The Advertiser Democrat
Encyclopedia
The Advertiser Democrat is a weekly newspaper
serving 18 towns in the Greater Oxford Hills region of western Maine
in the United States
. It is published weekly on Thursday from its editorial/advertising offices in Norway, Maine. The newspaper is printed in Lewiston
.
Depending on how it is dated, the Advertiser Democrat is either the oldest weekly newspaper in Maine, or the oldest paper, period. The current paper is the result of a merger between two competing periodicals, the Norway Advertiser and the Oxford Democrat, which merged in 1933.
Since June, 2005, the Advertiser Democrat has been owned by the Costello family, which also owns the daily Lewiston Sun Journal, as well as a number of weekly newspapers, including: the Bethel Citizen, the Falmouth Forecaster, and the Rumford Falls Times.
, the Oxford Observer. Founded by Asa Barton, the Observer was published from what was then the county seat, Paris Hill, Maine. The first issue appeared on July 8, 1824. People who claim the Advertiser is the oldest newspaper in Maine tend to use this date. The next oldest surviving newspaper, the Kennebec Journal
was founded in 1826.
However, for reasons unknown, the Advertiser officially dates itself from 1826, when Barton moved the newspaper from Paris Hill to neighboring Norway, Maine. Barton was a supporter of John Quincy Adams
for president, a move which reportedly put him out of step with his Paris Hill neighbors, and even, seemingly, his own editorial staff. It is said that Barton moved his presses in the dead of night, by ox cart. The first issue published from Norway appeared on November 29, 1826. On December 14, 1826, the paper carried this terse notice:
The first Norway issue of the Observer carried this notice, which also gives some insight to the world of early 19th century newspaper publishing:
The Observer's existence in Norway was short-lived however. In 1829, Barton sold the paper to William Goodnow, who rechristened it The Politician
in 1832 and moved it to Portland, Maine
.
When dating the lineage of what is now known as The Advertiser Democrat, this 1833 marker would seem to be best, rather than the 1824, or 1826 dates of Barton's earlier publications. However, the current paper does hearken back to the original Oxford Observer, using a masthead which a similar font to the original publication and a printing press in the flag that is nearly identical to the one used in that very first 1824 issue.
Barton's second go-round as a newspaper publisher was short-lived. After just seven issues, he sold the paper to George W. Millett, of Norway, and Octavious King, of Paris, Maine
, both of whom had been apprentice printers at the original Observer.
Millett and King quickly changed the name of their paper to the Oxford Democrat and moved it back to Paris Hill. Like many newspapers of the era, the Democrat largely reflected the views of the political party for which it was named.
In 1839, Millett took over as sole owner, by which time the paper had returned to Norway. A decade later, fire destroyed the Democrat's printing offices and the following year, 1850, Millett sold the paper to George L. Mellen & Co.
According to the 175th anniversary issue of the Advertiser Democrat, published January 3, 2002, "After several more ownership changes," the Democrat was moved to South Paris, Maine
in 1907 by its then-current owners, George Atwood and Arthur Forbes. Then, during the height of the depression, in 1933, Forbes, who appears to have had sole ownership of the Democrat by then, sold out to Fred W. Sanborn, owner and publisher of the Norway Advertiser.
The last issue of the 'Oxford Democrat' was published November 7, 1933. Its subscribers were signed up to receive the Norway Advertiser.
The subscription salesman was Ira Berry and, true to his word, he did indeed start a newspaper. The first issue of the Norway Advertiser appeared on Tuesday, March 10, 1844. In the April 12, 1844 issue, Berry and his co-publisher, Francis Blake, Jr., wrote in a "Prospectus" for the Advertiser: "It may be well to state that it is not intended to make the paper the organ of any political party, nor to interfere with partisan politics." The editorial, which billed the Advertiser as "A newspaper calculated for working men and their families," may well have been a jab at the rival Oxford Democrat.
In April, 1882, the printing offices of the paper, along with its list of subscribers, was lost in a fire that wiped out 10 structures along Norway's Main Street. By that time, the paper has been re-dubbed the Oxford County Advertiser and it was under the ownership of Simeon Drake and C. E. Meserve. The fire was reported to have started in an attic directly over the print shop. For two months, the Advertiser was out of business while its owners scrambled to rebuild their operations.
Fred Sanborn arrived on the scene right after the 1882 fire, having sold his interest in a New Hampshire newspaper. Having attended high school in Norway for a short time, he had returned hoping to make a home in the town and take up the newspaper trade there. Sanborn partnered with Drake and bought out the job printing job of the Rev. J. A. Seitz, located at the present home of the Advertiser Democrat at 1 Pikes Hill.
Rev. Seitz, whose son Don Seitz would later go on to become business manager off the New York World
, had a weekly newspaper at the time called New Religion
. He sold the subscription list for this paper, and the print shop business to Drake and Sanborn. However, he took his four-horsepower, steam-driven printing press to North Conway, New Hampshire
, where New Religion resumed publication with the July 14, 1882 issue.
Meanwhile, the Advertiser returned to the streets with the July 23, 1882 issue, thanks to a printing press Sanborn purchased in Somersworth, New Hampshire
for $100. When the Advertiser resumed publication, Sanborn announced that it would continue politically as an "independent."
On January 1, 1883, Sanborn, along with his wife, Laura, bought Drake's interest in the Advertiser. At that time, the four-page publication had struck "Oxford County" from the masthead and was once again circulated under the banner of the Norway Advertiser. With Sanborn at the helm, the 'Advertiser' soon became the paper of record for Oxford County. Circulation grew to 2,000 copies weekly, thanks in large part to promotions that gave away free papers. A January 1, 1882, notice had listed circulation of the Oxford County Advertiser at 800.
Free papers may have helped, but one assumes content mattered. Otherwise, the Advertiser would never have been able to hold onto its readership base. For that end of the business, much thanks may be given to Sanborn's wife, Laura, who served as editor of the paper from 1882 until her death, following surgery, in 1923.
When Laura died, Sanborn's nephew, Ralph S. Osgood, originally of Lowell, Massachusetts
, became editor and manger of the paper, having begun his apprenticeship in 1908 during summers spent with his aunt and uncle. However, Sanborn still exercised a strong influence of the paper. He was said to believe that no personal item was too insignificant to print, holding a strong view that these details produced a living history of the community.
Osgood never married and, like his uncle, had no children. Taking his cue from Sanborn's example, Osgood invited his nephew, Robert C. Sallies, of Weirs Beach, New Hampshire
to summer in Norway and learn the newspaper trade, beginning in 1949. Sallies graduated from the University of New Hampshire
in 1954, became business manager of the Advertiser Democrat in 1955, and inherited the business on July 2, 1959, when Osgood died.
Sallies promoted Benjamin Tucker
from the paper's staff to the editor's post in 1960. Then, in 1961, Sallies entered the Andover Newton Theological School
, where he received his B.D. degree in 1964. The following year, Sallies became minister of the Universalist Church in Westbrook, Maine
.
Meanwhile, Sallies continued to serve as publisher of the Advertiser Democrat. In 1964, Stanley Newhall, of Weterford, Maine, replaced Tucker as the paper's editor. When Newhall retired, Sallies wife, Margie, took the reins.
On July 22, 1976, Sallies sold the paper to Howard James. Sallies operation had become a central printing plant a decade earlier with the installation of a Goss Community Offset printing press. The papers it printed included the Bridgton News, the Rumford Falls Times and the Berlin Reporter.
James, a 1968 Pulitzer Prize
winner for his series "Crisis in the Courts," written while he was Chicago Bureau Chief for the Christian Science Monitor, moved to New Hampshire in 1972, while he continued to write books and lecture around the country. That year, he married Judith Vogel Munro, who had taken sole ownership of the Berlin Reporter in 1970 upon the death of her husband, Stevenson Munro, in a horseback riding accident.
At one point, Howard and Judy James owned seven newspapers in Maine and New Hampshire, with Horwad James acting as publisher, often writing and editing as well, and Judy James active in management, editing, advertising sales, writing and photography over the years. However, by the turn of the century the couple had sold off or closed all of their holdings except for the Advertiser Democrat and the Rumford Falls Times.
With none of the James and Munro children expressing an interest in taking over the papers, James sold out to the Costello Family, publishers of the daily Lewiston Sun Journal in June, 2005.
Today, Ed Snook serves as publisher, while editor Anne Sheehan heads up the newsroom of two full-time reporters.
Weekly newspaper
A weekly newspaper is a general-news publication that is published on newsprint once or twice a week.Such newspapers tend to have smaller circulations than daily newspapers, and are usually based in less-populous communities or small, defined areas within large cities; often, they may cover a...
serving 18 towns in the Greater Oxford Hills region of western Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It is published weekly on Thursday from its editorial/advertising offices in Norway, Maine. The newspaper is printed in Lewiston
Lewiston, Maine
Lewiston is a city in Androscoggin County in Maine, and the second-largest city in the state. The population was 41,592 at the 2010 census. It is one of two principal cities of and included within the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine metropolitan New England city and town area and the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine...
.
Depending on how it is dated, the Advertiser Democrat is either the oldest weekly newspaper in Maine, or the oldest paper, period. The current paper is the result of a merger between two competing periodicals, the Norway Advertiser and the Oxford Democrat, which merged in 1933.
Since June, 2005, the Advertiser Democrat has been owned by the Costello family, which also owns the daily Lewiston Sun Journal, as well as a number of weekly newspapers, including: the Bethel Citizen, the Falmouth Forecaster, and the Rumford Falls Times.
"Pre-History"
The Advertiser Democrat traces its ancestry to the first newspaper published in Oxford County, MaineOxford County, Maine
Oxford County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maine with a population of 57,833 as of the 2010 U.S. census. Its county seat is Paris.Part of Oxford County is included in the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine, metropolitan New England City and Town Area while a different part of Oxford County is...
, the Oxford Observer. Founded by Asa Barton, the Observer was published from what was then the county seat, Paris Hill, Maine. The first issue appeared on July 8, 1824. People who claim the Advertiser is the oldest newspaper in Maine tend to use this date. The next oldest surviving newspaper, the Kennebec Journal
Kennebec Journal
The Kennebec Journal is a seven-day morning daily newspaper published in Augusta, Maine. From 1998 to 2009, it was owned by Blethen Maine Newspapers, a subsidiary of The Seattle Times Company. It was then sold to MaineToday Media. The newspaper covers the capital area and southern Kennebec...
was founded in 1826.
However, for reasons unknown, the Advertiser officially dates itself from 1826, when Barton moved the newspaper from Paris Hill to neighboring Norway, Maine. Barton was a supporter of John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams was the sixth President of the United States . He served as an American diplomat, Senator, and Congressional representative. He was a member of the Federalist, Democratic-Republican, National Republican, and later Anti-Masonic and Whig parties. Adams was the son of former...
for president, a move which reportedly put him out of step with his Paris Hill neighbors, and even, seemingly, his own editorial staff. It is said that Barton moved his presses in the dead of night, by ox cart. The first issue published from Norway appeared on November 29, 1826. On December 14, 1826, the paper carried this terse notice:
The first Norway issue of the Observer carried this notice, which also gives some insight to the world of early 19th century newspaper publishing:
The Observer's existence in Norway was short-lived however. In 1829, Barton sold the paper to William Goodnow, who rechristened it The Politician
The Politician
The Politician is a Caroline era stage play, a tragedy by written James Shirley, and first published in 1655.-Publication:The Politician, along with another Shirley play, The Gentleman of Venice, was published by the bookseller Humphrey Moseley in 1655 in alternative quarto and octavo formats...
in 1832 and moved it to Portland, Maine
Portland, Maine
Portland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...
.
The Oxford Democrat
Undaunted, Asa Barton started a second newspaper, The Oxford Oracle in 1833.When dating the lineage of what is now known as The Advertiser Democrat, this 1833 marker would seem to be best, rather than the 1824, or 1826 dates of Barton's earlier publications. However, the current paper does hearken back to the original Oxford Observer, using a masthead which a similar font to the original publication and a printing press in the flag that is nearly identical to the one used in that very first 1824 issue.
Barton's second go-round as a newspaper publisher was short-lived. After just seven issues, he sold the paper to George W. Millett, of Norway, and Octavious King, of Paris, Maine
Paris, Maine
Paris is a town in and the county seat of Oxford County, Maine, United States. The population was 4,793 at the 2000 census. The census-designated place of South Paris is located within the town. Because the U.S. Post Office refers to the entire town as South Paris, the town as a whole is commonly...
, both of whom had been apprentice printers at the original Observer.
Millett and King quickly changed the name of their paper to the Oxford Democrat and moved it back to Paris Hill. Like many newspapers of the era, the Democrat largely reflected the views of the political party for which it was named.
In 1839, Millett took over as sole owner, by which time the paper had returned to Norway. A decade later, fire destroyed the Democrat's printing offices and the following year, 1850, Millett sold the paper to George L. Mellen & Co.
According to the 175th anniversary issue of the Advertiser Democrat, published January 3, 2002, "After several more ownership changes," the Democrat was moved to South Paris, Maine
South Paris, Maine
South Paris is a census-designated place located within the town of Paris in Oxford County, Maine, in the United States. The population was 2,237 at the 2000 census...
in 1907 by its then-current owners, George Atwood and Arthur Forbes. Then, during the height of the depression, in 1933, Forbes, who appears to have had sole ownership of the Democrat by then, sold out to Fred W. Sanborn, owner and publisher of the Norway Advertiser.
The last issue of the 'Oxford Democrat' was published November 7, 1933. Its subscribers were signed up to receive the Norway Advertiser.
The Norway Advertiser
In a column published in the October 22, 1886 issue of the Oxford County Advertiser, Dr. Osgood N. Bradbury recalled the origins of the paper.The subscription salesman was Ira Berry and, true to his word, he did indeed start a newspaper. The first issue of the Norway Advertiser appeared on Tuesday, March 10, 1844. In the April 12, 1844 issue, Berry and his co-publisher, Francis Blake, Jr., wrote in a "Prospectus" for the Advertiser: "It may be well to state that it is not intended to make the paper the organ of any political party, nor to interfere with partisan politics." The editorial, which billed the Advertiser as "A newspaper calculated for working men and their families," may well have been a jab at the rival Oxford Democrat.
In April, 1882, the printing offices of the paper, along with its list of subscribers, was lost in a fire that wiped out 10 structures along Norway's Main Street. By that time, the paper has been re-dubbed the Oxford County Advertiser and it was under the ownership of Simeon Drake and C. E. Meserve. The fire was reported to have started in an attic directly over the print shop. For two months, the Advertiser was out of business while its owners scrambled to rebuild their operations.
Fred Sanborn arrived on the scene right after the 1882 fire, having sold his interest in a New Hampshire newspaper. Having attended high school in Norway for a short time, he had returned hoping to make a home in the town and take up the newspaper trade there. Sanborn partnered with Drake and bought out the job printing job of the Rev. J. A. Seitz, located at the present home of the Advertiser Democrat at 1 Pikes Hill.
Rev. Seitz, whose son Don Seitz would later go on to become business manager off the New York World
New York World
The New York World was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 until 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers...
, had a weekly newspaper at the time called New Religion
New Religion
"New Religion" is a Duran Duran song and the sixth track on their second album Rio.-About the song:The song is described in the Rio liner notes as "a dialogue between the ego and the alter-ego", which is reflected in the chorus, where two conflicting voices sing on top of each other.-Covers,...
. He sold the subscription list for this paper, and the print shop business to Drake and Sanborn. However, he took his four-horsepower, steam-driven printing press to North Conway, New Hampshire
North Conway, New Hampshire
North Conway is a census-designated place in eastern Carroll County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 2,349 at the 2010 census. A year-round resort area, North Conway is the largest village within the town of Conway, which is bounded on the east by the Maine state line. The White...
, where New Religion resumed publication with the July 14, 1882 issue.
Meanwhile, the Advertiser returned to the streets with the July 23, 1882 issue, thanks to a printing press Sanborn purchased in Somersworth, New Hampshire
Somersworth, New Hampshire
As of the census of 2000, there were 11,477 people, 4,687 households, and 3,079 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,173.4 people per square mile . There were 4,841 housing units at an average density of 494.9 per square mile...
for $100. When the Advertiser resumed publication, Sanborn announced that it would continue politically as an "independent."
On January 1, 1883, Sanborn, along with his wife, Laura, bought Drake's interest in the Advertiser. At that time, the four-page publication had struck "Oxford County" from the masthead and was once again circulated under the banner of the Norway Advertiser. With Sanborn at the helm, the 'Advertiser' soon became the paper of record for Oxford County. Circulation grew to 2,000 copies weekly, thanks in large part to promotions that gave away free papers. A January 1, 1882, notice had listed circulation of the Oxford County Advertiser at 800.
Free papers may have helped, but one assumes content mattered. Otherwise, the Advertiser would never have been able to hold onto its readership base. For that end of the business, much thanks may be given to Sanborn's wife, Laura, who served as editor of the paper from 1882 until her death, following surgery, in 1923.
When Laura died, Sanborn's nephew, Ralph S. Osgood, originally of Lowell, Massachusetts
Lowell, Massachusetts
Lowell is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA. According to the 2010 census, the city's population was 106,519. It is the fourth largest city in the state. Lowell and Cambridge are the county seats of Middlesex County...
, became editor and manger of the paper, having begun his apprenticeship in 1908 during summers spent with his aunt and uncle. However, Sanborn still exercised a strong influence of the paper. He was said to believe that no personal item was too insignificant to print, holding a strong view that these details produced a living history of the community.
The Advertiser Democrat
With the depression cutting sharply into revenues, the merged papers, now called the Advertiser Democrat, became a tabloid. When Sanborn died in 1938, ownership of the paper passed to Osgood. The leadership styles of the two men were recounted by Mearle M. Brown in a 1963 issue of the Oxford County Review:Osgood never married and, like his uncle, had no children. Taking his cue from Sanborn's example, Osgood invited his nephew, Robert C. Sallies, of Weirs Beach, New Hampshire
Weirs Beach, New Hampshire
Weirs Beach is a village within the city of Laconia in Belknap County, New Hampshire, United States. It is located on the southern shore of Lake Winnipesaukee. The cruise ship Mount Washington terminates there...
to summer in Norway and learn the newspaper trade, beginning in 1949. Sallies graduated from the University of New Hampshire
University of New Hampshire
The University of New Hampshire is a public university in the University System of New Hampshire , United States. The main campus is in Durham, New Hampshire. An additional campus is located in Manchester. With over 15,000 students, UNH is the largest university in New Hampshire. The university is...
in 1954, became business manager of the Advertiser Democrat in 1955, and inherited the business on July 2, 1959, when Osgood died.
Sallies promoted Benjamin Tucker
Benjamin Tucker
Benjamin Ricketson Tucker was a proponent of American individualist anarchism in the 19th century, and editor and publisher of the individualist anarchist periodical Liberty.-Summary:Tucker says that he became an anarchist at the age of 18...
from the paper's staff to the editor's post in 1960. Then, in 1961, Sallies entered the Andover Newton Theological School
Andover Newton Theological School
Andover Newton Theological School is a graduate school and seminary located in Newton, Massachusetts. It is America's oldest graduate seminary and the nation's first graduate institution of any kind...
, where he received his B.D. degree in 1964. The following year, Sallies became minister of the Universalist Church in Westbrook, Maine
Westbrook, Maine
Westbrook is a city in Cumberland County, Maine, United States and a suburb of Portland. The population was 17,494 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Portland–South Portland–Biddeford, Maine metropolitan statistical area.-History:...
.
Meanwhile, Sallies continued to serve as publisher of the Advertiser Democrat. In 1964, Stanley Newhall, of Weterford, Maine, replaced Tucker as the paper's editor. When Newhall retired, Sallies wife, Margie, took the reins.
On July 22, 1976, Sallies sold the paper to Howard James. Sallies operation had become a central printing plant a decade earlier with the installation of a Goss Community Offset printing press. The papers it printed included the Bridgton News, the Rumford Falls Times and the Berlin Reporter.
James, a 1968 Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
winner for his series "Crisis in the Courts," written while he was Chicago Bureau Chief for the Christian Science Monitor, moved to New Hampshire in 1972, while he continued to write books and lecture around the country. That year, he married Judith Vogel Munro, who had taken sole ownership of the Berlin Reporter in 1970 upon the death of her husband, Stevenson Munro, in a horseback riding accident.
At one point, Howard and Judy James owned seven newspapers in Maine and New Hampshire, with Horwad James acting as publisher, often writing and editing as well, and Judy James active in management, editing, advertising sales, writing and photography over the years. However, by the turn of the century the couple had sold off or closed all of their holdings except for the Advertiser Democrat and the Rumford Falls Times.
With none of the James and Munro children expressing an interest in taking over the papers, James sold out to the Costello Family, publishers of the daily Lewiston Sun Journal in June, 2005.
Today, Ed Snook serves as publisher, while editor Anne Sheehan heads up the newsroom of two full-time reporters.