Top of page

Chronicling America
National Endowment for the Humanities

Newspaper Hannibal Journal (Hannibal, Mo.) 1852-1853

View All Front Pages

About Hannibal Journal (Hannibal, Mo.) 1852-1853

In 1850, Orion Clemens bought the nine-year-old Hannibal Journal in Hannibal, Missouri, and quickly changed its name to the Western Union. Clemens would be the editor and publisher for only three years, but during his tenure, he would change the title three more times before finally returning to the paper to its original name. Under Orion Clemens’ leadership, the paper not only changed titles in rapid fashion but expanded to include weekly and daily versions. Both publications were four pages in length with the weekly being published every Thursday.

In 1851, Orion hired his 17-year-old brother, Samuel, to serve as typesetter and editorial assistant for the Western Union. Samuel, later to be known by his literary pseudonym of Mark Twain, published his first known sketch, “A Gallant Fireman,” in his brother’s paper. He wrote several short articles for the paper, including a piece on the dangers of matrimony. As editor and assistant editor, the Clemens brothers did not often rail against political parties as some of their counterparts did, but they were advocates for community development. They called for the creation of a public library, a debating society, and a college in Hannibal. They were also strong advocates for railroad improvements and the construction of lines connecting Hannibal to other parts of the Midwest.

Like most newspapers, the paper struggled to get prompt payment from its readers, and in 1852, Orion Clemens set up strict payment terms for subscribers and ran them below the masthead of the weekly Hannibal Journal: “One Dollar, if paid In Advance; if not paid within Six Months, One Dollar and Fifty Cents; if not paid within Twelve Months, TWO DOLLARS.” In March of 1853, Clemens began a daily version of the Hannibal Journal, but it would last barely six months.

Despite the stricter terms, all versions of the Hannibal Journal ceased publication in 1853, and the final issue of the weekly (September 15, 1853) remarked that Mr. Clemens would excuse all subscribers who have been holding back payment and “wish to all the young men among them the highest degree of happiness.”

Meanwhile, Sam Clemens left Hannibal in 1853 to work at a series of typesetting jobs throughout the country, but he would return to the Midwest, this time to Iowa, to work with Orion at his newly purchased printing office in Keokuk.

In 1856, Orion published the first General Directory of the Citizens of Keokuk, and in 1929, John Ely Briggs, editor of The Palimpsest, declared: “In a small ‘book and job printing’ shop on the third floor of a building at 52 Main Street, the first General Directory of the Citizens of Keokuk was compiled and published by Orion Clemens in 1856. It was a credit to the shop and to the city. Printed clearly from clean type on fine rag paper, the directory was a good example of commercial printing at that time. And after nearly three quarters of a century the paper is still white and soft and the ink is as black as ever. Orion Clemens had a right to be proud of the contents, typography, make up, and press work.”

Provided By: State Historical Society of Missouri; Columbia, MO

About this Newspaper

Title

  • Hannibal Journal (Hannibal, Mo.) 1852-1853

Names

  • Clemens, O. (Orion), 1825-1897.

Dates of Publication

  • 1852-1853

Created / Published

  • Hannibal, Mo. : O. Clemens

Headings

  • -  Hannibal (Mo.)--Newspapers
  • -  Marion County (Mo.)--Newspapers
  • -  Missouri--Hannibal
  • -  Missouri--Marion County
  • -  United States--Missouri--Marion--Hannibal

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Began in 1852? Ceased in 1853?
  • -  New ser., vol. 10, no. 2 = Sept. 9, 1852-
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format as part of the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Description based on: Vol. 2, no. 26 (Feb. 26, 1852).

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn87091069

OCLC Number

  • 16907565

ISSN Number

  • 2326-8476

Preceding 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.

The NEH awardee responsible for producing each digital object is presented in the Chronicling America page display, below the page image – e.g. Image produced by the Library of Congress. For more information on current NDNP awardees, see https://www.loc.gov/ndnp/listawardees.html.

For more information on Library of Congress policies and disclaimers regarding rights and reproductions, see https://www.loc.gov/homepage/legal.html

Cite This Item

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

Chicago citation style:

Hannibal Journal Hannibal, Mo. -1853. (Hannibal, MO), Jan. 1 1852. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn87091069/.

APA citation style:

(1852, January 1) Hannibal Journal Hannibal, Mo. -1853. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn87091069/.

MLA citation style:

Hannibal Journal Hannibal, Mo. -1853. (Hannibal, MO) 1 Jan. 1852. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn87091069/.