ABT UNK: Tombstone Tuesday: Edward Garland, 1843-1912: Editor of the Granbury Vidette, 1872-1883

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Tombstone Tuesday: Edward Garland, 1843-1912: Editor of the Granbury Vidette, 1872-1883

Grave of Edward Garland, Park Cemetery, Carthage, Missouri
FindAGrave photo by NJ Brewer - Nancy Brewer,
Carthage Find-a-grave Project coordinator for the Powers Museum, Carthage, Missouri

Ed Garland circa 1892,
Carthage Evening Press archive
newspaper illustration, courtesy of the
Powers Museum, Carthage, Missouri

Last week I wrote about the family of Francis Edward "Ed" Garland (1843-1912) as a part of my quest to identify the parents of two young siblings buried in the mid-1870s in the Granbury Cemetery. This week, I'm going to write about Ed's career as the publisher and editor of Granbury's first newspaper, The Granbury Vidette.

According to Merriam-Webster, vidette is a variant of the word vedette, which is "a mounted sentinel stationed in advance of pickets" of an army. No copies of the Granbury Vidette survive.

The first reference I could find to Ed and the newspaper was in the November 28, 1872, issue of the Houston Telegraph, which referred to the paper as the Ganberry Gazette. Two days later, on November 30, 1872, the Dallas Herald got the newspaper name correct but the town name (not surprisingly) wrong, referring to the Granberry Vidette begun that month by publishers W. L. Bond and F. Ed Garland.

On page 360 of the 1916 History of the Texas Press Association: From Its Organization in Houston in 1880 to Its Annual Convention in San Antonio in 1913, by Ferdinand B. Baillio (Southwestern Printing Company, 1916), in its section on "Early Papers Published in West Texas," it is noted that Garland and Lambdin were the publishers in 1873, "then Garland & Price":

By July 15, 1875, according to the Galveston Daily News of that date (page 2), Charles A. Price retired from the business, leaving Garland as "sole editor and propreter."

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By November 5, 1879, according to the Denison [Texas] Daily News (page 2), Ashley Wilson Crockett (misspelled as Ansley in the article), grandson of Davy Crockett, was associated with the Granbury Vidette.

However, Crockett had been associated with the newspaper before that. The Texas Business Directory for 1878-9, published in 1878, apparently lists under Newspapers for Granbury, "'Vidette' weekly; Garland, Crockett & Perkins, proprietors."

In an article Crockett wrote for the Hood County Tablet published on June 16, 1938, he claims, "When the writer first came to Granbury in November 1872, he was fifteen years old. He entered the office of the Granbury Vidette, a newspaper just started and then only one week old, owned and edited by W. L. Bond and F. Ed Garland."

On the 1880 Census, the family of "Ash W. Crocket" appears just below that of Ed Garland, and Crocket[t] is listed as a "newspaper man."

Also in May 1880, the Texas Press Association was founded, and Garland was named corresponding secretary for the third district.

On page 396 of the 1883 Rowell's American Newspaper Directory, Volume 15, edited by George Presbury Rowell (Printers' Ink Publishing Company, 1883), it indicates that F. E. Garland is the editor of the Vidette, and "Garland, Crockett & Perkins" are the publishers.

By August 1883, Crockett purchased Garland's interest and took over the paper (renaming it the Granbury Graphic later that month), apparently because Garland had been ill. (Perkins apparently sold his interest to either Crockett or Garland before that).

Ed Garland and his family apparently moved to Indiana for a while, long enough for Ed to file for a Civil War invalid pension in September 1884. According to his obituary, Garland's family moved to Lafayette, Indiana, about 1850 (but apparently after the census that year), and there were still Garlands on the Lafayette census in 1860 and 1870, and in the city directories of 1873 and 1885.

"United States General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1951-24232-16211-88?cc=1919699 : accessed 5 October 2015), Garch, Joseph - Garnier, John > image 3272 of 4540; citing NARA microfilm publication T288 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

Ed Garland circa February 1912,

Carthage Evening Press archive

newspaper illustration, courtesy of the

Powers Museum, Carthage, Missouri

Not too long after, Ed and his family moved to Carthage, Missouri, for his February 1912 obituary indicates he had been living there about 28 years (since about 1884). Daughter Lena/Jeannette was born there in March 1889. Ed is mentioned on page 80 of the Journal of the ... Annual Convention of the [Episcopal Church] Diocese of West Missouri, published after June 15, 1890, as treasurer of Grace Church in Carthage. A History of Jasper County, Missouri, and Its People, published in 1912, says he was elected collector of the City of Carthage in 1892 (page 351), and as a city councilman in 1909 (page 534).

I also found a beautiful fundraising signature quilt made by the Ladies of Grace Episcopal Church Guild in 1894-95, with the names of Ed and his wife (in block 6A), and daughters Jennette [sic] and Nellie (in the left border).

Thank goodness for the exchange programs newspapers had in the 1870s, so even a newspaper that did not survive in print to the present had some gems that were preserved, like this one: