Top of page

Notice
Monday, January 26, 2026: Due to inclement weather, all Library of Congress buildings are closed to the public.
Chronicling America
National Endowment for the Humanities

Newspaper Gloucester County Democrat (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932

View All Front Pages

About Gloucester County Democrat (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932

The Gloucester County Democrat was originally started in Mantua, which is also in Gloucester County, New Jersey, and had a name that reflected that location. Within a month the paper expanded and changed both its name and location, moving to Woodbury and becoming the Gloucester County Democrat. The October 8, 1878 edition of the paper explains to its readers that being at the center of railroad and telegraph communication in the county seat of Woodbury would be beneficial to gathering news and serving the interests of the party and readers.

William T. Gibbs was the initial editor and proprietor, but he left the paper in February 1879 to work at another newspaper. From August 6, 1878 until February 1879, the paper was a six-column folio with a subscription price of fifty cents per year. It was published irregularly from February to March 1879, when it was purchased by James D. Carpenter, who enlarged the paper to a seven-column folio and raised the subscription price to a dollar fifty per year. Carpenter’s first press was a Washington hand press, which was then followed by a Taylor drum cylinder and a steam engine. In August 1880, with a growing subscription list and increased advertising, the paper was enlarged to eight columns.

Carpenter came from a publishing family and his goal was to establish a permanent politically Democratic newspaper in Gloucester County. Born in Oswego, New York, his father ran the Oswego Palladium. After trying several professions, and with no encouragement from his father, he purchased the Gloucester County Democrat at age 24. In 1880, Carpenter was joined at the newspaper by Belmont Perry, and from January 1880 to March 1881, the paper was published by Perry & Carpenter. Perry was also a scion of a newspaper publishing family. He grew up in Flemington, New Jersey, the son of a lawyer and publisher of the Hunterdon County Democrat. Perry married Lida Thackara of Woodbury and relocated there after his marriage, where he was appointed county prosecutor. Both Carpenter and Perry were active in Democratic party politics and for twenty-five years Carpenter was chairman of the party in Gloucester County, a deeply Republican county.

In 1915, Carpenter was appointed postmaster of Woodbury under Woodrow Wilson, and in 1916 he turned the management of the newspaper business over to his son, Edmund H. Carpenter, who continued to publish the newspaper as a weekly until December 31, 1932. On January 2, 1933 the Gloucester County Democrat became the Evening News and Gloucester County Democrat, a daily published by Edmund Carpenter until October 31, 1938 when it merged into the Woodbury Daily Times.

Provided By: Rutgers University Libraries

About this Newspaper

Title

  • Gloucester County Democrat (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932

Dates of Publication

  • 1878-1932

Created / Published

  • Woodbury, N.J. : J.D. Carpenter

Headings

  • -  Woodbury (N.J.)--Newspapers
  • -  New Jersey--Woodbury
  • -  United States--New Jersey--Gloucester--Woodbury

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Began with Sept. 3, 1878 issue; ceased with Dec. 29, 1932 issue.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Description based on: Jan. 21, 1904.
  • -  Evening news and Gloucester County Democrat (DLC)sn 93060953 (OCoLC)28636765

Medium

  • v.

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn87068079

OCLC Number

  • 15682972

ISSN Number

  • 2831-6924

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.

The NEH awardee responsible for producing each digital object is presented in the Chronicling America page display, below the page image – e.g. Image produced by the Library of Congress. For more information on current NDNP awardees, see https://aj.sunback.homes/ndnp/listawardees.html.

For more information on Library of Congress policies and disclaimers regarding rights and reproductions, see https://aj.sunback.homes/homepage/legal.html

Cite This Item

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

Chicago citation style:

Gloucester County Democrat Woodbury, N.J. -1932. (Woodbury, NJ), Jan. 1 1878. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn87068079/.

APA citation style:

(1878, January 1) Gloucester County Democrat Woodbury, N.J. -1932. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn87068079/.

MLA citation style:

Gloucester County Democrat Woodbury, N.J. -1932. (Woodbury, NJ) 1 Jan. 1878. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, aj.sunback.homes/item/sn87068079/.