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At HamiltonMemorial tomorrowfor pioneer publisherknow and nobodv caresContributed by Robert M. CochranHAMILTON, 111. - One of Illinois' earliestnewspapermen and pioneer historian, the late Thomas Gregg, and his wife, Sarah, will be honored at a special dedication service at 2 p.m., tomorrow, in Hamilton’s Oakwood Cemetery immediately following a Memorial Day service.A stone marker with a bronze plaque to honor the couple will be placed at their grave sites to open the Bicentennial celebration of the Hancock County Historical Society-Born Dec. 14, 1808, at Belmont, Ohio, Thomas Gregg was persuaded to come to Hancock County in 1836 by the controversialDr. Isaac Galland, also an Ohio native, who had come to the county some years earlier. Gregg published the first newspaper of Hancock County, the “Carthagenian.”The printing equipment was moved to Ft.Des Moines (now Montrose, la.) Where the new paper was called the “Western Adventurer.” It is said to have started with an initial list of seven subscribers. The press was taken to Ft. Madison by James G. Edwards who established the Ft. Madison “Patriot,” which was later transferred to Burlington and named the “Hawkeye.”Warsaw papersFollowing these newspaper ventures Gregg worked with Thomas C. Sharp ot Warsaw, who published the “Western World,” the “Warsaw Signal and for a short time, the “Warsaw Message.” This was during the Mormon era in the 1840's and until the Mormon exodus from Nauvoo, 111., the papers contained much anti-Mormon news and comment and a vitriolic exchange of letters with the prophet Joseph Smith.Gregg became sole owner of the office in 1853 and published the “Warsaw Express for a time, and also a small monthly sheet, the “Temperance Crusader.” Thomas Sharp was associated with Warsaw newspapers from 1840 until the close of the Civil War and it is probable that Gregg worked with him during the early part of that period.Nauvoo paperFrom the spring of 1857 until November of that year, Gregg published the Plymouth “Locomotive which soon after came to a halt for lack of fuel. In 1858, with a partner, he started the Nauvoo “ Democratic Press” which survived but a few months un der their management.For the following two or three years, Gregg published the “Hamilton Representative which in his own words “succumbed to the hard times of the Civil War.” By thistime Gregg was living in Hamilton where he was postmaster from 1869 to 1876 He was an officer in the Downing Club, the garden club of that period; and in 1869 helped organize the Hancock County Pioneers' Association, serving as its first secretary.This forerunner of the present Historical Society was later renamed the Old Settlers’ Association and Gregg remained active in that organization until his deathHe resumed his newspaper activities in 1873 when he published the Hamilton Dollar Monthly. The name of the 16-page sheet changed to “Rural Messenger” in 1876 and suspended in 1877Reason for failureGregg said that the chief reason for the absolute and partial failures of Hancock County newspapers during the first half-century was ambition — ambition of individuals to be at the head of a press and ambition of rising villages to support a newspaper. All were begun too soon, Gregg said, before there was sufficient population and business to sustain them.It appears certain that he had his own publishing ventures in mind when he wrote in 1880, The budding hopes blasted, the air-castles overturned, little fortunes consumed, debts incurred, mortgages forclosed and sheriff’s writs executed, nobody mayIn spite of Gregg's disappointments in the newspaper field, both he and his wife contributed much to the early growth and development of the community During their lifetimes both were leaders in the educational, civic, church and political life of the country.Gregg's “History of Hancock County, Illinois, published in 1880. is by comparison with other county histories of that period, an outstanding accomplishment. Considering the difficulty of transportation and communication of that era, he did a remarkably complete and accurate job of chronicling early history and progress of Hancock County. The violently anti-Mormon “Prophet of Palmyra and his poems reflect the boundless energy of a busy mind.Sarah, a teacherSarah Lawton was born Sept. 10, 1807, in Poughkeepsie. New York, the eldest daughter of the Rev. John Lawton, a Presbyterian preacher who came as a missionary to Hancock County in 1834 and helped found several churches. She taught in both public and private schools until her marriage to Thomas Gregg Nov. 10, 1836 One of their two daughters died at an early age, the other, Stella, never married and died Dec 18, 1897.
Newspaper Details
Keokuk Daily Gate City
Keokuk, Iowa, US
Thu, May 29, 1975
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Musser P.
IA, USA 13 Jun 2018
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