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THE EFFINGHAM
REPUBLICAN, published in Effingham, Ill., is the successor to the Register, which was established in tins place in
1864, and was run by Maj. William Haddock until 1872, when he joined the Greeley movement of that day. The change
was disastrous to the Register, which went down in that campaign. In August
of that year the Republican was established by the Martin brothers,
Elgin Martin being its editor. The Republican crowded the Register out. The former paper was conducted and
published by the Martin brothers until October, 1873, when they sold out to Henry C. Painter, a practical printer,
who conducted the paper until the fall of 1885, when it was purchased by its present proprietor, E. B. Gorrell,
who has operated it successfully since. The paper is a five-column quarto, is well printed and ably edited, and
is the only Republican paper in the county.
Elkanah
B. Gorrell, the editor and proprietor of the Effingham Republican, was born in the town of Alexander, Licking
County, Ohio, on the 8th of November, 1853, and is a son of Harvey and Sarah (Kirkpatrick) Gorrell. The father's
family was originally from Westmoreland County, Md., and later became residents of Pennsylvania, whence they removed
to Ohio. The grandfather of our subject owned the site of the county seat of Knox County, Ohio. The father of our
subject was the youngest of seven sons. He was married in Knox County, whence he afterwards removed to Licking
County, and from there he came to Illinois, locating here in the autumn of 1865. Locating in Effingham, he has
since made his home in this city. His wife died November 22, 1890.
Our
subject is the only surviving member in the family of six children. He came to Effingham with his parents in 1865,
when a lad of thirteen years, and acquired the greater part of his education in this place. He began learning the
printer's trade under John Hoeney, publisher of the Effingham Gazette. In 1867, he resumed school, and later
in that year he went with Col. J. W. Filler to Kinmundy, where he worked at his trade until 1868. In that year
he went to St. Louis, where he completed his trade. He then traveled and worked as a journeyman in the South, doing
business in Memphis and Jackson (Miss.), Shrevesport (La.), Little Rock (Ark.), and Louisville (Ky.), where he
held cases for a time on the Courier Journal. Later he was employed in the line of his
trade in Cincinnati and in Chicago.
In
March, 1874, during the Granger supremacy in Jasper County, he went to Newton and established the Jasper County Clipper,
a Granger paper, which he conducted for about a year and a-half. The Granger movement then began to wane and in
the year 1876 he leased his office and bought a half-interest in the Cumberland
County Democrat. Six months
later he retired from that field in disgust. Returning to Newton, he changed the name of the Clipper to the Times and made it a Republican paper, which he
conducted until 1885, when he removed his office to Effingham and established the Effingham Republican in place of the old Register.
Mr.
Gorrell was married in Newton, November 11, 1881, to Miss Alice C. Brown, a daughter of D. B. and Martha J. Brown,
and a native of Newton. They have one daughter, Nellie Burton.
Mr.
Gorrell is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and socially is connected with Effingham Lodge No. 145, A. F. &
A. M. During nearly his entire life he has been interested in newspaper work, and his long and valuable experience
in that line has well fitted him to be the successful editor of the Effingham Republican. His paper is a bright, interesting and
newsy one, and Mr. Gorrell well deserves the patronage which he receives.
Portrait and Biographical Record of Effingham, Jasper and
Richland Counties Illinois, Containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, Governors
of the State, and the Presidents of the United States. (Chicago: Chapman Brothers, 1887), p. 405. Transcribed by
Judy Rosella Edwards.
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