The Fairfield Recorder (Fairfield, Tex.), Vol. 71, No. 1, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 26, 1946 Page: 3 of 8
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Freestone County Area Newspaper Collection and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Fairfield Library.
- Highlighting
- Highlighting On/Off
- Color:
- Adjust Image
- Rotate Left
- Rotate Right
- Brightness, Contrast, etc. (Experimental)
- Cropping Tool
- Download Sizes
- Preview all sizes/dimensions or...
- Download Thumbnail
- Download Small
- Download Medium
- Download Large
- High Resolution Files
- IIIF Image JSON
- IIIF Image URL
- Accessibility
- View Extracted Text
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
1) | Middle-Western States. Tn nT*7
k
■artssrs:^!
seventy lone years!
the years the paper has
■ all the rules
P ethics. It has
i beat and finest news-
Throughout news-
it is known as one of the
cleanest weekly newspapers
I anywhere, fy many of its
it has served throughout
i-Western
of county offices in
Freestone County were swept out of
office by the triumphant Populists!
It must not bo overlooked that the
present editor and publisher of'"The
Keeordor, L. C. Kirgan, once threw
hi. hat into the political area, Z
was elected and served ably as Dis-
trict Clerk of Freestone County.
I®^®* T. W. Sims, the father of
P. P. (Frank) Sims, was County
^Iwk. J. P. Robinson, who later and
___________mmny years ran a drug store in
as the “bible” from whence they I "airfield and whose descendants and
currently information and now are scattered generous-
This writer has been a ly OTer ^e county, was Sheriff. E. A.
__reader of The Recorder McCr»cken was Treasurer; L. G.
he learned te read and the mail Sandif«r, the father of Mrs. J. B.
continuously brought it to him Gordon and the grandfather of Lucien
__ be roamed. Gordon, of Teague, was Assessor, and
A review of the first edition of the 0,at w®n known pioneer, T. G. Black-
gives us some knowledge and | mon> w“ Surveyor.
W, T. Watson, whose descendants
and relatives are numerous—the
grandfather of Lake, Tas, Howard,
Ray Watson, of Mrs. Clifton Childs
and Mrs. Bill Boyd, and the great-
grandfather of Frank Peyton, Jr., and
his sister, Mrs. Bill Williamson, was
Justice of the Peace in Precinct No.
1. This office in Justice Precenet 2
w«s filled by W. A. Cobb; Precinct 3,
of the Freestone County
years ago.
sxample much spaca is given
two editorials are devoted to the
Waco, Fairfield and Pales-
Railway. The prospects for
this line are described as
'and “brightening every day.”
An engineering survey party was de-
scribed. It was being delayed on
imber 16, between the Trinity N. P. Keeling; Precinct 4, J. M. Day;
and Butler because of the “den-
of the undergrowth.” The sur-
veyors, however, were expected to
reach Fairfield by September 28 in
time to attend a big barbecue arrang-
to further the railroad project.
Q. Mills of Corsicana had been
to speak and John H. Reagan
Palestine had been invited to come
orate. The young men of Fair-
rid had “written to Palestine” with
reference to having a brass band at
barbecue, and arrangements were
made to have a "grand rail-
ball at the court house.”
Several years prior to the advent
The Recorder one J. W. Fishburn
had published for a brief period in
Fairfield a one-sheet, tabloid sized
paper, The Ledger. Its owner had
moved the paper to Mexia, presumab-
ly because the H. & T. C. Railroad
had been built there. The name Led-
ger had been retained. In its first
Precinct 5, D. L. Wingfield,__
recinct 6, J. B. Buchanan.
In 1876, Fairfield was an incorpor-
ated municipality. The city dads
were J. R. Seely, Mayor; W. C. Wal-
thall, Marshal; end F. Tate, Fred
Karner, T. W. Sims, J. C. Anderson
(the father of County Attorney
Democratic nominee J. G. Anderson
and of Misses Nannie, Lizzie and
Mattie Anderson) and L. G. Sandifer
constituted the Board of Aldermen.
Unlike many subsequent issues, the
first edition did not bulge with ad-
vertising. The H. & T. C. Railway
Co., the Louisville Courier-Journ-
al and the Galveston News carried
ads. So did Clark and Frost, drug-
gists, of Wortham.
Mexia seems to have been a fertile
field for first edition ads. Note-
worthy were those by S. J. Foster A
son, dry goods and groceries; J. M.
Day, watch maker; Joseph Lapari,
isue The Recorder editor could not barber; B. D. Machon, blacksmith; C.
mist the following sarcastic shot at
his Mexia competitor:
“As our railroad prospects brigh-
ten, the Mexia Ledger gets more un-
happy. He alluded, last week, iron-
ically, to the very 'cavalier’ manner
■Kwhich Mexia had been treated in
I matter, doubtless intending to
uate that the word ‘Mexia’ was
sedly left out of the name of
le road. If his cooperation has been
it by this seeming act of dis-
y, and his valuable assistance
can be secured by making due repara-
we would suggest to the man-
that, before it is too late, they
change the name of the road to the
Waco, Horn Hill, Honest Ridge,
Mexia, Cotton Gin, Fairfield, Butler
and Palestine Railroad. None, then,
would be alighted.”
1 The Recorder, in that now historic- J
al first edition, waved the flag for
Samuel J. Tilden of New York, the
nominee of the Democraitc Party
j \ 1876 for President. It won and lost.
It will be remembered that even
though Tilden received a majority
. both the popular and the electorial
vote, Rutherford B. Hays, the Re-
ft, publican candidate, was declared the
winner. The Southern States Were
P still undergoing “Reconstruction.
• The Republican Party challenged the
electoral votes, which Tilden had
won, in South Carolina, Florida and
g Louisiana. An electorial commission
was aamed, composed of five Sena-
tors, five Congressmen and five mem
hers of the United States Supreme
Court. By a strict political party
vote, the members of the commission,
by vote of eight to seven, decided that
Hays had received the elctorial vote
of these thre Southm States. Thus,
through the rankest political chican-
, «ry and manipulation, Tilden was
, counted out and Hays became presi-
-j <*ent of the United States.
The first issue carried a general
■ directory of the county and other
public officials. Many of those list-
ed are well-known Freestone County
Pioneers. Many are ancestors of men,
women and children who are present
day citizena. The inimitable convivial
| Judge 0. C. (Carter) Klrven, remem-
bered by many of us, was County
Judge. Dunbar Bragg, T. R. Mc-
8waine, Conrad Henry and John
Burleson were County Commitsion-
re*- H. C. Graves was County At-
torney. The well-remembered Judge
A- (Asa) G. Anderson was District
Clerk. In passing may we be pardon-
'd for mentioning that only a few
*••>1 later this writer’s father, the
l*te Judge W. R. Boyd, was elected
Strict Clerk, serving three terms
ood bring defeated aa the Democratic
“oniin^e for a fourth term by the
Bopuli#t Party candidate, J. C. T.
Hendrix, who later was a popular
;*Mrcbant and who died in recent
Teague. That wae the year
ulist Party reached the aenith
political power and defeated
L. Watson and Bros., dry goods ahd
groceries; J. W. C. Love, watchmaker
and optician; Archer and Barrows,
furniture; Wm. H. Bessling, grocer
ies and liquors and Wm. Kamsler and
Bro., dry goods.
The Fairfield advertisers consisted
of Bradley A Kirven, attorneys;
Graves & Roberts, Attorneys; Seely
A Gullette, Attorneys; W. J. Gibbs,
Attorney; C. L. Watson A Bro., gen-
eral merchandise; Steele & Stubbs,
dry goods and groceries; Wm. M.
(Captain) Peck, general merchan-
dise; F. P. (Pat) Herndon, saddles
and harness; M. O. Clark, drugs; L.
G. Sandifer, drugs, and Star Hotel
(in which this writer was born), J. I.
Anderson, the father of Mrs. J. Ross
Bell and the grandfather of Mrs.
Herman Hawker, proprietor.
One most unusual ad appeared in
Recorder No. 1, that of E. A H. T.
Aultman & Co., New York, who ad-
vertised themselves as manufacturers,
importers and dealers in engravings
chromos, frames, stereoscopes, views,
albums, graphoscopes, photographs
and kindred goods—celebrities,
tresses, etc., and photographic ma-
terials. They also advertised micro-
scientific lanterns, stereo-panopticans,
and artotopicans. They advised visi-
tors to New York Centennial Exposi-
tion it would be wise for them to de-
fer purchases until said visitors could
get to New York. It is difficult to
envision the existence of any great
market, actual or potential, in Free-
stone County in 1876, or in 1946, for
this company’s goods, wares and
merchandise as advertised, unless it
be “photographs and kindred goods
celebrities, actresses, etc.” At any
rate securing the advertisement of
this New York concern suggests that
the father and founder of The Re-
corder not only “slung a wicked
editorial pen” but that he must have
possessed all the qualifications of a
competitor of the modern advertising
agent.
Fairfield professional and business
men in 1876, even as now, seem to
have encountered difficulty with de-
linquent customer*. Dr. G. 0. Davis
seems to have had non-paying
patients, for Attorneys Seely A Gul-
lette sponsored a notice for all parties
indebted to the doctor to come around
“and settle the same without further
notice and save the expense of suit.”
However, the prize notice of all was
one over the signature of Frank
Tate. Its heading was “Mad Dogs!!!”
reads:
"Whereas, it is now demonstrated
that an impartial credit system is
decidedly hurtful to all parties con-
cerned in the same; and, whereas, the
end of said system has come before
me,
"Therefore, ye sons and daughters
Japhet and Ham, who obtained
my meat, bread, tobacco, etc., with
the promise to pay for the same sarly
the fall, are notified to come for-
_
put your fiiend in an attitude to
eommodate you again next year,
when money again shall have taken
ita annual flight to regions un-
known.”
8o much for the seventy year old
issue number one. It drew the de-
■igns upon the trsstlebosrd for all
future iasues of The Recorder, and
give# us a picture generally of what
Freeatone County was like in 1876.
I repent, It la an important contribu-
tion to Freestone County lore. It is
our regret that we could not take the
time to examine iasuea, sampled at
random, during each of the seventy
yews. In tbif way and by this
method one could trace and report
significant factors and events in the
development of The Recorder and
the county over the period.
It has been pointed out that the
first editor and owner of The Re-
corder, L. D. Lillard, was not him-
self skilled in the art of newspaper
production. Naturally, he was oblige
ed to rely upon employees who were.
In 1896, when The eRcorder was in
its nineteenth year, there <*me
to Fairfield a young man named Lee
Kirgan. Hia father then edited and
published a country weekly newspa-
per at Malakoff, Texas. This young
man was a newspaper craftsman. He
knew all the mechanics of country
newspaper production. He was em-
ployed by Mr. Lillard as The Record-
er’s mechanical foreman and chief
printer. In fact, he was the only
one around the shop who did know
newspaper and allied production
problems. Six years later he became
the sole owner of the paper, and
continuously for the past forty-five
years. The Fairfield Recorder and Lee
Kirgan have been synonymous terms.
This writer recalls quite well the
Lee Kirgan of fifty-one years ago.
He can recall seeing him the day he
came to Fairfield. The recollection is
all the more vivid and erpphatic be-
cause Lee had played bush league
baseball for a brief spell as a mem-
ber of the Tyler semi-pro team. He
was only a youngster himself but to
the youthful Fairfield baseball enthus-
iasts he was a baseball hero. He,
and others, will remember the loca-
tion of the old two-story Recorder
office located on the site where now
stands the office of the electrical
company. It will also be recalled
that the spot of which John David
Burleson’s new furniture store is now
the center was then vacant property
and that it was the favorite late af-
ternoon baseball practice grounds
for the Fairfield youth. The proxim-
ity of The Recorder office to the base-
ball practice ground made it conven-
ient for the famed editor of The1
Recorder to participate regularly in
the daily exercise and to demonstrate
his bush league prowess. We know
now that the work of The Recorder
suffered slightly, to be charitable—
but any dereliction of duty by the
chief printer was but an early dem-
onstration of his civic consciousness
and was entirely justifiable by all the
canons of civic virtue—and virtue, so
it is said, always hath its reward.
Anyway, in a few years, Kirgan own-
ed The Recorder, lock, stock and bar-
rel. It was sometime during this six
years prelude to his ownership of the
paper that this writer was em-
ployed and worked as the “print-
er’s devil,” and thus came to see Lee
Kirgan at close range, where a life-
time friendship was formed. We use
the words “employed” and “worked”
advisedly. The financial reward for
the writer’s valuable service was
fixed and steadily maintained at the
rate of five dollars per month. Some-
times we worked and sometimes we
loafed. Union hours were not ob-
served and frequently night labors
were engaged in, and were punctuat-
ed with exciting games of “set back,”
played with dominoes. We do not
now recall the fourth member of the
foursome but the three regulars were
Lee Kirgan, “Boy” (Uncle Billy)
Sims, who was the part-time assistant
to the printer, and the printer’s
devil—me!
As we have read the paper and
observed over a period of many years
the editorial and reportorical work of
the two editors and owners of The
Recorder, we have been impressed
with the steadfast adherence of these
two men to all the fundamental rules
of <;lean journalism and of the great
service the paper was with each
recurring issue rendering ita public
and its county. The policy has been
consistent from September, 1876, to
September, 1946—and with all the
great changes that have taken place
over the seventy years that can be
said to constitute a most remarkable
record. It may sound paradoxical to
say it but The Recorder’s editorial
and news policy tor seventy years
has been soundly conservative in all
respects yet it has reflected liberality
to the Nth degree. This writer can
see the editorial philosophy of The
Recorder expressed In every line and
ntgnsa of this quotation which he
observed recently in the Congression-
al Record:
We don’t by
Ive to the weak a lift
weakening the strong
“We’ve never yet helped small men a
By tearing big men down—
It doe* not help the poor to break
The rich in any town.
“We can’t keep out of trouble if
We spend all our Income—
We can’t secure world brotherhood
By stirring strife at home.
■i riU rrfnrama m 11 it«q
to ro^ou^ptec. about Lae Kirgan
“We
On honey that1
We can
If we’ve none
sound security
character
“We can’t give courage, yet destroy
Men’s independence—\or
G*n anything but hope/for peace
make sane men tun/ to war.
“We can't help men by helping them
To feed from public shelves_
The only way to help men is
To help them help themselves.”
lit is a far cry from 1876 to 1946.
The seventy eventful years of The
Recorder has seen great changes in
Freestone County, changes in
methods and objectives, changes In
the social system, the standard of
living of its people. Most of the
significant changes in the life of The
Recorder have taken place during
Lee Kirgan’s connection with and
ownership of the paper. It is to his
eternal credit that he has negotiated
successfully all the ups and downs,
the periods of prosperity and adver-
sity, the social, economic and political
changes that have taken place dur-
ing his fifty-one year association with
the same country weekly newspaper.
It was not this guest writer’s as-
signment to write a history either of
Freestone County or of The Recorder.
To do that considerable research
work—which this writer does not
have the time to undertake,—woubi
be required. The writer is, himselfi
a Freestone County product of sixty-
one years. His father was among
the county’s pioneers. We have been
at least part time participants in the
history of the county and of The Re-
corder. We have much pride in this
and in the fact that we “belong.”
To us The Recorder is Lee Kirgan.
He has made greater contribution to
the welfare of the county than any
historian of the future will record.
My friendship and esteem for and
confidence in him has long been pub-
licly known. With its twenty-page
edition of September 24, 1936, The
Recorder celebrated ita sixtieth birth-
day. That edition was replete with
historical material and with currently
descriptive material of much interest.
In that issue this writer inserted a
The
getting to say the Mine thing in •
different way without cost, go, we
•re going to use some of this fro*
space to insert, with appropriate
change* in the reference to years, the
full text of that September *4, 1936,
ad to which reference has just been
made. It follows in quotation marks;
“The only purpose of this adver-
tisement is to My briefly, but sin-
cerely, something complimentary
about a man who during the past
Ttfty-one years has many times prov-
en his friendship for me. That
ia Lee Kirgan, the owner and editor
of The Fairfield Recorder.
“My first salaried job was with
The Recorder. My pay wae five dol
lars per month. The Recorder staff
consisted of L. D. Lillard, ita then
owner and editor; L. C. Kirgan, the
mechanical foreman and ehief printer;
“Boy” Sims, odd-time printer and
general handy man; Bill Boyd, “print-
***• devil,” and colored Joe Johnson,
the once-s-week crank-turner of the
old Chicago stop cylinder hand press
on which The Recorder was then
printed.
“During a period of eight or ten
months, under Lee Kirgan’s friendly
and kindly tutelage I learned the art
of ‘sticking’ type; how to ‘make-up’
a newspaper form; how to hanS-feed
a printing press; how to operate a
foot-powered job press, and how to
perform many other duties and chores
connected with and incidental to coun-
have always been proud of that eon-
try weekly newspaper operation. I
of
relationship
fifty-one yean Lae Kirgan has
my friend and I haws been his.
times during that parted of
hav* rendered reciprocal
each other. I eongratulat
hie fifty-ow*
The Fairfield
year record ef fine, clean,
able journalism ef which I,
friend, am proud.
“The Recorder, which for mmsg
years he has owned and ope ramming,
since its origin, been a
factor in the upbuilding of
County—materially, ethically amR
morally and in every other whelsanmm
way. I join heartily and shmWtr
with the paper’s large-list of IgpM
readers and supporters in celefcmMgg
this its Seventieth Annhrenm^mdM
in congratulating it upon its eeaoRr
long years ef uninterrupted mbbRu-
able service to its constituency Ms
Fairfield, its home community aR
to FroMtono County, where Hsu amaro
mighty fine people whom both Ism
Kirgan sad I love and respect.”
Happy Birthday, Lae — Mmm
Birthday ot you and to the ausMW
year-old Recorder! Both you mdi
your most excellent newspaper Hum
reason to be proud of your reuagRMI
useful service to your c<
I hope they appreciate you and;
paper as I do.”
.1
About 86,000 persons die
cancer each year in the United 1
wm**
flown mn
BACK AGAIN THIS YEAR
WITH ALL THE WONDERS
OF THE POSTWAR WORLD!
STJLTE PMR®?.
DALLAS
To thoso who eagerly await
thoir now Chevrolet...
Here Is the Latest Mews
about Chevrolet
Deliveries
Everybody from factory to dealer is doing mvrything
that can bn done to speed deliveries to you
We have been informed by the Chevrolet Meter Division that
the past month has witnessed only a slight improvement in
the rate of production of now Chevrolet passenger cars. As
a result, shipments of new cars te dealers for delivery are
still far below the level we and the factory had hoped fa
attain by this time. In fact, through August, Chevrolet's
output of cars in 1946 was only 22.6% of the number turned
out during the corresponding period of 1941.
S
• Is
Keep Your
Wo know that Chevrolet is doing everything possible to
stop up its production totals—to ship more and more cars to
us and to its thousands of other dealers throughout America
.. and we knew, too, that wo are assured of getting our fuN
proportionate sham of the current output and of future
production gains.
Disappointing as the total figures have boon—and despite
the fact that Chevrolet was out ef production entirely during
the first three months of the year—it is nevertheless true
that Chevrolet led qfl other mouufacfwrers k pradbgNea ef
pa»»n9*r car. Junng Jon. 194^ mJ has Continued t# Wwta-
tain Its lead in total production from that day to this.
We shall continue te make deliveries ef now Chevrolets
te our customors just as fast as we receive them; we regret
delays as deeply as you da; we thaslr you hr vow f
potiowco aed ondontandmg and wo promise you a new!
motoring experience whan you toko delivery of your now
Chevrolet, giving RIO-CAR QUALITY AT LOW1ST COSH
Parker Motor
„ may we fugged
that you MfeJTiard your
transportation by bribing
your oar to ua for Mrviee nuv
end at regular intervals. Lit
us help you to keep It in good
running oonditien—to main-
tain Ha performance, signer
«w and resale velue-uMR
the day when your new Chev-
rolet oooms along.
■ ;$S
w 'Ofiui
-Moody
iw high
iij
tow sri
Fairfield
r J
dh
4 '
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Kirgan, Lee. The Fairfield Recorder (Fairfield, Tex.), Vol. 71, No. 1, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 26, 1946, newspaper, September 26, 1946; Fairfield, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1110304/m1/3/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Fairfield Library.