| (Denton, Caroline County: Chas. E. Tarr)
The Denton Journal began publication December 11, 1847 and ceased May 6, 1965 [v. 119, no. 36]. It was published weekly. Title history based on April 2, 1870 [v. 22, no. 47]. The newspaper was absorbed by the County Record (Denton: 1952).
Albert G. Gullett started the Denton Journal in 1847 and owned the paper until August 12, 1862 when he sold the business to George H. Moore and Peter O. Cherbonnier. Gullett and Cherbonnier were arrested August 23, 1862, as was Charles E. Tarr, who became the owner of the Journal after 1866, and imprisoned in Fort McHenry. Publication of the paper was probably suspended for some time. After the Civil War, Gullett continued as the editor of the paper and appears among the Caroline County assessment records of 1866 as a printer. The April 2, 1870 issue of the Journal indicates that Charles E. Tarr, MD, was the editor. Tarr died in 1872 and his widow, H. Lizzie Tarr, was editor until July 20, 1872 when the paper was sold to William Harry Legg. The Journal was purchased by George T. Melvin and Z. Potter Steele in 1876. Steele left the paper November 2, 1878 to become the editor of the Caroline Democrat. Melvin was the sole proprietor for several years until his brother, James F. Melvin, joined the firm April 17, 1880. Another brother, Howard Melvin, became a partner in 1884. James F. Melvin left the paper when he bought the Cambridge Chronicle in 1884. George T. Melvin sold his interest in the Journal to Elon S. Hobbs when he and William S. Ridgely purchased the Maryland Republican in 1885. C. O. Melvin, who had been associated with the Journal for several years, purchased the Pocomoke City Record and Gazette in 1885. Melvin and Hobbs published the Journal until 1888 when Hobbs left the business. Howard Melvin was the proprietor until 1893 when Z. Potter Steele and B. H. Johnson became partners. This arrangement continued until Steele's retirement in 1902. The management of the paper remained in the hands of the Johnson and Melvin families, becoming incorporated in 1926 as Melvin and Johnson, Inc. This firm published the paper until May 6, 1965.
Issues of this newspaper are from the collections of the Caroline County Public Library and the Enoch Pratt Free Library. Issues of the Denton Journal from the Enoch Pratt Free Library were deposited there by the publisher of the Denton Journal in 1937.
Images are available on the web without charge at branches of the Caroline County Public Library. Available elsewhere on-line for a fee. |
