HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1970-11-19, Page 13ri
ti
ry
23rd,. YEAR .»
47
Fronit page of the first issue of the first newspaper published in the Huron District of Upper
Canada ---The Huron Signal of Goderich,which made its debut on ,February 4, 1848.
a
[i w'4i .A Y 17.1
Two weeks after The Huron Signal made its debut, a second newspaper, The Huron Gazette and
Goderich, Stratford, St. Mary; Mitchell and Bayfield .Advertiser was published. Above is shown a
front page of one of its early issues. • .
1
uron
It was a remarkably unusual
winter for Upper !Canada's vast
Huron Tract!
Until at least the , middle of
February in 1843 there was no
snow to be seen on the ground.
An observer of that time said
it was as if the . weather l}dd
advanced right on into April..
True, there , had been, some
weeks .previously, a bit of snow
to provide a few days of
indifferent sleighing. But this
had now disappeared _and the
winter had become a snowless
one.
Roads were hard and dry.
There was no ice fishing because
ice on Lake Huron was•
dangerously thin.
Young ladies in Goderich had
become impatient! They had
been promised' sleigh rides by
young men. These promises were
still unfulfilled' because — there
was no snow.
Many odd situations were
created due to the unseasonable
lack of snow
This very lack of snow
contributed to a delay of several
weeks in the debut of the first
newspaper to be published at
Goderich.
.: But The Huron ' Signal did
appear on• Friday, February 4,
1848 to become the first issue of
the first newspaper to be printed
in the District of Huron.
Hon. M. Cameron, Liberal
M.P. for Kent. County who was
eventually transferred to Huron
in 1851, had been for some time
hoping, to establish a Liberal
newspaper at Goderich. He
finally influenced Charles Dolsen
of Chatham, Ontario, to do just
this. Dolsen had already
established The Journal at
Chatham in 1841 and was
interested in having another
newspaper also.
Some years previously, Hon.
Mr. Cameron had established
The. Bathurst Courier at Perth,
Ontario, and his interest in
journalism continuedeven^after
he became an M.P. It was
Cameron who . persuaded
Thomas MacQueen to become
the first editor df The Huron
Signal. MacQueen had•emigrated
from Scotland to Canada in
1842 and settled in Renfrew
County as astone mason. But
Responsible .Government and
The Press took part of his
interest so he wrote articles for
The Bathurst Courier: -
Recognizing MacQueen's talents
as a journalist, Cameron
persuaded MacQueen to become
a full time journalist. MacQueen
lost no time in proving that he
was a brilliant one. Such was
MacQueen's progress that a
notice appeared in The Huron
• Signal dated August 8, 184 8.
riot news
PURCHASES SIGNAL
This notice, signed by Charles
Ledbury, England, before.
coming to Canada at the age of
45. The Gazette was first
published every Friday at its
office on West Street, opposite
the Canada Company office,
Intense political dislike of one
another existed between the
Conservative Huron Gazette and
the Liberal Huron Signal. The
Signal made no mention in its
news columns when The Gazette
was first published. The Signal
did not even mention it when
The Gazette ceased publication
during the latter part of 1849.
The opposition newspaper was
ignored. ,
Only indication of the death
of The Gazette to 'be found in
The iipal was not until'
January, 1850. At this time, The
Signal referred to the appearance
of a new newspaper at St.
" Catharines, called The
Constitutional "published by the•
editor of the LATE Huron
Gazette."
Although The Gazette first
appeared on February .18, 1848,
it was not until April 21st of
that year that ° the • Signal
mentioned the Gazette in its
editorial columns and the reason
for this was to take a blast at the,
Gazette.
A well known cartoon in The
Goderich Signal of former days
was the crowing Signal rooster
with the Scotch• plaid trousers. It
was always published in the
Liberal Signal following each
Grit victory. '
Dofsen, the publisher and owner,
announced that Thomas
MacQueen, The Signal Editor,
had purchased The Signal as of
the aforementioned date.
Although • Goderich'
population was less than 1,000
in 1848 (Toronto's was 25,500
at that time) the year saw the
birth of two newspapers at
Goderich.
The second, an opposing
Conservative journal, made its
first appearance on February 18,
1848. It had the lengthy title of
"The Huron Gazette and
Goderich, Stratford, St. Mary,
Mitchell and Bayfield
Advertiser."
First, it ran as a weekly but
after the issue of May 26, 1848,
it became a semi-weekly. Its
publisher was John Bevan Giles,
said to be a keeper of hounds at
O
l
sti,„111 \ /Ay', i.
ijt,,,. la�" 91111 �i,,Mill(ilWll 1M1llt
■ „
Ail-TICE OF THE G()11EIHCFI STAB, WEST STREET,
,1 . dim►
.�`i :..,,{was w. _ii..•.•.•.... .W""M^� �M
"TIE IitiRoN SI(IYAI,�" 81'1:;1M I'lttN'I'IN(' 11(►t'ME, Noii'I'H sI'I1EE'I'•
NON RECOGNITION
In the editorial, The Signal
said with disdain that the Huron
G,azet4e "had not nor ever will
be r( agnized as a portion of the
public press of Canada. Had we
considered it destined for such
distinction, we would have
thrown aside . our political
peculiarities for a moment and
announced its debut upon the
stage with common courtesy;
but we were prevented from
doing so' by the conviction that
the inherent feebleness visible in
its first issue was an infallik, e
symptom of its approaching
dissolution,"
n berating Mr: Giles, The
Gazette editor, The Huron
Signal editor said Giles "had a
Targe share .of what an old
Scottish woman would call a,glib
tongue • and wheedlin gaet
(manner) which could make him
a good livelihood as a peddler."
On May 12, 1848, a I,uron
Signal editorial said Giles should
give up trying to publish a
newspaper or at least cease to be
guided or counselled • by
"reckless, inexperienced
'characters who are driving him
to misery and disgrace for their
own vain and selfish purposes
and who lately forced him to
insult the respectable
community of Goderich under
gl 1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
BY
P.
GEORGE L. • ELLIS 1.4
F. former Publisher of The Goderich Signal -Star who has
completed the writing' of the history of every• newspaper P.
ever published in Huron County, the first of which was The
• Huron Signal,
.;IuuuuniuuulmMIIIIM IMMUMMIMIIIIMMIMuuuuuIIIIMMuamuulrnunllluawmnlull
e.
A stone mason born at Kilbernie,Scotland, Thomas MacQueen-
was
acQueenwas the gifted first editor of the Hurorl.Signal. Seen herd with..
his wife, Mr. MacQueen died in 1.861 and is buried in Maitland
Cemetery. He is the. great, great grandfathbr of Mrs. John
Cory, Huron Road; Goderich.
7
Noticed by few visitors to , Maitland Carktetery., this small
plaque in the ground marks the plot of Thomas MacQueen,
first Editor of The Huron Signal. He was referred to as a writer
and a poet.
the designation `barefooted boys
and slip -shod girls.' "
The attacks of Mr. Giles on
the personal• character of the
editor of The Huron Signal were
branded by the latter as "silly".
The Huron Signal editor said the
Gazette editor's views about the
religious opinion of. The Signal
editor were "malignant and
dastardly insinuations."
EDITORIAL BLAST •
In its last editorial blast at
The Gazette before the latter
paper eventually folded up, ,the
Huron Signal editor referred to •
The Gazette only A as "The
Thing." The Signal said The
Gazette "is not recognized, nor
in fact does not pretend to- be a
newspaper, but is just published
occasionally as ad of ruse of'
bravado to show ho positively
proud, some men are of asserting
flagrant falsehood in order to.
Make people laugh at them! ..
The majority of Tories would
cheerfully assist in throwing The
Gazette and its press into the
lake in order to rid the town of a
very filthy nuisance!" •
When The Huron Signal had
completed its first year of
publishing, it • stated in an
editorial on February 2, 1849;
"We have had a hard up -hill
battle of it". "
When the first issue of The
Huron Signal appeared on
February 4, 1848, the editorial
of its editor, Thomas MacQueen
,said, in part:
"It is necessary that - a
newspaper should in some
degree be a medium of political
intelligence. There are in every „
country, at least two political
parties, hence, it is again
necessary that every newspaper
must be the organ or advocate of
a party, and it maybe -presumed
that , •our motto is a sufficient
intimation that the HURON
SIGNAL will endeavour .to
advance the views of - the
LIBERAL party. 'The greatest
possible good to the greatest
possible number', is a sentiment
which must certainly meet the
approbation • 9f every honest
upright man. '
"But while we are disposed to
maintain the principle embodied
in our motto with zeal and
earnestness, we will carefully
avoid all uncharitable feelings to .
our opponents. We will not
indulge in vituperation or
scurrility. We will have no
fellowship with anonymous.
communications containing
_,personal slander or anything
calculated to injure personal
character — in short we will
endeavour to live at peace with
all 'men, so far as that is
attainable upon the great
principles of truth and justice.
"The , principle political
questions. which we intend to
advocate are . . . Still there are
other subjects, in which' much of
the`1 appiness of a country is
involved, and hence,, we shall
study to make The Huron Signal
the vehicle of as many essays
and as much knowledge on all
subjects of practical importance,
as our space and time wi11
reasonably allow."
DISTINGUISHED EDITOR
A distinguished and gifted
editor, MacQueen was born of
humble parentage in Ayrshire,
Scotland where he attended
Parish School only for a few
months. He was obliged to go to
work at the age of ten when an
accident left him lame for life.
This turned him to self
education and philosophic
thoughts. At 15 he became a
stone mason but did some
writing on the side, always
championing the working man's
rights. It was in 1842 that he
emigrated to Renfrew County in
Ontario as.>,a stone mason. -
As editor of The Huron Signal
he 'became known as "The Old
Man Eloquent." He toured
Huron and became intimately
acquainted with its people and
their problems.
His masterly discussions in
The Signal attracted
Province -wide attention. He was
even quoted in Great Britain and
beyond. The clear earnestness of •
his style, the originality of his.
intellect and his soundness of
judgment.... made him an
outstanding editor.
In 1852, MacQueen was
induced • to assist in the
establishment of a newspaper at
Hamilton but ' he continued to
contribute articles to The Signal.
The biting humor of
MacQueen was reflected in an
advertisement he placed in The
_Huron Signal on April 18, 1850.
In it, MacQueen offered. 200
pounds of hay to any man who
could_ provide information as to
who stole sheafed straw,' from
MacQueen's barn at Signalfield.
MacQueen stated he "did not
feel so much hurt about the -loss'
of the straw as he did on
account of the fact that straw
stealing does not exactly agree
with the character which the
locality has acquired' for
`revivals' and `conversions', and,
therefore", MacQueen
"cheerfully" offered the hay "to
the pious, man who will' have"
moral honest enough 'to come
forward and acknowledge that
he stole the straw" "as the
advertiser is anxious to ascertain
the true- character of his
neighbors."
In April, 1854 he returned to
Goderich and in July of that
year was unsuccessful in
contesting a seat as M.P. for
Huron. -
He died at the :age of 57 at his •
farm called "Signalfield,"
located a few miles south of
Goderich on Highway '21.
When • MacQueen retired from
The Signal in° 1852 he was
Succeeded by George and John
Cox, then followed Nicholls and
Cox and next was J. W. Keyes.
Changes in ownership of The
Signal continued apace with -the
next proprietors listed as W. T.
and 'G. Cox. Next were Cox and
Smith and they, in turn, by J. J.
Bell. The latter later became
editor and proprietor of The
Brockville Recorder.
Allan- and Dickson took over
from J. J. $ell. After Mr
Dickson met death by drowning,
Mr. Allan secured as his partner
Mr. Gissing, formerly of The
Woodstock Review.
CHANGES MAD E
On September 1, 1880,- the
colorful McGillicuddy brothers
of The Brussels Post, took over
The Signal. They made radical
changes in the paper. The old
"blanket sheet" was abandoned,.
a modern 8 page form adopted
and new • type and presses
installed. Many correspondents
throughout the CountYl were
secured.
In 1886 Thomas
McGillicuddy retired in favor of
a position at Toronto. His
brother, Dan, then_became sole
proprietor and edit' r..JIt was at
this time the name of the paper
was changed from the Huron
Signal to that of The Goderich
Signal. The new equipment
installed some years -later printed
an attractive publication known
as The Illustrated Signal.
Dan McGillicuddy was noted as
the wielder of a "vitriolic pen".
He later went to Calgary where,
backed by Sir Clifford Sifton he
founded the Calgary Daily News
in opposition to the Eye Opener,
edited by the notorious Bob'
Edwards. •
After The Huron Gazette,
Goderich's Conservative
newspaper, folded in 1849, it
was followed by The Times
published by E. Woodcock and
then The United Empire by Alex
McClenaghan.
The Hinton Signal reported
the launching of a "High Tory
paper" in Goderich during June,
1850 which was known as '['he
Huron Loyalist. It was referred
to as an ephemeral "squib sheet"
started by^ a "Colonel" A.
F. Morgan who was labelled as -
Please bum to page 8A