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Chronicling America
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Newspaper Mobile Register and Journal (Mobile, Ala.) 1841-1849 Register and journal / Published as: Register and journal

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About Mobile Register and Journal (Mobile, Ala.) 1841-1849

French colonists established the Gulf Coast settlement of Mobile as the capital of French Louisiana in 1702. After existing under French, British, and Spanish control, the city became part of the United States’ Mississippi territory in 1813. That year saw the launch of its first major newspaper, the Mobile Gazette.

Alabama became a state in 1819. The Mobile Commercial Register, founded in 1821, took over the Gazette in 1822. As Alabama’s only saltwater port, the city along the Mobile Rivergrew quickly as a center of commercial activity. By 1840, Mobile was one of the major southern ports for the shipment of cotton. Among the many northerners to launch new business ventures in Alabama was Thaddeus Sanford, who moved to Mobile in 1822 from New York and would become an area Democratic leader, supporting slavery but not secession. In 1828, Sanford purchased the Commercial Register.

Under Sanford, the Commercial Register absorbed The Mobile Patriot to form the Mobile Daily Commercial Register and Patriot. This new paper published its first issue on October 8, 1832, running daily for eight winter months and triweekly during four summer months. Sanford sold the Daily Commercial Register and Patriot in 1837 to Epapheas Kibby and John Forsyth, Jr., another prominent Democratic citizen. An 1839 outbreak of yellow fever in Mobile took its toll on the Register staff, reducing the frequency of publication; Kibby died of the disease.

By late spring, 1841, a typical issue of the four-page Daily Commercial Register and Patriot was primarily made up of advertisements, commodity prices, real estate announcements, lists of ships carrying cargo, and similar information, with some news, letters, and editorial commentary on page 2. Page 3 included “runaway” notices about enslaved people who had escaped. One of the Register‘s page 2 items (August 6, 1841) summarized an article printed in the Boston Courier about a court case involving a girl named Rose whom abolitionists were trying to free. When Rose decided to return with her owner to Mobile—and slavery—to be near her family, the Register noted this as “a spectacle of triumph of natural affection over the deep, instinctive impulses of freedom.”

Sanford and S. F. Wilson regained control of the Daily Commercial Register and Patriot in late 1841. In December, Sanford acquired the Merchants and Planters Journal and merged it with the Daily Commercial Register and Patriot to form the Mobile Register and Journal. His new paper continued the same basic format as its predecessor, with editorial and news content on page 2—where the Democratic Register would often criticize its Whig rival, the Mobile Daily Advertiser.

“Journal” was dropped from the title in December 1849, and the newspaper continued as The Mobile Daily Register. Forsyth bought it once again in 1854 and remained associated with the paper until his death in 1877. After a string of buyouts (including the acquisition of the Mobile Advertiser, in 1861), the newspaper began publication as a weekend edition under the name Mobile Press-Register in 1932 and continues under this name today.

Provided By: University of Alabama Libraries, Tuscaloosa, AL

About this Newspaper

Title

  • Mobile Register and Journal (Mobile, Ala.) 1841-1849

Other Title

  • Register and journal
  • Published as: Register and journal

Names

  • Sanford, Thaddeus, 1790-1867
  • Wilson, Samuel F.

Dates of Publication

  • 1841-1849

Created / Published

  • Mobile, Ala. : T. Sanford & S.F. Wilson

Headings

  • -  Mobile (Ala.)--Newspapers
  • -  Mobile County (Ala.)--Newspapers
  • -  Alabama--Mobile
  • -  Alabama--Mobile County
  • -  United States--Alabama--Mobile--Mobile

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Daily (except Sunday)
  • -  Vol. 1, no. 1 (Dec. 1, 1841)-new ser., v. 5, no. 222 (Nov. 2, 1846) ; v. 25, no. 5550 (Nov. 3, 1846)-v. 28, no. [6494] (Dec. 3, 1849).
  • -  Editors: T. Sanford, S.F. Wilson, <1845-1848>.
  • -  Triweekly during summer months, <1841-1848>.
  • -  Issues for Mar. 21, 1842-Nov. 2, 1846 called also old ser., v. 21-old. ser., v. 24.
  • -  Also issued on microfilm from Bell & Howell, Micro Photo Div., and the Library of Congress, Photoduplication Service.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Mobile daily register (Mobile, Ala.: 1849) (DLC)sn 84020567 (OCoLC)210694125

Medium

  • volumes

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn84020566

OCLC Number

  • 2626841

ISSN Number

  • 2692-6431

Preceding Titles

Succeeding Titles

Additional Metadata Formats

Availability

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety. Any newspapers in Chronicling America that were published less than 95 years ago are also believed to be in the public domain, but may contain some copyrighted third party materials. Researchers using newspapers published less than 95 years ago should be alert for modern content (for example, registered and renewed for copyright and published with notice) that may be copyrighted. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Mobile Register and Journal Mobile, Ala. -1849. (Mobile, AL), Jan. 1 1841. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn84020566/.

APA citation style:

(1841, January 1) Mobile Register and Journal Mobile, Ala. -1849. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn84020566/.

MLA citation style:

Mobile Register and Journal Mobile, Ala. -1849. (Mobile, AL) 1 Jan. 1841. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, aj.sunback.homes/item/sn84020566/.