In this day and age, newspapers rarely print fiction. Of course, there is the occasional magical story written by a third grade class that appears every once a week in the Arts and Entertainment section of the paper, but for the most part, fictional stories of real substance are not published in newspapers anymore. This was not the case in the 1800's. Appearing in The Valley Star each week was...
On the crisp autumn morning of October 28, 1819, in western New York a boat called the Chief Engineer left Rome, New York to take the first journey on the Great Canal to Utica. A group of about thirty men were passengers on the boat, many of whom were distinguished guests, including Governor Dewitt Clinton, the canal’s chief advocate. Spectators lined the banks of the canal, as if lining...
On November 17, 1819, the Norfolk and Portsmouth Herald rejoiced in reporting the news that the new and improved Dismal Swamp Canal was nearing completion and was soon to be ready for traffic. The Canal was undergoing a process of deepening and widening so that it could accommodate the traffic of larger vessels. To the Herald, the traffic on the Dismal Swamp Canal was the lifeblood of the cities...
A local farmer published a letter in the Camden Gazette in the hopes of bringing the region's epidemic of cotton rot to the public forum for discussion. The farmer wrote that there were two theories about the source of the epidemic that was rotting cotton crops across both South Carolina and Georgia: that the disease arose from degradation of the cotton plants due to over cultivation, or that...
In August of 1819, Nanny, an enslaved pregnant woman from South Carolina, cried out as she approached her 60th hour of labor. She was unable to give birth to twins who had died in utero. Fearing she would die, her owners called for a physician. Over the next two days, Nanny endured seven surgeries. Her friends were deeply concerned but not surprised. This was her eighth pregnancy, and she was thought...
Jean Lafitte's mean have attacked again Pirates in Louisiana Again? Hide the valuables
These were a few thoughts that went through the minds of the citizens that read the newspaper of St. Francisville on January 8, 1820. An articles reported the robbery of a station in Attackapas by three men associated with the legendary pirate, Jean Lafitte. To the readers' relief, the article related...
The beginning of the nineteenth century brought significant misfortune to Savannah, Georgia. While the city struggled to achieve public improvements and increase urban development, a disproportionate number of natural disasters struck, such as the hurricane of 1804. Incidents of yellow fever and cholera outbreak resulted in large-scale mortality and interference with business. A vast fire, “on...
On June 21, 1819, newspapers on the East coast began to report on the men of Rapides Parish, in the town of Alexandria, who had begun to mobilize for war against the Spanish controlling the province of Texas on Louisiana's western border. The only trouble was that the United States government had not declared war against Spain. In fact, the governments of the United States and Spain were currently...
In a letter to her father, Louisiana Cocke wrote that she missed him and was looking forward to his return. Louisiana wrote, I begin to be quite impatient for your return, as I am anxious to return to my studies... This demonstrates the close relationship of General Cocke and his daughter. He also apparently, served as her tutor while he was home. Families in the antebellum South were close- knit...
Dr. Henry Jackson graduated from the Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1802. However, after he tried his hand at medicine and was unhappy as a physician, he became professor of sciences and mathematics at Franklin College in Athens within Clarke County. He set up a science laboratory at the blossoming academy. In the late 1810's and early 1820's, he continued his strong relationships that...