June 29, 1899 Issue of Princeville Republican Newspaper

The Princeville Republican newspaper was published for about 5 years, starting in 1898.  The editor/owner of the newspaper was George I. McGinnis.  In the beginning, it was advertised that you could subscribe to The Princeville Republican and the Peoria Weekly newspapers for $1.50 per year.  The Princeville Republican was a weekly newspaper published on Thursdays featuring local and national news and advertising.  Each issue contained news of residents from various area towns of which some are no longer in existence.  Towns with local news items included Princeville, Edelstein, Monica, Lawn Ridge, Duncan, Dunlap, Brimfield, Hallock and Grove.  A few years ago, we received bound Volumes I and II of the Princeville Republican from the estate of Jim Montgomery.  Rosemary Cooper of Prairie Photo Studio volunteered to take a photo of each page of the newspapers.  This allows staff and visitors to read through the newspapers because the originals are too brittle to handle.

So, what was in the news on this date 114 years ago?  The photo above is the June 29, 1899 front page of the Princeville Republican.  The front page featured who visited who in Princeville as well as meeting news.  The wedding announcements in this week's issue were for A.B. Brown & Carrie Cheesman and Peter Frye & Maggie Graham.  The Reverend C.T. Phillips of the Presbyterian church performed both ceremonies.  Mr. and Mrs. Brown were married at her Mrs. C.T. Cheesman's home, mother of the bride.  Mr. and Mrs. Frye were married at her parent's house.

When I look at these papers, the news is very interesting, but I always get distracted by the ads.  This week, at M.V. Conklin's store, you could have purchased summer corsets for 23 to 50 cents, pickles were 5 cents a dozen and a can of salmon was 10 cents.  Too bad we can't have those prices again!  Another ad that interests me is the ad for F.E. Prouty.  Mr. Prouty's business advertises undertaking, embalming, furniture, sewing machines and music.  Was Mr. Prouty's store the original supercenter with all of that under one roof.  That business was on the north side of the 100 block of East Main Street.

We are still in the process of printing out all the photos of the newspapers, but are over half done.  The newspapers are also on disc and can be viewed from a computer.  The printed pages are on display in the museum in the genealogy reference area and can be viewed during museum hours which are Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm or by appointment.  Princeville is rich in history and these newspapers are a wealth of information for genealogists and local historians.  We are always looking for volunteers to help at the museum.  Please consider volunteering once a month or more to help us preserve and catalog Princeville history.