for some great reading.
In 1938, the King family then sold the PBC to G. Welton Fickenisen, who also published the Moravia Republican. In 1946, Fickenisen sold the paper to Robert and Frances Fox of Union, NY. They in turn sold it to the Cayuga Chief in 1947, who printed it as the Port Byron Chronicle and The Cayuga County News. In 1956, both the Cayuga Chief and the PBC would be sold to the Community Newspapers of Red Creek, which I believe is now called the Wayuga Community Newspapers.