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The ''Woodstock Observer'' was a newspaper published in
The ''Woodstock Observers founder, as well as first editor and publisher, was David Watson. Trained as a printer, Watson established the newspaper in 1820, two years after settling in Woodstock. He transferred ownership of the paper in 1823 to Rufus Colton who expanded its coverage and renamed it the ''Woodstock Observer and Windsor and Orange County Gazette''. By 1828 Colton reported that the receipts from subscriptions and advertising were not sufficient to meet the paper's expenses and his decision to continue publishing was only in the hope conditions might improve. They did not, and the newspaper ceased publication in June 1832.
The ''Woodstock Observer'' marked the second attempt to establish a newspaper in Woodstock, an earlier effort having also failed. Back issues of the ''Woodstock Observer'', and of the ''Woodstock Observer and Windsor and Orange County Gazette'', are archived by the Library of Congress.
Woodstock, Vermont
Woodstock is the shire town (county seat) of Windsor County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 3,005. It includes the villages of Woodstock, South Woodstock, Taftsville, and West Woodstock.
History
Chart ...
. Its debut issue was dated January 11, 1820.
History
The ''Woodstock Observers founder, as well as first editor and publisher, was David Watson. Trained as a printer, Watson established the newspaper in 1820, two years after settling in Woodstock. He transferred ownership of the paper in 1823 to Rufus Colton who expanded its coverage and renamed it the ''Woodstock Observer and Windsor and Orange County Gazette''. By 1828 Colton reported that the receipts from subscriptions and advertising were not sufficient to meet the paper's expenses and his decision to continue publishing was only in the hope conditions might improve. They did not, and the newspaper ceased publication in June 1832.
The ''Woodstock Observer'' marked the second attempt to establish a newspaper in Woodstock, an earlier effort having also failed. Back issues of the ''Woodstock Observer'', and of the ''Woodstock Observer and Windsor and Orange County Gazette'', are archived by the Library of Congress.
Staff
Aside from Watson and Colton's editorship of the paper, assistant editors were Benjamin F. Kendall (1827–1828) and B.F. Fellows (1830), among others.Editorial position
An editorial statement penned by Watson for the debut issue affirmed the paper's intent to be strictly non-partisan: Under Colton's management, however, the paper came to take an editorial line supportive of theNational Republican Party
The National Republican Party, also known as the Anti-Jacksonian Party or simply Republicans, was a political party in the United States that evolved from a conservative-leaning faction of the Democratic-Republican Party that supported John Qu ...
. In 1829 another Vermont newspaper, the ''North Star'', accused the ''Woodstock Observer'' of being a "little Masonic pop-gun" owing to its vocal opposition to the Anti-Masonic Party
The Anti-Masonic Party was the earliest third party in the United States. Formally a single-issue party, it strongly opposed Freemasonry, but later aspired to become a major party by expanding its platform to take positions on other issues. After ...
. (Rufus Colton was, himself, a Master Mason.)
References
{{reflist, 30em Defunct newspapers published in Vermont Newspapers established in 1820 Woodstock, Vermont 1820 establishments in Vermont Publications disestablished in 1833 1833 disestablishments in Vermont