Oliver Cromwell Dawkins Leaves as Gazette Editor - 1896, Union Parish Louisiana Submitted for the Union Parish Louisiana USGenWeb Archives by T. D. Hudson, 12/2004 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ ================================================================================= Oliver Cromwell Dawkins Leaves as Gazette Editor - 1896, Union Parish Louisiana Farmerville "Gazette", issue of Wednesday, 22 January 1896, page 3 ================================================================================== Valedictory. My contract as editor expiring, my connection with THE GAZETTE ceases this week. For the past three years it has been my pleasure to furnish "copy" for the second and third pages of the paper. In assuming the duties of editor, I made use of these expressions: "I begin the duties of the position fully conscious of the task before me, and shall endeavor to hold the paper upon the same high plane of excellence to which the labors and abilities of its former editors have carried it. This will be no easy task, for it is a fact worthy of remark, that THE GAZETTE has been not only the neatest, but the best edited country paper in the State. The policy of the paper will be unchanged. It will continue to give its readers all local news worthy of mention, and as much general information as can be crowded into its columns; it will take special pride in mentioning everything good found or done in Union parish, and from time to time advertise the resources that lie about us. It will continue to adhere to the Democratic faith, in which abides the safety and glory of the American people, and will strike at evil wherever found, and uncover and expose corruption wherever concealed. "Into my new labors I shall carry malice against no one, but charity for all, and will be gratified if I can give my readers as good a paper as my predecessors gave them." How well this task has been performed does not become me to say. The work is before the people; let them judge. That I have failed to please every reader of the paper, no one knows better than I do; that I have written words that have stung certain individuals, I do not deny; that I have differed politically from many men in the parish, and from some even in my own party, I am well aware. But were it in my power to revise the entire edition of the past three years, I would not alter a single word or sentence. Whatever I have written has been put forth with the kindest of feelings. I am a Democrat and have written Democratic doctrines, without garbling facts or truckling to the opinions of anyone. I have not trimmed my expressions with the view of gaining public applause, but have preached Democracy as it has been preached to me since early boy hood. The editorial pen will pass into the same hands that delivered it to me, and I do not overstate matters when I assure the already informed readers of THE GAZETTE that Mr. J. G. Trimble will give them a more interesting paper than I was able to give them. He is a fluent writer, well informed, truthful, bold and frank. My connection with the paper has been of the most pleasant character. During the entire three years there has not been the slightest friction between Messrs. Trimble Bros. and myself, but entire harmony as to the policy and utterance of the paper has existed, and I sever my connection with the kindest of feeling for the proprietors and with the hope and belief that the merits of THE GAZETTE will continue to entitle it to entrance into every home in Union parish. Respectfully, O. C. Dawkins ================================================================================== Note: Oliver Cromwell Dawkins (1 January 1859 – 12 November 1928) was a native of the Truxno region of Union Parish. He attended college at the University of Tennessee and taught school all over Union Parish. Politically associated with and a friend of Judge Thomas C. Lewis, III, Dawkins founded the "North Louisiana Appeal" in 1881 to compete with Judge James Etherington Trimble's "Gazette" after Lewis fled Union Parish for the protection of his family in 1879. After publishing his paper for about three years, in June 1884 Dawkins ceased publication, sold his printing equipment to Judge Lewis (who had returned to Farmerville), and returned to teaching school. Dawkins lived in Marion in 1885, when Lewis repeated referred to him as "Colonel Dawkins"; we have no evidence of a military career, however. What I find interesting here is that Dawkins sided with Judge Lewis in the very public post-Reconstruction feud between Judges Thomas C. Lewis and James E. Trimble. Also on the Lewis/Dawkins side of the affair was Farmerville attorney James A. Ramsey. The personal friction between Judge Trimble and Ramsey led to a shootout between them in front of Stein's store in Farmerville. The tragic event claimed the lives of both men. After their father's death, Trimble's sons took over ownership and editorship of the "Gazette". Since they hired him as editor of the "Gazette" in 1893, the Trimble brothers apparently held no animosity towards Dawkins for his earlier association with their father's nemeses. Oliver C. Dawkins served as a delegate from Union Parish to the State Democratic Convention in 1883 and held various other public service positions in Union Parish between 1882 and 1884. The United States government recommended Dawkins as the U.S. Consul at Calais or Rouen in July 1885. Dawkins married Jessie Thompson (27 Nov 1861 – 25 Jan 1946) on 23 December 1886 in Union Parish. In the early 1900s, they moved to Monroe, and they were buried in the Monroe City Cemetery. ================================================================================== ###########################################################