A True Texas Newspaperman (December 30, 2025)
by Scott Sosebee
For those of us who read and value newspapers these are seemingly perilous times. Large metropolitan dailies in cities such as Denver and New York have ceased operations (just this week came news that the New York Daily News would be eliminating hundreds of jobs), while others have reduced their newsgathering capabilities and editions, and still more have decided to terminate “print” versions altogether and rely solely upon internet readers. I have yet to figure out how you can truly enjoy a cup of coffee and toast while reading your news on a computer screen, but perhaps I am just not sophisticated enough to grasp such new technology and ideas.
The decline of readership for newspapers is unfortunate and perhaps even dangerous; from the founding of the nation, a viable and free press has been the “watchdog” of democracy and the hallmark of our country’s ideas of an independent citizenry free from the oppression of those who would control the flow of information. I do not suggest such is taking place, but I just cannot fathom how the short attention span spawned by the television newscast and the often spontaneous nature of on-line journalism can effectively replace diligent and comprehensive reports that characterize a well-crafted newspaper story. I want to yell “stop” at whoever is causing such a ruckus, but I just don’t know at whom to scream.
I may be at a loss for words while confronted with such a phenomenon, but I am sure that Charles DeMorse, were he with us today, would have had some choice words to offer. DeMorse was originally a Massachusetts Yankee, but as the saying goes “he got to Texas as fast as he could.” Born in 1816 (his original name was Charles Denny Morse, but a British official in Nassau, Bahamas incorrectly entered his name as “DeMorse on his voyage to Texas), the idealistic, young northerner joined volunteers to aid the Texas revolt against Mexico in 1835. He was willing to fight, but he arrived in Texas after the Battle of San Jacinto and had to settle for practicing law at Matagorda.
After a brief career as a lawyer and in the Mirabeau Lamar administration, DeMorse found his way to Clarksville in northeast Texas. There he founded the Northern Standard in 1842 and would continue as its publisher, editor, and general rabble-rouser until his death. He made the paper into one of the most strident—and nationalist—voices in the new Republic. DeMorse, at least until late 1844, was an opponent of secession to the United States and he favored Texas remaining an independent nation.
He became the first mayor of Clarksville in 1842 and was also elected to the Texas Congress, although he never served in that body; annexation came before he could take his seat. Although he claimed to have no political ambitions, DeMorse became active in the formation of a Democratic Party in Texas after it joined the Union, and became one of the leading editorial voices on issues leading up to the Civil War. He was a cautious advocate for secession, which fit most of his constituency since Northeast Texas’ voters were lukewarm on the idea of leaving the U.S. During the war, he did serve as a colonel in the Confederate Army, seeing action in the Indian Territory (Oklahoma) and Arkansas.
As he had done before the war, DeMorse once again used his newspaper for a cause after Appomattox, this time advocating Texans to move beyond the Confederate defeat in 1865 and accept re-joining the Union. But rejoining the Union did not mean accepting Reconstruction policies, so he vehemently attacked the Radical Republicans in print and frequently criticized the policies of Governor Edmund J. Davis in his paper. Politics then called the editor once again, but he finished second to Richard Coke in the Democratic nomination for governor in 1872, the election that ended Radical Republican control of Texas’ state government.
With his battles against Republicans done, DeMorse turned his attention to championing the rights of farmers in general and the Grange in particular. He also became one of the first directors of the new Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (now Texas A&M), and played a significant role in the drafting of the 1876 Texas State Constitution. The Northern Standard became one of the leading advocates of homesteaders and the small farmer throughout the 1870s and the 1880s, and DeMorse continually called on state legislators to ease the problems and burdens of “nesters.” DeMorse passed away in Clarksville in 1887, hailed by the Texas Press and Editorial Association as the “Father of Texas Journalism.”
Charles DeMorse was never a man to let a cause he believed go unbidden. He also understood the power and social importance of the press. Perhaps we need an old-fashioned editor to remind us that newspapers and journalism are just too dang important to let fade away. Maybe we just need some good old rabble-rousing!
The East Texas Historical Association provides this column as a public service. Scott Sosebee the Executive Director of the Association and can be contacted at sosebeem@sfasu.edu or via www.easttexashistorical.org.