The Rodney Telegraph

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Southern Telegraph and The Rodney Telegraph were early newspapers in Jefferson County, MS. The county was created in 1799 as the second oldest county in the Mississippi territory, Jefferson County was originally named Pickering.  

Donate: Rodney History and Preservation Society, PO Box 312, Lorman, MS 39096

One of Mississippi's earliest newspapers, the four-page weekly Southern Telegraph (1834-38), published by the Thomas B. Palmer Company. Between November 1837 and April 1838, when John M. Duffield was publisher, the newspaper was known as the Rodney Standard (1837-38); the name reverted to the Southern Telegraph when Thomas Brown and partner took over the paper. The Southern Telegraph and Rodney Standard motto "He that will not reason, is a bigot; he that cannot, is a fool; and he that dare not, is a slave," appeared in the front page masthead. 

When Brown became sole publisher, the title changed to the Rodney Telegraph (1838-40) and the motto became the "Union of the Whigs for the sake of the Union." In the 1840 presidential election, the Rodney Telegraph supported the successful Whig candidate, William Henry Harrison. The title changed one last time to the Jefferson Whig (1840-41) when Brown moved the operation 20 miles southeast to Fayette, Mississippi. 

Source: MDAH

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