Miners' & Farmers' Journal

In the record (8)

1. 1775

   No contemporary 1775 documentary copy of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence has ever been found; unlike the Mecklenburg Resolves, no 1775-era newspaper, letter, or manuscript recording a May 20, 1775 declaration of independence has survived or been located by historians.

   Unverified — sourced but not confirmed against a primary record.

   Charlotte Observer

   Source · checked 2026-08-13

2. 1830 · 1830-09-27

   The Miners' & Farmers' Journal, a weekly newspaper published in Charlotte from 1830 to 1835 and aimed at the region's gold-mining and agricultural readership, began publication on September 27, 1830.

   Unverified — sourced but not confirmed against a primary record.

   Charlotte Observer

   Source · checked 2026-08-14

3. 1838 · 1838-01-01

   The authentic text of the Mecklenburg Resolves, though printed in 1775 newspapers, had been lost to public memory after the Revolution and was not rediscovered by historians (notably Peter Force, in newspaper archives) until 1838 -- more than a decade after the disputed 1819 Declaration text had already gained wide circulation and become entangled in North Carolina's civic memory.

   Charlotte ObserverPeterPeter Force

   Source · checked 2026-08-13

4. 1865 · 1865-10-01

   In October 1865, a Freedmen's Bureau agent identified as Captain Barnett circulated an official document among Black residents of the Charlotte area to correct widespread erroneous ideas about the meaning and terms of freedom, while the local Western Democrat newspaper ran editorial commentary criticizing the Bureau's presence and freedpeople's postwar behavior.

   Unverified — sourced but not confirmed against a primary record.

   Charlotte ObserverFreedmen's Bureau

   Source · checked 2026-08-13

5. 1869 · 1869-01-25

   The original Charlotte Observer newspaper was first issued on January 25, 1869 by a group of four Confederate veterans working as the printing firm Smith, Watson & Company.

   Charlotte ObserverJane Berry Smith

   Source · checked 2026-08-13

6. 1882 · 1882-06-17

   The earliest known issue of the Charlotte Messenger, Charlotte's first secular Black newspaper, is dated June 17, 1882; the paper was founded, published, and edited by William C. ('W.C.') Smith, who had earlier founded and edited the short-lived Fayetteville Educator beginning in 1874.

   Charlotte ObserverCharlotte MessengerJane Berry Smith

   Source · checked 2026-08-13

7. 1886 · 1886-03-01

   William S. Hemby founded the Charlotte Chronicle in March 1886 as an evening newspaper positioned as a political rival to the morning Charlotte Observer.

   Charlotte ObserverCharlotte Chronicle

   Source · checked 2026-08-13

8. 1891 · 1891-06-19

   On June 19, 1891 the Charlotte Democrat newspaper announced that the newly organized Highland Park Manufacturing Company, led by president W.E. Holt and secretary-treasurer C.W. Johnson, would build a gingham mill in Charlotte — the city's fifth cotton mill.

   Alpha MillMecklenburg Cotton MillAda MillOrient MillVictor Cotton MillCharlotte ObserverHighland Park Manufacturing CompanyMarshall Park

   Source · checked 2026-08-13