In 1829 the Index passed into the ownership of Charles M. Cushman, who changed its name to the Orange Telegraph, and later to the Newburgh Telegraph. In 1839 Mr. Cushman sold it to Henry H. Van Dyck, who, in 1840, sold it to Elias Pitts, who, in 1850, disposed of it to Edward M. Ruttenber. The latter sold it in 1857 to Joseph Lawson, repurchased it in 1859, resold it in 1861 to E. W. Gray, who sold it, in 1864, to George M. Warren, he to Isaac V. Montanye in the same year; he to E. M. Ruttenber in 1865; he to A. A. Bensel in 1867; he to J. J. McNally in 1869, who, in 1874, sold it to Dr. Cooper, of Warwick. In 1876 E. M. Ruttenber again became its owner, and changed its name to the Newburgh Register. February 24, 1908, the publication of the Register was suspended.
Here, then, appears the second paper to come down to us from that early period, though only after many ups and down and with kaleidoscopic changes of titles and owners. Mr. Ruttenber assures us that "The Telegraph, although Democratic at all times, opposed the Albany Regency—a fact which led to its purchase by H. H. Van Dyck, or rather the purchase for him. Mr. Pitts, who had been sent to take Mr. Van Dyck's place, very soon fell into the line of thought of his local supporters, and not only approved the Regency, but upheld the 'Free Soil' banner of 1848 with marked ability. In the subsequent changes and revolutions," adds Mr. Ruttenber, "in politics it has maintained the Democratic faith."
An ambitious effort appeared at Goshen in 1808 when Gabriel Denton launched the Orange County Patriot and Spirit of Seventy-six. In this publication we recognize the third journalistic venture with sufficient tenacity of life to come down to our own day, though it, too, had to change its title and character somewhat ere it became the present well-known Goshen Democrat.
From 1808 to 1820 there seems to be a hiatus. There does not appear a single new journalistic venture in that time, although it was in this period, in 1812-13, that the Orange County Republican became the Independent Republican, and in 1822 was removed from Montgomery to Goshen. The war of 1812, impending, progressing and ending, with war's all-demoralizing effects, may account for this cooling of the journalistic ardor for twelve long years.
At any rate, the next new publication to appear in the field—figuratively if not literally—was the Orange Farmer, in 1820, at Goshen. Its founders, Williams and Farrand, were graduates, Mr. Ruttenber says, of the Albany Plow-Boy publication. How long the Orange Farmer ploughed through the journalistic heather of Orange County is not now known, but we never hear of it again. Mr. Ruttenber records that "Samuel Williams, the associate of Mr. Farrand, died at Rondout, June 16, 1878, in his ninetieth year—the oldest printer in the State, and for forty years a member of the Baptist denomination."
In June, 1822, John D. Spaulding began, at Newburgh, the publication of the Newburgh Gazette. This passed through many owners' hands, appearing in 1856, under the management of Eugene W. Gray as the Daily News. Later it passed a somewhat checkered career in alliances with the Gazette, the Telegraph, the Daily Telegraph (1864), Daily Union, same year, the Press (1866), and the Register in 1876.
The Rev. J. R. Wilson began at Newburgh, in 1824, the publication of a religious monthly of forty-eight pages, under the title of the Evangelical Witness. It was devoted to the exposition of the doctrines of the Reformed Presbyterian church, and was continued four years, to be succeeded (1828) by the Christian Statesman, which gave up the ghost after one year's struggle in this cruel, cold world.
An anti-Jackson paper appeared in Newburgh during the campaign of 1828. It was called The Beacon. Its editor was Judge William B. Wright.
In 1829 the Orange Telegraph appeared at Newburgh. It was merely our old friend, the Political Index, in a new guise, under the tutelage of Charles M. Cushman, who subsequently named it the Newburgh Telegraph.
A monthly quarterly appeared next in Newburgh in May, 1832, as Tablets of Rural Economy. John W. Knevels was the editor. The people then, as too often now, had no use for rural or other economy, and the quarterly died after a few issues.