The Midland Journal

The Midland Journal was a weekly newspaper published in Rising Sun, Cecil County, Maryland from August 7, 1885 to June 27, 1947.[1][2] It was founded when veteran newspaperman Edwin E. Ewing purchased the Rising Sun Journal[3] from the firm of William H. Pennington & Brother and renamed it to The Midland Journal.[4] Ewing had plenty of experience publishing newspapers, having previously established Topeka, Kansas' Daily Capital in 1877 as well as Macon County, North Carolina's Blue Ridge Enterprise in 1882.[5] He had also owned and edited nearby Elkton, Maryland's Cecil Whig from 1861 to 1876, during which time he was a staunch supporter of the Union cause.[6] He was also a novelist and poet, with his story "The Hag of the Wallowish" originally appearing as a serial in The Philadelphia Dollar Newspaper beginning in 1849.[7][8] Ewing published the paper with the assistance of his three sons, Cecil, Evans, and Halus, until his death in 1901; after this, his sons took over ownership of the Journal.[9] They continued to publish the paper until 1947, when they sold it to the owners of the Cecil Whig and it ceased publication as a separate title.[10][11]

The Midland Journal
The cover page of the August 7, 1885 issue of The Midland Journal
TypeWeekly newspaper
Founder(s)Edwin E. Ewing
PublisherEdwin E. Ewing
FoundedAugust 7, 1885
Ceased publicationJune 27, 1947
HeadquartersRising Sun, Maryland
OCLC number20395768

Like many small town publications, The Midland Journal functioned primarily as a source of local news, light reading, and brief notices of national and international events.[12] During its early decades, discussion about temperance dominated the Journal's editorial pages, as well as documentation of the activities and meetings of the Women's Christian Temperance Union.[13] Ewing continued the trend he started at the Whig of a fairly progressive editorial stance; in December 1885 the Journal announced a lecture at the local Episcopal church by celebrated abolitionist Frederick Douglass and noted that "his fame as an orator is world wide."[14]

The offices of The Midland Journal were located in a building built in 1935 that still stands at 11 East Main Street.[15]

References
  1. "About The midland journal". Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  2. Preston, Dickson J. (1986). Newspapers of Maryland's Eastern Shore. Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0870333364.
  3. "About Rising Sun journal". Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  4. "Ask the Historical Society: Rising Sun newspaper". Cecil Whig. Historical Society of Cecil County. 14 September 2013. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  5. Perine, George Corbin (1898). The Poets and Verse-writers of Maryland: With Selections from Their Works. Editor Publishing Company. pp. 181–2.
  6. Fields, Barbara Jeanne (1987). Slavery and Freedom on the Middle Ground: Maryland During the Nineteenth Century. Yale University Press. p. 96. ISBN 0300040326.
  7. Johannsen, Albert (1950). The House of Beadle and Adams and Its Dime and Nickel Novels: The Story of a Vanished Literature. Vol. 1. University of Oklahoma Press.
  8. Johnston, George, ed. (1887). The Poets and Poetry of Cecil County, Maryland. Elkton, MD: George Johnston.
  9. "Ewing, Edwin Evans". House of Beadle & Adams Online. Northern Illinois University Libraries. 9 August 2018. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  10. Official Commemorative Volume: Rising Sun 150th Anniversary, 1860-2010. Rising Sun, MD: Back Porch Publications. 2010.
  11. Blumgart, Pamela James; Walston, Mark; Touart, Paul Baker (1996). At the Head of the Bay: A Cultural and Architectural History of Cecil County, Maryland. Cecil Historical Trust. ISBN 1878399659.
  12. Johnston, George (1881). History of Cecil County, Maryland: And the Early Settlements Around the Head of Chesapeake Bay and on the Delaware River, with Sketches of Some of the Old Families of Cecil County. Elkton, MD: George Johnston.
  13. "W. C. T. U. Meets In County Convention". The Midland Journal. Library of Congress. 25 September 1936. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  14. "Fred Douglass". The Midland Journal. Library of Congress. 18 December 1885. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  15. "11 E Main St Rising Sun, MD 21911". Zillow. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
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