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Chronicling America
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Newspaper The Marlinton Journal (Marlinton, W. Va.) 1915-1973

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About The Marlinton Journal (Marlinton, W. Va.) 1915-1973

The Pocahontas Independent began publication in Marlinton, West Virginia, the county seat of Pocahontas County, in 1912. A weekly paper, it was initially released on Thursdays, but by early 1914 this changed to Wednesdays. The Independent cost its subscribers $1.00 per year and provided them with four pages of local, regional, and national news, political coverage, and syndicated columns such as serialized short fiction, travel logs, and religious reflections.

The Independent‘s political affiliation changed throughout its run. Its first editor, R.A. “Bob” Kramer, left his previous paper, the Marlinton Messenger as it transformed into the Republican News in late 1911 under J.G. Tilton. In 1912, this signaled to the Wheeling Intelligencer that the Independent should be counted among the state’s Democratic papers. Yet in August 1914, the Intelligencer reported that the “progressive” Independent had been sold to prominent local Republicans in Pocahontas County. Kramer left the Independent in conjunction with its purchase and change in party affiliation. The Independent subsequently consolidated with the Marlinton Journal (now non-extant), the name of which the Independent would subsequently adopt, albeit not for several months.

The new Marlinton Journal was decidedly Republican in orientation, at one point reprinting a column from the Upshur Republican, which bemoaned the Independent‘s prior flirtation with Theodore Roosevelt’s third-party Bull Moose platform. Edited by J. Jerome Haddox from December 1914 through the end of April 1915, the Journal adopted the slogan “The Top-Notcher On Top of West Virginia,” sometimes appending “A City Paper in a Country Town.” Haddox, known by some as “Je-roam” for his tendency to leave a city as quickly as he arrived, would indeed live up to his nickname when he departed for the Logan Banner that May.

Haddox was an extremely eclectic individual, described as a “preacher-editor” and fancying himself a poet. Reporting about him was often at least as sensational as the columns he penned. For instance, in June of 1910, the Ceredo Advance reprinted a story from the Huntington Advertiser claiming that Haddox was “severely injured” and “near death” after falling under the wheels of a car; they feared he would not recover. However, despite that incident, Haddox apparently did recover, only for the Intelligencer to report in May of 1912 that he was “missing,” after he failed to show up to a Methodist Episcopal Church conference in St. Albans, Kanawha County. They suspected “foul play.” Whatever the reason for his alleged disappearance, Haddox did eventually resurface, as his subsequent endeavors in the newspaper business attest. In 1911 alone, the year between these two episodes, Haddox edited at least two West Virginia papers: the Coal River Republican in Madison, Boone County and the Lincoln Monitor in Hamlin, Lincoln County.

In July of 1915, a few months after Haddox’s exit, Kramer came back as editor of the paper, only to once again turn over the reins that October. The Journal‘s next editor, H.K. Bright, leased the paper from its owners, who included Kramer and W.B. Sharp (co-founder of the aforementioned Messenger). That Kramer was part-owner of a Republican newspaper either outright contradicts the Intelligencer‘s assumptions about his politics or at least implies that he was okay with profiting from an audience who did not necessarily share his views. And further proving how small the world of people in West Virginia newspapers was at the time, Kramer & Sharp et al.’s October 1916 statement of ownership was notarized by Andrew Price, whose brother Calvin published the rival Pocahontas Times where Andrew himself was a regular contributor.

Post-Haddox, while the Journal remained a $1 yearly, weekly four-pager, it revised its slogan, stating its position as “A Republican Newspaper, Devoted to the Interests and Development of Pocahontas County.” The Journal ran under its 1915 name until 1973, when it transformed once again, that time into the Allegheny Journal. This transformation, however, would be its last, with the paper finally ceasing publication only a year later in 1974.

Provided By: West Virginia University

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Marlinton Journal (Marlinton, W. Va.) 1915-1973

Dates of Publication

  • 1915-1973

Created / Published

  • Marlinton, W. Va. : Marlinton Print. Co., -1973.

Headings

  • -  United States--West Virginia--Pocahontas--Marlinton

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Began in 1915.
  • -  -v. 59, no. 45 (Apr. 19, 1973).
  • -  Editor: J. Jerome Haddox.
  • -  Publication suspended between Jan. 1, 1921 and Feb. 21, 1923.
  • -  Description based on: Vol. 1, no. 2 (Mar. 31, 1915).
  • -  Allegheny journal (Marlinton, W. Va.) (DLC)sn 86092236

Medium

  • volumes

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn86092235

OCLC Number

  • 13181712

Preceding Titles

Succeeding Titles

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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:

The Marlinton Journal Marlinton, W. Va. -1973. (Marlinton, WV), Jan. 1 1915. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn86092235/.

APA citation style:

(1915, January 1) The Marlinton Journal Marlinton, W. Va. -1973. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn86092235/.

MLA citation style:

The Marlinton Journal Marlinton, W. Va. -1973. (Marlinton, WV) 1 Jan. 1915. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, aj.sunback.homes/item/sn86092235/.