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Civil War News (1863-64)
Articles Transcribed from The Bay City Press And Times newspaper.
Newspapers owned by the late Harry Pierson - Contributed by Rick and Linda Pierson

by Marvin Kusmierz (February 2005)

THE BAY CITY PRESS AND TIMES
No. 1 - Vol. 5	Bay City, Michigan, Saturday, October 17, 1863.	$1.50 Per Annum.

Advertisements -- Solid advertisements will be inserted in the BAY CITY PRESS AND TIMES at the following rates: 1 Insertion, 7 cents per line, 2 Inseriton, 10 cents per line, Displayed advertisements inserted at double those rates. The space accepted by five lines of solid type will be allowed each line in displayed advertisements. Legal Advertisements done at Statue Rates, and payment in Advance required. Payment in Advance will be required for all Advertisements from abroad; also for all advertisements done for those with whom we have an account. This rule will be stictly adhered to. SHOW US A NEWSPAPER whose columns are at crowded with New Advertisements, and we will show you a community alive with business enterprise. The age is a moving one. A man that stands still in these "latter days" will, in a short time, find himself behind his competitor. No communication will be inserted unless accompanied by he Author's name. Persons receiving this paragraph specially marked will know that the time for which they subscribed has expired. We respectfully solicit the advertising patronage of men in all parts of the county, assuring them that it is a matter of no small importance to attract the attention, and thus gain the custom of this large and growing community. Prompt attention will be paid to all communications addressed to the publisher. WE ARE NOW PREPARED to execute in the latest test styles, and on the most reasonable terms. POSTERS HANDBILLS and SHOW CARDS. BUSINESS and VISITING CARDS. CHECK NOTE and RECEIPT BOOKS. LEGAL BLACKS, LABELS, LETTER HEADINGS ENVELOPES &c. &e. W. A. BRYCE, Publisher. Corner Fourth and Saginaw streets.

{View} Larger size of above image. {View} Photo of newspaper.) About the Bay City Press and Times The left column is a recreation of the typical information information provided in each of the paper for its advertisers. This information usually appeared on the first page in the left-hand column at the top. Above is a photo showing a full page of the paper. (Click to enlarge it.) The Civil War and history buffs will enjoy the content of this Civil War News section which covers issues of The Bay City Press And Times from from October 17, 1863 (No. 1 -- Vol. 5.) to October 1, 1864 (No. 62 - Vol. 6.). This newspaper consisted of four pages and was published weekly paper on Saturdays until June 25, 1864 (No. 37, Vol. 5), at which time it was published twice a week on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Advertising represents the largest portion of space in the newspaper. A full page was devoted to advertising revenue and ads often appear on the other pages with news items. Regular coverage was given to proceedings of the Bay County Commission and the Bay City Council Board. Coverage is also provided for the Circuit Court, Sheriff Sale, Marriages and Deaths as these activities take place. National and local news items on a variety of subjects fill the balance of space available in each edition. William A. Bryce, devoted a great deal of space to coverage of the Civil War on a national and local level. It is our hope to transcribe all articles revelant to local news specfic to the Civil War, which will be posted here as they are completed. You can read an actual copy of the January 2, 1864 edition of the newspaper. The paper is in pdf file format and can be viewed using the Adobe Reader (free), which includes zooming feature to make the type as large as you want. These files can be accessed from the menu in the upper right-hand column of this page. Some subjects in this edition are: {Page 1} Flint and Pere Marquette Railway, Congressional review, Capt. H.S. Raymond, Board of Enrollment for Sixth District, and Michigan 10th cavalry joining army of Cumberland, etc. {Page 2} Bay County's quota, Meeting on buildinig railroad to East Saginaw, Judge Birney's farm, County Bounty Bonds, Portsmouth meets quota, Flower and Feed, New Years eve gathering at Wolverton House, Wheater (-10 degrees, heavy snow), Civil War briefs, Maritime activities, Meeting of Bay County Bar, Bay City Common Council meeting, Marriages, Deaths, etc. {Page 3} Advertisements. {Page 4} Advertisements.

The Story of the Missing Paper.

Bay-Journal is very fortunate to have in its possession the original issues of the Bay City Times And Press newspaper from October 17, 1863 (No. 1 - Vol.5) to October 1, 1864 (No. 62 - Vol. 6). But even more than our good fortune, the Bay City community is lucky that this piece of its history did not perish.

These papers were never captured on micro-film and have been considered lost for all of these years until February, 2005 when they were donated to Bay-Journal by Rick and Linda Pierson. The papers were initially in the possession of Rick's father, Harry Pierson, and were passed onto Rick after he died in 1964. Rick and Linda have held them in storage unaware they were originals of huge historical significance to the history of their community.

I have known the Pierson family since I was a teenager and attended many of the family reunions jointly held by the Pierson and Larson clan. However, it wasn't until after I retired and began Bay-Journal that the paper ever had a point of mutual interest to come up in conversation.

In 2004, that conversation happened when I ran into Linda while out shopping. I mentioned in our conversation that I had a history website called Bay-Journal and she brought up this the copies of some old newspapers that belonged to Harry and I might find something interesting in them to use on Bay-Journal.

As in most cases with such conversations, it slips out of our memory as we busy ourselves dealing with daily issues. Then in January, 2005, The Bay City Times, ran a story about Bay-Journal which Rick and Linda read. Shortly thereafter on a Saturday morning they showed up at my home unannounced with the paper in hand.

They said they wanted to make sure that I got Harry's old newspaper before they moved to California where they will spend their retirement years.

I couldn't have been happier for them, and for me to have the gift. At the time, neither they or I had, had any reason to believe they of great importance. We simply thought they were copies made up for some special occassion.

Anxious to share what had happened, I called a friend who is very knowledgeable regarding local history, and most other matters related to it. His response to my gleeful news was, "Are you sure they are copies and not original? Sounds to me from what you have described, they could very well be originals."

The conversation with my friend left me feeling shocked and concerned. I had be very carefully until I was able to determine whether or not they were orginals. I was hoping they weren't originals as it would be easier for me in extracting information from them if I didn't have to worry about how they were handled.

With paper in hand, I visited the Bay County Historical Society museum the following week. It only took a moment for the curator to confirmed my friend's suspicion, what I had was a bound set of original newspapers. They were indeed an important community artifact. After leaving the museum I headed over to the Central Library on Center Avenue to find out whether or not the papers had been micro-filmed.

All of Mr. Bryces papers had been captured on mircro-film except for one -- the set I had! I not only had an original artifact! I had the only recorded daily news about Bay City for that time period!

The library offered to take care of having the papers micro-filmed, and that process is in progress at this time.

The History of Bay City Press and Times.

Mr. Bryce's newspaper wasn't the first to be published in Bay City, however, his was the first to have longevity.

The first newspaper to go to press in Bay City is credited to Perry Joslin's "The Press" (aks: Bay City Press) in 1856. Joslin living in Saginaw at the time, decided to move to Bay City and start a paper in this growing community known as Lower Saginaw and still a part of Saginaw County. a . He from Saginaw to Bay City for that purpose believing he would be able to land a contract to print state tax lists to support his new business. He didn't get the contract, and after two or three weekly issues, he shut it down and headed back to Saginaw.

According to Gansser’s history (3) on this subject, James Birney was the editor of the "Bay City Press" in 1856, and no reference is made to Joslin's being the owner of the newspaper.

In the H.R. Page & Co. book (4), William Bryce given credit for having the first "established" newspaper in Bay City in 1959. Joslin’s offering in 1856 is simply referenced as a "failed attempt" without any mention of James Birney’s as it's editor.

Historian, Leslie Arndt, states in his writings on the subject (1)(2), “Most historians 'agree' that Perry Joslin became the first Bay County publisher in 1856", and in this book, James Birney is attached to Joslin's newspaper as its editor. Birney, the son of James G. and Agatha (McDowell) Birney, was a lawyer at the time. His father, a leader in the national abolitionist movement, came to Lower Saginaw (now Bay City) in 1842, and was among the a handful of pioneers that laid the foundations for the earliest settlement here.

Two years later William Bryce made his entry with the "The Press" newspaper, later known as the “Press And Times” before becoming “The Bay City Press And Times.” According to Leslie Arndt (2), many of the early newspapers were typically started by individuals who had an agenda or promoted their own point of view on the news. However, Arndt states that Bryce took a neutral postion on the news, that is, until the political campaign in 1860, at which time, it began slanting more towards the political view of the Republican party.

The Bay City Press And Times suspended its operations in 1864 when Bryce enlisted as soldiers to join in the Civil War that he had regularly reported on in his newspaper. He enter the Army as a quartermaster assigned to the 29th Michigan Infantry.

According to Arndt(1), the The "Bay City Journal" picked up printing press and editor, John Cuthbert (Culbert), began publishing the paper shortly thereafter. H.R. Page (4, Pg. 118.) states Henry D. Dow joined the paper in 1871 as an editor -- he later started his own paper in 1871, called the "Lumberman's Gazette."

In 1871, Robert L. Warren, a business man from Troy, N.Y., turned it into Bay City’s "first daily newspaper." He ran it for only last two or three years, when James Birney took it over began the "Daily Weekly Chronicle." In 1875, he was selected by President Ulysses S. Grant to be U.S. minister to the Netherlands. Birney accepted the honor, and turned the newspaper over to his son, Arthur M. Birney.

Arthur Birney ran the Chronicle until 1879, at which time, it was merged into the "Bay City Tribune". The Tribune started its operations in 1873, with a weekly and daily publication, as partnership, owned by owned by T. K. Harding, Edmund Kronecke and Griffin Lewis. H.R. Page (4) includes Culbert as one of the partners. They ran a book-binding business along publishing the paper.

In 1881, a stock company took over ownership of the Tribune(1). Henry S. Dow, according to H.R. Page(4), purchased the Tribune (no date specifiied), and in 1875 he dropped the weekly edition. Sometime after, the Tribune fell a stock company too over ownership running it until September, 1881.

According to the H.R. Page book (4), it states that Edwin T. Bennet was the owner at the time their book was printed in 1883. They also mention that under Bennett,

"There is now a morning Republican paper, and the printing office the most extensive one in the city. There are a large and well equipped-job print office connected with it, which does an extensive business. The weekly edition of the Tribune is published under the name of the 'Chronicle and Tribune.' Edwin T. Bennett, the proprietor of the Tribune and 'Lumberman's Gazette,'and part owner of the 'Evening Press' is one of the representative business men of Bay City. He came here from New York State in October, 1866, and worked on the Lumberman's Gazette for a time, becoming its proprietor in 1874, as already stated."

The Bay City Times acquired the Tribune in 1916, and merged it into their operations. The Times was founded in 1889 by a partnership of W. H. Gustin, L. L. Cline and F. M. VanCampen. When ownership was transferred to the "Booth Publishing Co.," Gustin remained on as the managing editor.

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Sources:

1. The Bay County Story - From Footpaths to Feeways (1982), by Leslie E. Arndt.
2. The Bay City Times, Sunday, January 25, 1976, Article by Leslie E. Arndt.
3. History of Bay County, Michigan And Representive Citizens (1905), by Capt. Augustus H. Gansser.
4. History of Bay County, Michigan with Illustrations & Biographical Sketches (1883), H.R. Page & Co.