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Newspaper The Mingo Republican (Williamson, W. Va.) 1904-1951

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About The Mingo Republican (Williamson, W. Va.) 1904-1951

Published in Williamson, the county seat of Mingo County, West Virginia from 1904 until 1951, the Mingo Republican declared itself the “Official Organ of the Republican Party in Mingo County” and “the Banner newspaper in the great Thacker coal field.” A weekly, and at least briefly twice weekly in early 1912, the Republican was usually eight pages but occasionally went at least as high as 10. Following the career of Republican West Virginia House delegate, state senator, and eventual congressman Wells Goodykoontz with particular interest and regularity, the Republican likewise never missed a chance to take a shot at Democratic politics at the local, state, and national level. Beyond this sort of expected political coverage though, the Republican included in its sections syndicated literature serials as well as news about professional baseball and Christian religious “Sunday School” lessons, with advertisements for regional small businesses and burgeoning mass-produced consumer goods typical for a paper of its time and place.

The Republican’s longtime editor, Orland Howson (O.H.) Booten, Sr. (sometimes spelled “Booton”), born in Gallipolis, Ohio around 1877, was a Spanish-American War veteran. According to his May 5, 1961 obituary in the state capital’s Charleston Daily Mail, Booten worked at several other papers in Ohio and West Virginia before coming to Williamson. In early January 1916, Booten’s name was temporarily replaced on the Republican’s masthead by “W.H. Needham, General Manager,” which coincided with Booten becoming mayor of Williamson. Yet plagued by scandal, Booten was out as mayor by October of that same year according to the Calhoun Chronicle. Nevertheless, in 1920 Fairmont’s West Virginian noted he was editor of the Republican once again. Interestingly, Booten’s aforementioned obituary placed him by 1935 at the Williamson Daily News, successor to the Republican’s rival papers, the Williamson Enterprise and the Progressive West Virginian.

During 1912, the first year of the Paint Creek-Cabin Creek strike, the Republican‘s coverage of the labor dispute was relatively sparse, perhaps owing to Republican then-governor William Glasscock’s unpopular handling of the situation, which included declaring martial law in the strike zone. This changed when the Republican’s preferred candidate for governor, Henry D. Hatfield was inaugurated in early 1913. Nephew to the patriarch of the infamous feud, Devil Anse, Hatfield presided over the settlement between said striking miners and the coal company. In April 1913, the Republican praised Hatfield’s “ultimatum” which it claimed he issued “…wearied and exasperated by the quib[b]ling…” among the miners’ negotiators. That a significant portion of the United Mine Workers union’s rank-and-file members were dissatisfied with the outcome was of apparently no consequence to the Republican’s judgment. While available issues of the paper do not allow for an analysis of its coverage of the 1921 Battle of Blair Mountain, a general anti-labor movement editorial stance certainly continued throughout the New Deal era, with extant copies of the Republican from the 1930s attacking President Franklin Roosevelt and his policies.

Provided By: West Virginia University

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Mingo Republican (Williamson, W. Va.) 1904-1951

Dates of Publication

  • 1904-1951

Created / Published

  • Williamson, W. Va. : Mingo Republican Newspaper Co.

Headings

  • -  United States--West Virginia--Mingo--Williamson

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Began in Apr., 1904. Cf. Publisher's statement.
  • -  Ceased in 1951?
  • -  "Official Organ of the Republican Party in Mingo County."
  • -  "Banner newspaper in the great Thacker coal field."
  • -  Editor: O.H. Booten.
  • -  Description based on: Vol. 7, no. 41 (Jan. 20, 1911).

Medium

  • volumes

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn86092084

OCLC Number

  • 13048038

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 Mingo Republican Williamson, W. Va. -1951. (Williamson, WV), Jan. 1 1904. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn86092084/.

APA citation style:

(1904, January 1) The Mingo Republican Williamson, W. Va. -1951. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn86092084/.

MLA citation style:

The Mingo Republican Williamson, W. Va. -1951. (Williamson, WV) 1 Jan. 1904. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn86092084/.