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Chronicling America
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Newspaper The Morris County Chronicle (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915 Morris chronicle

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About The Morris County Chronicle (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915

The Morris County Chronicle was first printed on November 2, 1877, under the charge of T. J. O’Donnell. He was succeeded after a few months by D. H. Prime & Co. Joshua Brown took charge of the paper January 21, 1880 and he ran the paper as a politically independent one for two years. He then aligned it with the Republican party, though he would also endorse Democratic friends for office.

Joshua Brown was born in Falsington, PA in 1844 to Quaker parents. After finishing his education, he went into business in New York City. When an opportunity to purchase the Morris County Chronicle presented itself, Brown quickly acted upon it. In addition to editing the weekly newspaper, Brown was also a Fireman for the Washington Engine Company of Morristown and worked to support the rights of volunteer firemen. He was one of the organizers of the State Exempt Fireman’s Association and served on its executive board until 1891. This passion and advocacy for volunteer firefighters is obvious in the Morris County Chronicle, which often featured news of Morris County fire companies.

J. Frank Lindsley took over the paper in 1893 after the death of Joshua Brown, maintaining the paper’s Republican ties and two dollar a year subscription cost, though under Lindsley the paper grew from four pages to ten and greatly expanded its coverage of local news.

With keen competition from daily newspapers and the overall increase in the number of newspapers published, making a living from a weekly paper was a precarious endeavor, and many newspapers continued to be allied with political parties. One of the benefits of this relationship was the possibility of a paid political appointment, and in 1899, J. Frank Lindsley was appointed as Assistant Secretary of the State Senate with a salary of twelve hundred dollars. This type of relationship was frequently discouraged by the New Jersey Editorial Association, which at the 1896 annual meeting states that “The editor of a newspaper should be the most independent person in the land; his position warrants it and his duty requires it, and he would be if he united industry, intelligence and self-respect in his calling. Instead of this the country editor, at least only to often, follows when he ought to lead, afraid to strike an evil lest he hurt party and, incidentally, himself ….”

J. Frank Lindsley remained with the Morris County Chronicle until 1903, when he gave up the newspaper business to sell insurance for Mutual Life Insurance Company. He was succeeded by James K. Landy.

Provided By: Rutgers University Libraries

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Morris County Chronicle (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915

Other Title

  • Morris chronicle

Dates of Publication

  • 1877-1915

Created / Published

  • Morristown, N.J. : D.H. Prime & Co.

Headings

  • -  Morristown (N.J.)--Newspapers
  • -  New Jersey--Morristown
  • -  United States--New Jersey--Morris--Morristown

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Began Nov. 2, 1877; ceased in 1915. Cf. Wright, W.C. and Stellhorn, P.A. Direct. of N.J. newspapers.
  • -  The word "County" appears within the masthead device, <1885>.
  • -  Publishers: Thomas J. O'Donnell, <1877>; D.H. Prime & Co., <1878-1879>; Joshua Brown, <1880-1885>.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Issued also in a woman's ed. with the same title.
  • -  Description based on: Vol. 1, no. 45 (Sept. 7, 1878).
  • -  Daily times and Morris County chronicle

Medium

  • volumes : illustrations (chiefly advertisements) ; 64 cm

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn85035816

OCLC Number

  • 13786730

ISSN Number

  • 2831-3135

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.

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Cite This Item

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

Chicago citation style:

The Morris County Chronicle Morristown, N.J. -1915. (Morristown, NJ), Jan. 1 1877. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn85035816/.

APA citation style:

(1877, January 1) The Morris County Chronicle Morristown, N.J. -1915. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn85035816/.

MLA citation style:

The Morris County Chronicle Morristown, N.J. -1915. (Morristown, NJ) 1 Jan. 1877. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn85035816/.