{{Short description|Newspaper published in Rising Sun, Maryland}} {{Infobox newspaper | name = The Midland Journal | image = The midland journal 1885-08-07 cover page.jpg | caption = The cover page of the August 7, 1885 issue of The Midland Journal | type = Weekly newspaper | founder = Edwin E. Ewing | publisher = Edwin E. Ewing | founded = August 7, 1885 | ceased_publication = June 27, 1947 | headquarters = Rising Sun, Maryland | oclc = 20395768 }}
'''''The Midland Journal''''' was a weekly newspaper published in Rising Sun, Cecil County, Maryland from August 7, 1885 to June 27, 1947.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn89060136/|title=About The midland journal.|website=Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers|publisher=Library of Congress|access-date=12 December 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7NwLAAAAIAAJ&q=Newspapers+of+Maryland%E2%80%99s+Eastern+Shore.|title=Newspapers of Maryland's Eastern Shore|last=Preston|first=Dickson J.|publisher=Queen Anne Press|year=1986|isbn=0870333364}}</ref> It was founded when veteran newspaperman Edwin E. Ewing purchased the ''Rising Sun Journal''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn89060138/|title=About Rising Sun journal.|website=Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers|publisher=Library of Congress|access-date=12 December 2018}}</ref> from the firm of William H. Pennington & Brother and renamed it to ''The Midland Journal''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cecildaily.com/our_cecil/ask-the-historical-society-rising-sun-newspaper/article_4d78a03d-4d1a-552d-b1b2-66f8265526b5.html|title=Ask the Historical Society: Rising Sun newspaper|date=14 September 2013|website=Cecil Whig|publisher=Historical Society of Cecil County|access-date=12 December 2018}}</ref> Ewing had plenty of experience publishing newspapers, having previously established Topeka, Kansas' ''Daily Capital'' in 1877 as well as Macon County, North Carolina's ''Blue Ridge Enterprise'' in 1882''.''<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tc8xAQAAMAAJ&q=edwin+e+ewing+maryland&pg=PA181|title=The Poets and Verse-writers of Maryland: With Selections from Their Works|last=Perine|first=George Corbin|publisher=Editor Publishing Company|year=1898|pages=181–2}}</ref> He had also owned and edited nearby Elkton, Maryland's ''Cecil Whig'' from 1861 to 1876, during which time he was a staunch supporter of the Union cause.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DNd5_LRxjt8C&q=edwin+e+ewing+maryland&pg=PA96|title=Slavery and Freedom on the Middle Ground: Maryland During the Nineteenth Century|last=Fields|first=Barbara Jeanne|author-link=Barbara J. Fields|publisher=Yale University Press|year=1987|isbn=0300040326|pages=96}}</ref> He was also a novelist and poet, with his story "The Hag of the Wallowish" originally appearing as a serial in ''The Philadelphia Dollar Newspaper'' beginning in 1849.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q1otAQAAMAAJ&q=House+of+Beadle+%26+Adams+and+its+Dime+and+Nickel+Novels:+The+Story+of+a+Vanished+Literature.|title=The House of Beadle and Adams and Its Dime and Nickel Novels: The Story of a Vanished Literature|last=Johannsen|first=Albert|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|year=1950|volume=1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JhlBAQAAMAAJ&q=Poems+and+Poetry+of+Cecil+County,+Maryland.|title=The Poets and Poetry of Cecil County, Maryland|publisher=George Johnston|year=1887|editor-last=Johnston|editor-first=George|location=Elkton, MD}}</ref> Ewing published the paper with the assistance of his three sons, Cecil, Evans, and Halus, until his death in 1901; after this, his sons took over ownership of the ''Journal''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ulib.niu.edu/badndp/ewing_edwin.html|title=Ewing, Edwin Evans.|date=9 August 2018|website=House of Beadle & Adams Online|publisher=Northern Illinois University Libraries|access-date=12 December 2018}}</ref> They continued to publish the paper until 1947, when they sold it to the owners of the ''Cecil Whig'' and it ceased publication as a separate title.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Official Commemorative Volume: Rising Sun 150th Anniversary, 1860-2010|publisher=Back Porch Publications|year=2010|location=Rising Sun, MD}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sW9OAAAAYAAJ&q=At+the+Head+of+the+Bay:+A+Cultural+and+Architectural+History+of+Cecil+County,+Maryland.|title=At the Head of the Bay: A Cultural and Architectural History of Cecil County, Maryland|last1=Blumgart|first1=Pamela James|last2=Walston|first2=Mark|last3=Touart|first3=Paul Baker|publisher=Cecil Historical Trust|year=1996|isbn=1878399659}}</ref>
Like many small town publications, ''The Midland Journal'' functioned primarily as a source of local news, light reading, and brief notices of national and international events.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nsxMAQAAMAAJ&q=History+of+Cecil+County,+Maryland.|title=History of Cecil County, Maryland: And the Early Settlements Around the Head of Chesapeake Bay and on the Delaware River, with Sketches of Some of the Old Families of Cecil County|last=Johnston|first=George|publisher=George Johnston|year=1881|location=Elkton, MD}}</ref> During its early decades, discussion about temperance dominated the ''Journal''<nowiki/>'s editorial pages, as well as documentation of the activities and meetings of the Women's Christian Temperance Union.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn89060136/1936-09-25/ed-1/seq-1/|title=W. C. T. U. Meets In County Convention|date=25 September 1936|work=The Midland Journal|access-date=12 December 2018|publisher=Library of Congress}}</ref> Ewing continued the trend he started at the ''Whig'' of a fairly progressive editorial stance; in December 1885 the ''Journal'' announced a lecture at the local Episcopal church by celebrated abolitionist Frederick Douglass and noted that "his fame as an orator is world wide."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn89060136/1885-12-18/ed-1/seq-5/|title=Fred Douglass.|date=18 December 1885|work=The Midland Journal|access-date=12 December 2018|publisher=Library of Congress}}</ref>
The offices of ''The Midland Journal'' were located in a building built in 1935 that still stands at 11 East Main Street.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/11-E-Main-St-Rising-Sun-MD-21911/36693552_zpid/|title=11 E Main St Rising Sun, MD 21911|website=Zillow|access-date=12 December 2018}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Midland Journal, The}} Category:Defunct newspapers published in Maryland Category:Newspapers established in 1885 Category:Publications disestablished in 1947 Category:Defunct weekly newspapers Category:1885 establishments in Maryland Category:1947 disestablishments in Maryland