Top of page

Notice
Special holiday hours in effect, December 2025 through January 2026. More information.
Chronicling America
National Endowment for the Humanities

Newspaper The Weekly Lancaster Gazette (Lancaster, Ohio) 1852-1855

View All Front Pages

About The Weekly Lancaster Gazette (Lancaster, Ohio) 1852-1855

The Lancaster Gazette was established by George Sanderson and Benjamin Oswald on April 4, 1826, in Lancaster, the seat of Fairfield County, Ohio. It was the organ of the Whig Party and competed directly with the Democratic Ohio Eagle, which was the county’s first paper, having published its first issue in 1807. Fairfield County was predominantly Democratic, and despite its minority political affiliation, and the number of changes in ownership, editorship, and name that the Gazette would experience over the next century, the weekly publication gradually increased in both size and popularity. Eventually, it achieved circulation numbers that surpassed all but a few of Ohio’s county papers.

In 1852, under the leadership of George Weaver, the paper became known as the Weekly Lancaster Gazette. The Gazette supported the Know-Nothing or American Party for a short time starting in 1855, changing its name to the American Lancaster Gazette. The new masthead incorporated a portrait of President George Washington and included one of his quotes as a motto: “Place None but Americans on Guard.” After the 1856 Republican National Convention, the paper began to support the Republican Party. In 1859, Robert M. Clarke and John M. Sutphen took over the paper and a new motto appeared across the masthead: “When the Press Compromises Truth, it Ceases to be the Guardian of Liberty.” Their salutatory address stated that “With whatever force we may muster, we shall engage the Democratic party—strike at its corruptions—lay bear (sic) its errors and expose its utter destitution of principle.” The Gazette was opposed the extension of slavery but did not advocate for racial equality.

In 1860, Dr. Hervey Scott purchased the Gazette and another paper by the name of the American Democrat, merging them to form the Gazette and Democrat. Its motto was “The Union of the States—One Country—One Destiny.” He soon sold the paper back to Clarke and Sutphen, who were joined by William H. Kooken. They changed the name of the publication to the Weekly Lancaster Gazette. By 1863, Clarke’s interest had been purchased by A.P. Miller and the paper dropped “weekly” from its title to become the Lancaster Gazette once again. During the Civil War, the Gazette was the “uncompromising advocate of the Union” and supported all efforts by the national government to suppress the rebellion.  Many of its pages were devoted to state and national political news, but the Gazette also printed poetry and items of local interest, including marriage and death announcements, court bulletins, agricultural information, business news, and advertisements. In 1936, the Lancaster Gazette  merged with the Lancaster Daily Eagle to form the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette which still serves Lancaster and Fairfield County today. 

Provided By: Ohio History Connection, Columbus, OH

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Weekly Lancaster Gazette (Lancaster, Ohio) 1852-1855

Dates of Publication

  • 1852-1855

Created / Published

  • Lancaster, Ohio : George Weaver, 1852-1855.

Headings

  • -  Lancaster (Ohio)--Newspapers
  • -  Ohio--Lancaster
  • -  United States--Ohio--Fairfield--Lancaster

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  New ser., v. 7, no. 1 (May 6, 1852)-new ser., v. 2, no. 40 (Feb. 8, 1855).
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  American Lancaster gazette (DLC)sn 85026105

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn88078726

OCLC Number

  • 18281262

ISSN Number

  • 2374-7234

Preceding Titles

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.

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:

The Weekly Lancaster Gazette Lancaster, Ohio -1855. (Lancaster, OH), Jan. 1 1852. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn88078726/.

APA citation style:

(1852, January 1) The Weekly Lancaster Gazette Lancaster, Ohio -1855. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn88078726/.

MLA citation style:

The Weekly Lancaster Gazette Lancaster, Ohio -1855. (Lancaster, OH) 1 Jan. 1852. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn88078726/.