Georgia Historic Newspapers

Joe W. Cain and B. B. Coleman established the Chattooga News in Summerville, Georgia in 1886. The four-page paper circulated weekly and aligned politically with the Democratic Party. By 1889, Joe Cain published the paper in partnership with his brother John W. Cain. Joe Cain died in August 1891 after a long illness and John took over editorial duties of the Chattooga News in his stead. During his tenure as editor, John Cain simultaneously served in the Georgia General Assembly. His daughter Edna Cain joined the paper as the local editor and then associate editor in the early 1890s. She later served as publisher of the Quitman Free Press and was the first woman to report for the Atlanta Constitution. The Chattooga News plant caught fire in 1892, but the press was salvaged from the disaster and printing of the paper resumed from a new office on Commerce Street. Cain changed the title of the Chattooga News to the Summerville News on Oct. 14, 1896 and increased the issue size from four pages to eight pages. He sold the paper to Baptist ministers J. G. Hunt and J. W. McWhorter in March 1900. Their intent in purchasing the paper was to support the cause of the prohibition of alcohol in Chattooga County through the pages of the Summerville News. Employee Oscar Joseph Espy purchased McWhorter’s share in the paper in January 1903 and Hunt’s share in September 1906. Under his ownership, Espy technologically modernized the paper and bolstered its reputation across the state. After his death in July 1938, Espy’s son David Thomas Espy took over editorial duties for the Summerville News. He managed the paper for three decades before selling the publication to his four sons in 1968. The Summerville News is today published by the Espy Publishing Company and continues operation as the oldest business in and the official organ of Chattooga County.

Provided by: Digital Library of Georgia