The Midland Journal

Newspaper published in Rising Sun, Maryland

The Midland Journal

The cover page of the August 7, 1885 issue of The Midland Journal

Type| Weekly newspaper
Founder(s)| Edwin E. Ewing
Publisher| Edwin E. Ewing
Founded| August 7, 1885
Ceased publication| June 27, 1947
Headquarters| Rising Sun, Maryland
OCLC number| 20395768

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]

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[edit]

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.