{{Short description|Semi-weekly newspaper published in Waldorf, Maryland, US}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Infobox newspaper | name = Maryland Independent | image = Maryland independent. 1874-09-16 cover page.jpg | caption = The cover page of the September 16, 1874 issue of the Maryland Independent | type = Semi-weekly | owners = Adams Publishing Group | founder = John S. Button | president = Jim Normandin | editor = Jesse Yeatman | founded = September 1874 | headquarters = La Plata, Maryland | circulation = 7,104 | circulation_date = 2021 | circulation_ref = <ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-05-01 |title=APG Chesapeake Circulation Map |url=https://adamspg.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/21.03-Chesapeake-1.pdf |access-date=2023-04-25 |website=Adams Publishing Group}}</ref> | oclc = 11730041 | website = {{URL|somdnews.com/independent}} }} thumb|Posey heirs sell ''Maryland Independent'' The '''''Maryland Independent''''' is a semi-weekly newspaper that began publication in September 1874 in Port Tobacco, Charles County, Maryland.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85025407/|title=About Maryland independent.|website=Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers|publisher=Library of Congress|access-date=10 December 2018}}</ref>
== History == The ''Maryland Independent'' was founded by John S. Button, a local printer and Freemason.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eCQ12Soz9-gC&dq=john+s+button+maryland&pg=PA62|title=History of Freemasonry in Maryland|last=Schultz|first=Edward Thomas|publisher=J. H. Medairy|year=1888|volume=4|pages=62}}</ref> Its Republican slant paralleled the growing popularity of the Republican party in Charles County, and when former state's attorney Eugene Diggs<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EDItAQAAMAAJ&dq=eugene+diggs+maryland+state+attorney&pg=RA1-PA107|title=Journal of the Proceedings of the Senate of Maryland, January Session, 1872|publisher=W.M. Thompson|year=1872|location=Annapolis, Maryland|pages=102}}</ref> joined the newspaper as an editor in 1877, he maintained this advocacy for Republican candidates and policies.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=43TTDFIIInkC&q=he+History+of+Charles+County,+Maryland.|title=The History of Charles County, Maryland: Written in Its Tercentenary Year of 1958|last1=Klapthor|first1=Margaret Brown|last2=Brown|first2=Paul Dennis|publisher=Heritage Books|year=2013|isbn=978-0788401602}}</ref> This political position put the ''Maryland Independent'' directly at odds with the county's Democratic paper, the ''Port Tobacco Times,'' a rivalry that would continue for years.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn89060060/|title=About Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser.|website=Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers|publisher=Library of Congress|access-date=10 December 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iVfFeSluQgEC&q=Images+of+America:+Charles+County|title=Charles County: Images of America|last=Zilliox|first=Jacqueline|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|year=2007|isbn=978-1439617649}}</ref>
In 1879, the paper turned Democratic for a short time when local Democratic leader Charles Vivian Brent acquired the newspaper, retaining Button as business manager.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TJkQAAAAYAAJ&dq=vivian+brent+maryland+democrat&pg=PA157|title=Geo. P. Rowell and Co.'s American Newspaper Directory|last=Rowell|first=George Presbury|publisher=Geo. P. Rowell & Company|year=1882|pages=157}}</ref> Button died the following year, and Brent moved on in 1882 to a series of positions in the federal government, resulting in the paper's sale to Adrian Posey.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kHwVq2PwUwEC&dq=adrian+posey+maryland+independent&pg=PA158|title=N. W. Ayer & Son's American Newspaper Annual|publisher=N. W. Ayer and Son|year=1887|location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|pages=158}}</ref> Posey was a Republican lawyer who served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1888 to 1890, the Maryland Senate from 1890 to 1894, and as the Charles County State's Attorney from 1896 to 1900.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VHFIAQAAMAAJ&dq=adrian+posey+maryland+house+of+delegates&pg=RA1-PA30|title=Other Obituary Notes.|date=8 July 1922|work=Fourth Estate: A Weekly Newspaper for Publishers, Advertisers, Advertising Agents, and Allied Interests|access-date=10 December 2018}}</ref> In late 1893, Posey built new offices and moved the newspaper's operations from historic Port Tobacco to the bustling new town of La Plata,<ref>Wearmouth, John M. (1988). ''La Plata, Maryland 1888-1988. 100 Years. The Heart of Charles County'' La Plata, MD: Town of La Plata, p. 10-11.</ref> which soon became the Charles County seat in 1895.<ref>Wearmouth, p. 7.</ref><ref>[https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/36loc/ch/chron/html/chchron.html Charles County Historical Chronology], accessed January 31, 2021.</ref>
After Adrian Posey's death in 1922, his son Frederick Stone Posey continued publishing the ''Maryland Independent'' until his death in 1926, when the Posey family sold it to Thomas Brackett Reed Mudd.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NJ5FAQAAMAAJ&dq=f+stone+posey+maryland+newspaper&pg=PA407|title=N. W. Ayer & Son's American Newspaper Annual & Directory|publisher=N. W. Ayer & Son|year=1922|location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|pages=407}}</ref> Though Mudd came from a prominent Republican family, his tenure at the newspaper was short, with brothers Ruey Philip and Philip Benjamin Bowling publishing the paper by 1930.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YRdZPgAACAAJ&q=Pathways+to+History:+Charles+County+Maryland,+1658-2008|title=Pathways to History: Charles County Maryland, 1658-2008|last=King|first=Julia A.|publisher=Smallwood Foundation, Inc.|year=2008|isbn=978-0615244464}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Walthall|first=Charles Jenkins|date=October 1995|title=Burlean Hall: Summary of Research|journal=The Record of the Historical Society of Charles County|volume=69|pages=1–4}}</ref>
The ''Maryland Independent'' continues publication to the present day, under the ownership of APG Media of Chesapeake.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.somdnews.com/independent/site/about_us_ind.html|title=About Us|website=Maryland Independent|access-date=10 December 2018}}</ref> In July 2020, the paper was consolidated into Southern Maryland News, which covers neighboring St. Mary's and Calvert counties.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.somdnews.com/a-letter-to-our-readers/article_9cdb227f-9102-5bc0-8605-12c95988978a.html|title=A letter to our readers|website=Southern Maryland News|access-date=3 September 2020}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
Category:Weekly newspapers published in the United States Category:Newspapers established in 1874 Category:1874 establishments in Maryland Category:Newspapers published in Maryland