County Newspapers, Past and Present

by John Harvey

The earliest known newspapers in Jasper County were The Jasper County Banner, a copy of which is in the possession of Mrs. Dema Ozburn and the Monticello Hawkeye, a copy being in the possession of Harvey Powell.

Both of these newspapers were published prior to 1881, though the exact date when each began publication is not known.  In a previous article by Mrs. Irene Malone, we carried excerpts from the Banner which at the time of its publication was the official newspaper of the county.

The Hawkeye was published by F. S. Horton and sold for $1.00 a year.  Mr. Powell has Vol. 1 and No. 2, which he found a few years ago while looking through some family papers.

On a recent morning, Mr. Powell explained how newspapers were published in the early and mid-nineteenth century.  The publisher would buy from a publishing house, two to six pages of printed pages of articles of national interest, a serialized story which lasted from six to eight weeks, and a series of want ads and patent medicine ads.

Key columns on the front, inside and back pages were left blank for the printing of local news.  If the publisher had his own printing press, he printed in the local news himself.  If not, he had it done in a nearby town and the papers delivered to him on the day the paper went out to the subscribers.

In mentioning g newspapers that were published after 1881, Mr. Powell referred us to a booklet which he did for the Chamber of Commerce some years ago.  The booklet, "A Brief History of Jasper County, Georgia - 1970" says "The Jasper County News, a weekly, made its appearance in 1881 under the editorship of Mrs. a. P. Penn and later her two sons, Fitzhugh and Thomas.  This paper provided excellent local news coverage and exerted much influence in the community.  In 1903, it's name was changed to The Monticello News and has survived to this day."  For some years during this time, Capt. John Key was editor of the paper.

Other newspapers that have been published in Monticello were:  The 
Southern Star, later changed to the Monticello Star, which was published during the year 1892 by Frank B. Webb, a graduate of Emory University at Oxford, class of 1891.  This was a very good weekly.

The Jasper County Plain Dealer, a paper published by blacks in 1897, until its editor moved to Atlanta.  This paper was said to have been published in a building behind the parsonage of the St. James Methodist Church.

The Monticello Advocate, L. Reid published suspended publication after a brief appearance in 1901.

The Monticello Journal, publishers Eugene Baynes, Neven Tolleson and Hollis Pope, began publication in Augusta in 1910 and ceased with the May 4 1911 issue.

Another paper, the Monticello Journal with Larry Gwin as publisher began publishing in August 1974 and ceased to be published after December 20, 1974.

In the county, the Shady Dale Herald published a number of issues in 1898.  A copy of this paper belongs to O. H. Banks and was featured in an earlier article.

If there were other early newspapers in the county, we would like to hear of them.

Additional Comments:
Transcribed by Suzanne Forte (suzanneforte@bellsouth.net) April 2005,  from copies of articles contained in the Monticello News. There articles were prepared by Mr. 
John Harvey and published in this newspaper during the 1970's and 1980's time frame. Some were under the title "Jasper Reflections", others "Bicentennial Bits".
Permission has been granted by Mr. Harvey for use of these very valuable and informative articles.

Copies of articles provided by Benny Hawthorne.