First Newspaper in Decatur County

from the collection of Brenda Kirk Fiddler

A note on the newspaper history in Decatur County by W. V. Barry

February 11, 1916 The Lexington Progress

G. S. Barry, the Pioneer newspaper man of Decatur County, has been with us this week giving the Journal a general cleaning up and we are better equipped than ever to execute your needs.--Parsons Journal.

While our brother, G. Sterling is all right and entitled to credit for keeping soul and body together so long as he accomplished that fact in the country newspaper business, we must set the Journal right in the “Pioneer Newspaper man of Decatur County.”  The founder of the first newspaper Decatur County ever had, was Charles D. Barry, who got out the first issue of the Decatur County Beacon, Sept. 10, 1880.  Charles D. Barry died in Purdy in the autumn of 1881, and publication of the Decatur County Beacon was continued by W. V. Barry until the spring of 1884, when he moved to Lexington and founded THE LEXINGTON PROGRESS.  Another brother, the late  Dr. Henry M. Barry, was also  ahead of G. Sterling in the newspaper business in Decatur County--both at Decaturville and Parsons.  We repeat that brother G. S. is all right and we regard him as being luckier in getting out of than into the newspaper business.

Other Local Newspaper History