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Chronicling America
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Newspaper The Alleghanian (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1859-1865

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About The Alleghanian (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1859-1865

Cambria County lies in the Alleghenies, a rugged section of the Appalachian mountain range. The county was formed on March 26, 1804; the name is a variant of an ancient name of Wales (Cumbria), reflecting the region’s longtime Welsh presence.   Ebensburg, in Cambria’s geographical center, became the county seat. Welsh roots here dated to 1796 when colonists arrived from Philadelphia led by Congregational Minister Rees Lloyd, who named the settlement after his late son, Eben. Situated in a rich bituminous coal region, Ebensburg thrived on mining and small industries, and prospered in the late 1800s as a summer mountain resort for wealthy visitors including Andrew Carnegie and the Vanderbilts.

The Alleghenian was started on August 25, 1859, by George W.N. Bolsinger and James Todd Hutchinson, who saw a need for a Republican newspaper at the county seat. The four-page publication appeared on Thursdays. In common with its contemporaries, the Alleghenian published an unexceptional assortment of literary efforts, local advertising, and news items from other papers, but its dynamic editorials still make good reading.  These Civil War-era essays illustrate how national political issues such as slavery and states’ rights, and even federal laws such as the draft, were received and interpreted in grassroots rural Pennsylvania.

Rallying the Republican vote in the October 25, 1860, edition, Hutchinson decried Cambria’s Democrats as being “willing that the South shall take her own time wherein to become convinced of its immense superiority to the wretched system [of slavery], inherited from pagan barbarism, to which she so insanely clings.” A few months later (January 10, 1861), Hutchinson editorialized that, “South Carolina and her sister states seem determined to plunge the country in civil war,” and noted “the Pittsburg (sic) Gazette’s advice to every Northern man to arm himself at once. ‘If you have a gun, get it ready for use; if you do not own one, get one as soon as possible.’ “

Abraham Andrews Barker, co-publisher, asked on January 1, 1865, “Do the citizens of Ebensburg intend making an effort to fulfill their quota under the impending draft? The question of whether we shall or shall not make the attempt must be decided and it might as well be decided now as later.”

The transition was seamless between the Alleghenian and the Ebensburg Alleghenian in June 1865; indeed, the former name continued to appear inside the paper despite the new name on page one. Publisher Hutchinson and editor Barker remained, though Barker departed in October 1866, pleading private business to attend to. Barker also had public business to handle, as the district’s representative in Congress from March 1865 to March 1867.  He was not nominated for re-election in 1866, and put the newspaper up for sale. It was not immediately sold and publication was suspended until January 24, 1867, when it resumed with brothers James Todd Hutchinson as editor and William E. Hutchinson as publisher. William died in December and James Hutchinson ran the paper on his own until joined by Edmund James in August 1868.  The latter stayed for a year, then Hutchinson was alone until the Ebensburg Alleghenian ceased in August 1871. 

Provided By: Penn State University Libraries; University Park, PA

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Alleghanian (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1859-1865

Dates of Publication

  • 1859-1865

Created / Published

  • Ebensburg, Pa. : Bolsinger & Hutchinson, -1865.

Headings

  • -  Ebensburg (Pa.)--Newspapers
  • -  Pennsylvania--Ebensburg
  • -  United States--Pennsylvania--Cambria--Ebensburg

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  -v. 6, no. 35 (June 8, 1865).
  • -  Began in 1859?
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format as part of the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Description based on: Vol. 1, no. 2 (Sept. 1, 1859).
  • -  Ebensburg Alleghanian 2327-8374 (DLC)sn 85054846 (OCoLC)12642678

Medium

  • volumes ; 56 cm

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn85054845

OCLC Number

  • 12642687

ISSN Number

  • 2327-8358

Succeeding Titles

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 Alleghanian Ebensburg, Pa. -1865. (Ebensburg, PA), Jan. 1 1859. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn85054845/.

APA citation style:

(1859, January 1) The Alleghanian Ebensburg, Pa. -1865. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn85054845/.

MLA citation style:

The Alleghanian Ebensburg, Pa. -1865. (Ebensburg, PA) 1 Jan. 1859. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn85054845/.