Georgia Historic Newspapers

The first issue of the Elberton Gazette appeared in January, 1866, with C. W. Fenton as its editor. Politically, the weekly newspaper supported the Democratic Party, but the editors voiced opposition to the 1866 National Union Convention held in Philadelphia. By 1869, Samuel Newton Carpenter was the editor and publisher of the Elberton Gazette, and the paper had a circulation of about 550. John T. McCarty purchased the Elberton Gazette from Carpenter in the spring of 1872, and he shortened the paper’s title to Gazette. McCarty, former owner of the Star of the South, considered the Gazette the next iteration of his earlier paper and changed the paper’s establishment date from 1866 to 1859. From 1872 to 1878, McCarty was sole proprietor of the Gazette, but he was joined by a Mr. Harper in 1879. In 1880, Carpenter returned to the newspaper business and organized the Elberton Publishing Company. Carpenter founded his own newspaper titled the Elberton News, but the paper printed independently for a single year before Carpenter’s company bought out McCarty and Harper’s Gazette to form the New South. The publishing company kept McCarty on as editor, and McCarty managed the editorial section of the New South until October of 1883 when he moved to Washington D. C. Carpenter, still head of the publishing company, reverted the paper’s title to the Gazette in 1884. Carpenter became the Gazette’s editor after McCarty’s departure and remained in that role for seven years. In 1891, Carpenter suffered two strokes that he never fully recovered from. William M. Thorton assisted the ailing Carpenter until Carpenter fully retired in 1892. In May of 1893, F. A. Williams became the Gazette’s local editor with Edmund and Ivy as the paper’s publishers. After two years of editorial turnover, The Gazette struggled to compete with the more popular Elberton Star and ceased publication in late 1893 or early 1894.

Provided by: Digital Library of Georgia