William F. McClanahan^{[1, 2]}

1838 - 1904  (66 years)

• Name	William F. McClanahan
  Born	Aug 26, 1838	Mississippi, USA
  Gender	Male
  Census	Jun 08, 1880	Sabine Pass, Jefferson county, Texas, USA   [3]
  Census	Jun 19, 1900	Sabine Pass, Jefferson county, Texas, USA   [4]
  Died	Sep 04, 1904	Sabine Pass, Jefferson county, Texas, USA
  Buried	Sabine Pass Cemetery, Sabine Pass, Jefferson county, Texas, USA
  Notes	W.T. Block writes: WILLIAM F. McCLANAHAN: PIONEER PUBLISHER OF SABINE PASS, TEXAS http://hans.wtblock.com/wtblockjr/williamf.htm ".... W. F. McClanahan of Sabine Pass was born into that special fraternity of humans whose veins flow a mixture of printer's ink and blood. "He was born in Mississippi in August, 1838, and grew to adulthood in typical plantation traditions, enjoying a common school education. After a hitch in the Confederate Army, he settled at Sabine Pass, Texas, where he met and, in February, 1871, married Miss Kittie Ketchum, the daughter of a pioneer Sabine steam sawmiller and boat builder. His father-in-law, Isaiah Ketchum, and two partners had founded the Spartan Mill Company, a steam mill with three circular saws, in 1848. The publisher's brother, Tom McClanahan, was a Sabine schooner master for many years. "In 1870, Sabine Pass was a war-scarred community of 460 souls that could ill-afford one weekly publication, let alone two. Federal troops, who only seven years earlier had burned all of the town's industry and many homes, now occupied the seaport that was only a shadow of its pre-Civil War self. Charles Winn, the customs collector, established the Sabine "Union" there in 1868 and quickly became the voice of the Radical Republican regime of Gov. E. J. Davis in Austin, which held its sway by force of Union bayonets and Carpetbagger government. "In February, 1870, McClanahan founded the Sabine Pass "Beacon" in an effort to counter the "Union," and along with George W. O'Brien of Beaumont, he became an ardent spokesman for the "New Democracy" in Southeast Texas. The only surviving copy of the "Beacon," an issue of June 10, 1871, is now in the archives of the New York State Historical Society and is the second-oldest surviving newspaper from Jefferson County. " .... on October 12, 1886, a giant hurricane washed all of McClanahan's property, including the entire printing establishment, into the sea. Considering that 86 persons drowned at Sabine, the printer and his wife were fortunate to escape with their lives. The Galveston "Daily News" started a fund among Texas publishers to help him rebuild his printing plant, but whatever the outcome was, the Sabine Pass "Times" did not survive the hurricane. ".... In August, 1888, he and a group of Orange citizens founded the Orange Publishing Company and began the printing of the "Southeast Texas Journal," which the "Daily News" described as being a "spicy eight-page paper as large as the Houston Post." 'The "Journal," too, folded after two years, and McClanahan and his family returned to Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, where he started the Westlake "News." Only another of his ill-fated business ventures, he gave up after one year and returned to Sabine Pass. "W. F. McClanahan's last publishing effort was the Sabine Pass "News" in 1895. "....McClanahan ended his days in the seaport city as a merchant and a commission lumber sales agent and died there on September 4, 1904. His gravestone still stands in the fenced-in Ketchum family plot in Sabine Pass Cemetery."
  Person ID	I44053	mykindred
  Last Modified	May 16, 2012

  
  

  Family 1	Mary T. "Kittie" Ketchem,   b. 1848, Pennsylvania, USA ,   d. Bef 1880  (Age < 31 years)
  Married	Feb 18, 1871	Sabine Pass, Jefferson county, Texas, USA
  Family ID	F40733	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 2	Catherine Ketchum,   b. Sep 27, 1854, Sabine Pass, Jefferson county, Texas, USA ,   d. Jul 07, 1941, Houston, Harris county, Texas, USA  (Age 86 years)
  Married	Bef 1880
  Notes	- 1880 census, TX, Jefferson, Sabine Pass, pct 3, p. 2, sd 1, ed 42, (T9-1313, p.204) June 9, 1880, enumerated by Wm. F. McClanahan, HH 16/16 McCLANAHAN, W.F., W, M, printer, 41, MS, TN, SC McCLANAHAN, C.K., W, F, 25, wife, TX, PA, OH KETCHEM, I.M., W, M, 58, father-in-law, ship carpenter, PA, NJ, TN WOLKARTE, C.K., W, F, 11, niece, TX, LA, TN WOLKARTE, Ida, W, F, 10, niece, TX, LA, TN - 1900 census, TX, Jefferson, Sabine Pass, pct 3, ed 34, 17-A, (T623-1650, p.139) June 19, 1900, HH 354/377 McCLANIHAN, W.F., head, W, M, Aug 1838, 61, m 30 years, MS, Ireland, TN, compositor McCLANIHAN, Clara, wife, W, F, Sept 1854, 45, m 30 yrs, no children, TX, PA, OH STEELE, Roderick, boarder, W, M, Dec 1847, 52, Can, Can, Can, surveyor
  Family ID	F15779	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Sources

  [S574] Block, William.T., http://hans.wtblock.com/wtblockjr/williamf.htm. WILLIAM F. McCLANAHAN: PIONEER PUBLISHER OF SABINE PASS, TEXAS, by W.T. Block [S574] Block, William.T., http://www.wtblock.com/wtblockjr/williamf.htm. [S135] 1880 US federal census, 1880 census, TX, Jefferson, Sabine Pass, pct 3, p. 2, sd 1, ed 42, (T9-1313, p.204). [S3961] 1900 US federal census, 1900 census, TX, Jefferson, Sabine Pass, pct 3, ed 34, 17-A, (T623-1650, p.139).