About

Reverend John William Burke was trained as a printer in Athens, Georgia and published the Cassville Standard from 1849 to 1855 before joining the Methodist Church. In 1858, he was transferred to Macon, Georgia to manage the Methodist Book Repository. While maintaining his activity in the church and acting as treasure for the Soldiers’ Tract Association, Burke established his own publishing house, the J. W. Burke & Company, in 1864. J. W. Burke & Company grew into a major Georgia publishing house during its operation. Burke’s printing company published the Southern Christian Advocate, but in August 1865, Burke decided to also produce a newspaper that would subsist solely on advertising rates. The paper was titled the Mercantile Mirror and Railroad Guide, and its principal audience was intended to be individuals traveling on the trains running through Macon. On January 5, 1866, the sheet became the Mirror of the Times, but this title only lasted a single week. On January 13, 1866, J. W. Burke & Company printed the newspaper as the Daily Evening Mirror with T. A. Burke as editor. The Evening Mirror, like its predecessors, was offered to Macon citizens free of charge for those individuals that provided their local addresses; anyone interested in having the publication mailed to them could pay a subscription cost of one dollar. The Mirror was short-lived, and ceased publication with its final issue on May 25, 1866.