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Chronicling America
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Newspaper Richland Beacon (Rayville, La.) 1869-1890

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About Richland Beacon (Rayville, La.) 1869-1890

The Richland Beacon was founded in 1869 by brothers Wiley P. Mangham (1838-1896) and Thomas J. Mangham (1835-1918). Wiley Mangham began his career as a printer’s devil in Rome, Georgia, then moved in 1860 to Ashville, Alabama, where he and his brother Thomas published the St. Clair Diamond, an enterprise they both soon abandoned to enlist in the Confederate army. After the Civil War, the Manghams joined another brother in north Louisiana. Wiley worked for a time as a typesetter at the Louisiana Intelligencer in Monroe before moving to Richland Parish, a timber- and cotton-producing parish created in 1868 from portions of neighboring Ouachita, Morehouse, Franklin, and Carroll Parishes. The Richland Beacon was its first newspaper. By 1877, the journal claimed a circulation of 352.

Although Richland Parish was created through the influence of Radical Republicans and its seat, Rayville, named after the local Republican landowner John Ray, the Richland Beacon was staunchly Democratic. Published on Saturdays in four pages, its motto was “Libertas et natale solum” (“Liberty and Native Soil”). During Reconstruction it focused heavily on politics and political violence, such as the infamous Colfax Massacre of 1873. By the 1880s it had shifted its focus to agriculture and immigration, reflecting the Manghams’ interests in real estate development and progressive farming (T. J. Mangham served as first editor of the Progressive Age, founded in 1890 in Ruston, Louisiana). The activities of local granges and agricultural clubs were reported, and attention was called to the need for diversified farming and the improvement of Mississippi River navigation. The proceedings of local levee boards are also available. Women readers were offered a domestic advice column and recipes, as well as fiction and poetry, which typically made up most of the paper’s first page.

The Richland Beacon was the official journal of Richland Parish and carried the minutes of the parish school board and police jury (similar to county councils in other states). In 1890, it was consolidated with the Richland News to form the Richland Beacon-News.

Provided By: Louisiana State University; Baton Rouge, LA

About this Newspaper

Title

  • Richland Beacon (Rayville, La.) 1869-1890

Dates of Publication

  • 1869-1890

Created / Published

  • Rayville, La. : Thomas J. Mangham

Headings

  • -  Rayville (La.)--Newspapers
  • -  Richland Parish (La.)--Newspapers
  • -  Louisiana--Rayville
  • -  Louisiana--Richland Parish
  • -  United States--Louisiana--Richland--Rayville

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Began in 1869; ceased in Mar. 1890.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format as part of the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Merged with: Richland news, to form: Richland beacon-news.
  • -  Description based on: Vol. 4, no. 36 (Sept. 7, 1872).
  • -  Richland news (DLC)sn 88064355 (OCoLC)17855776
  • -  Richland beacon-news (DLC)sn 88064356 (OCoLC)17855797

Medium

  • volumes ; 61 cm

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn86079088

OCLC Number

  • 13175560

ISSN Number

  • 2166-7810

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:

Richland Beacon Rayville, La. -1890. (Rayville, LA), Jan. 1 1869. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn86079088/.

APA citation style:

(1869, January 1) Richland Beacon Rayville, La. -1890. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn86079088/.

MLA citation style:

Richland Beacon Rayville, La. -1890. (Rayville, LA) 1 Jan. 1869. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, aj.sunback.homes/item/sn86079088/.