About

In January 1874, John A. Henry left his position as foreman of the Rome Courier to establish the Summerville Gazette in Summerville, Georgia. Shortly after its founding, the Gazette took over as Chattooga County’s legal organ, a responsibility the Courier held during 1873. Henry published his four-page paper on a weekly basis at a subscription cost of two dollars per year. Because of Henry’s former association with the Rome Courier, the two papers had a close connection and frequently shared news items. In May 1875, Henry’s relationship with the local community became tense after he reported the assault of Mr. Joseph Smith, a black sawyer on Mr. Elihu Henly’s plantation. Henry’s attribution of this assault to the Ku Klux Klan, combined with other articles about general violence in Summerville, prompted other Georgia newspapers to circulate news about ku-kluxism and lawlessness on the rise in Chattooga County. In the August 28, 1875 issue of the Rome Tri-Weekly Courier, citizens of Summerville published a signed letter condemning what they believed to be misleading reporting by the Summerville Gazette editor. Henry responded with his own letter in the September 2, 1875 issue of the Rome Tri-Weekly Courier in which he defended himself and announced upcoming changes to the Gazette. On September 7, 1875, Reverend J. A. Clement and his son T. E. Clement took over management of the Gazette. Although the paper’s circulation dropped from 520 to 367 during the drama, the Reverend Clement was able to regain public favor. In 1879, Clement sold out to J. C. Loomis who managed the paper as sole editor and proprietor for the next ten years. In January 1890, the Summerville Gazette, already struggling to compete with the more popular Chattooga News, ceased publication following J. C. Loomis’ death.