Union Parish Louisiana


Abstracts of Early Union Parish Newspapers


     Of the numerous newspapers published in Union Parish prior to 1900, we only have surviving issues of three papers published in the Town of Farmerville:

Union Parish's pre-1900 Surviving Newspapers
Newspaper Name Date Founded Founder
Union Record Feb 1866 Thomas C. Lewis, III
Gazette 1878 James E. Trimble
Home Advocate Feb 1885 Thomas C. Lewis, III

     Two of most colorful characters in nineteenth century Union Parish were undoubtedly Thomas Charles Lewis, III (30 July 1838 – 12 Jan 1900) and Yankee-born James Etherington Trimble (22 Feb 1834 – 19 Dec 1887). Both men had outstanding careers as judges, lawyers, and school teachers. They also both founded and edited newspapers in Farmerville for extended period of time, making them Union Parish's two leading newspapermen of their era. Lewis and Trimble were also political archrivals and bitter enemies. Vicious political differences arose during the Reconstruction Era (1868 – 1876) among Union Parish citizens, and Trimble and Lewis served as the leaders and spokesmen for two opposing factions. For more details, see this Brief History of Union Parish Newspapers.

     To read some of the barbs traded in print by Lewis and Trimble in 1885, scan the July and August abstracts of the "Home Advocate" below. To read about the shootout in Farmerville in December 1887 that took the lives of both Judge Trimble and Judge Lewis' friend, Farmerville attorney James A. Ramsey, read the articles published in the "Ouachita Telegraph", the "Daily Capitolian Advocate", the "New York Times" dated 20 December 1887 and 21 December 1887, or in other nationwide newspapers.


Abstracts of Early Union Parish Newspapers
Newspaper Dates of Paper Item Submitted Contributor
Union Record 14 March 1873 Nov 2001 T. D. Hudson
16 Jan 1874 May 2004 Stephanie
Odom-Robertson
26 May 1876 Nov 2001 T. D. Hudson
Home Advocate 1885
Jan – Feb 1886
4 June 1886
10 June 1887
Gazette 2 July 1884 Oct 2006
3 Mar 1886 Nov 2006
23 Feb 1887 Dec 2006
14 Mar 1888 Nov 2006
March 1894 Oct 2006
April 1894 Nov 2006
May 1894 Dec 2006
June 1894 Apr 2008
July 1894 coming soon
Aug 1894 coming soon
30 Dec 1896 Nov 2008
11 Jan 1899
8 Mar 1899
22 March 1905 Nov 2006


Stephanie Odom-Robertson secured these photographs of the 16 January 1874 issue of the Union Record for us from the Center for American History at the University of Texas – Austin.

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This page was last updated on 6 March 2010.




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