Peoria Transcript

City: Peoria

County: Peoria

State: Illinois

The Peoria Transcript started in December 1855 as a daily newspaper. Under the editorship of William Rounseville, the paper ran its first weekly edition January 1, 1856. Financially challenged in its early years, it changed ownership three times in as many years, yet Rouseville remained editor and maintained it as a Democratic organ. In 1858, however, James G. Merrill sold the paper to Nathan C. Geer. Geer, a Republican, removed Rounseville, installed himself and Lysander R. Webb as editors, and switched the paper's political orientation to Republican. In 1860, he sold the paper to Enoch Emery and Edward A. Andrews. Under Emery's editorship, the paper grew successful and became particularly influential in central Illinois. The paper supported Abraham Lincoln during the 1860 Federal Election and the Lincoln administration during the Civil War. In 1865, Emery purchased Andrews' interest in the paper and remained sole owner until several years after the Civil War.

Franklin William Scott, Newspapers and Periodicals of Illinois, 1814-1879, vol. 6 of Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library (Springfield: Illinois State Historical Library, 1910), 279-80; James M. Rice, Peoria City and County Illinois (Chicago: S. J. Clarke, 1912), 1:409-10; Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 26 January 1858, 2:2.