My Genealogy Hound

WILLIAM ELLSWORTH SMYTHE was born in Worcester, Mass., December 24, 1861. His family, on both sides, had resided in New England from the time of its earliest settlement, his first American ancestor being Edward Winslow, one of the “Mayflower’s” passengers and an early governor of Plymouth Colony. Another ancestor, Thomas Starr, was a leader of the famous “Boston Tea Party,” who first resented the tyranny of Great Britain. His paternal grandfather rendered notable service m the navy during the war of 1812.

The father of William E. Smythe, a man widely known throughout New England as a successful manufacturer and a prominent figure in the religious and political movements of his time, selected journalism as the profession for his son before he had finished his course in the grammar school of Worcester. Consulting his friend, the late Delano A. Goddard — the memorable editor of the Boston Daily Advertiser — he was advised not to send the boy to college, but to “‘put his nose to the grindstone’; get him a place as ‘devil’ in a country printing office; hand him a copy of James Parton’s ‘Life of Horace Greeley’; tell him to study politics and American history, and if he has the making of an editor that course will develop it.” The father’s plan had been a course at Harvard, but he followed the advice of the great Boston journalist. The boy became “devil” in the office of the Southbridge, Mass., Journal, worked at all sorts of hard labor from daylight to dark, read history and biography half the night, wrote Southbridge letters for the Worcester Gazette, Worcester letters for the Southbridge Journal, and filled in spare moments by reporting sermons and dog fights, weddings and funerals, for the county weekly on which he was employed, all for the munificent stipend of $2.50 per week. At the end of his first year’s apprenticeship he was the proud wearer of the title, “assistant editor of the Southbridge Journals At the suggestion of Mr. Goddard he was appointed local reporter for the Morning Gazette of Haverhill, Mass. At the age of seventeen he was made its night editor. After two years’ of night work his health gave way, and he became editor of the Medford, Mass., Mercury. At that time he enjoyed the distinction of being the youngest professional editor in Massachusetts. He was then nineteen. At twenty-one he was the editor of the Lynn Saturday Union. In the same year he delivered the Memorial day oration at Swampscott, Mass., and appeared as a republican stump speaker in the Butler-Robinson campaign. In the same year also he became editor of the Brockton Daily Gazette and staff correspondent of the Boston Herald. Later he gave his whole time to the Herald, handling its Old Colony district and its political news columns.

It was at this time that Mr. Smythe made the mistake of abandoning what he could do well to attempt what other men could do better. Without capital or financial backing, he entered upon the business of book-publishing. His first venture was an elaborate subscription book, “A History of the Labor Movement,” edited by Geo. E. McNeill, and containing contributions by many eminent economists and labor leaders. It received wide attention, and had a sale of over ten thousand copies, but the profits did not equal the large cost of its publication and sale. Still persistent, the young publisher engaged Senator Henry W. Blair, of New Hampshire, to write “A History of the Temperance Movement.” About the same time he also brought out a novel, “Uncle Tom’s Tenement,” by Alice Wellington Rollins; also, “The Statician at Work,” by Chas. F. Pidgin, and had several other works in hand. From first to last the business was an unequal struggle, in which ambitious energy ran a race against financial obligation. The end was failure, and on a day in October, 1888, William E. Smythe faced his creditors and told them he could maintain the struggle no longer. He went through insolvency, received his discharge and came West to begin again.

The people of Kearney had raised a subsidy, in cash and lots, for a daily newspaper which should contain the Associated Press dispatches and be a paper of some metropolitan pretension. H. D. Watson accepted the subsidy and appointed William E. Smythe to edit the paper. With him were associated Will Hall Poore and Charles S. Brainard, who had served with him on the staff of the Boston Globe and Herald. The Kearney Enterprise was from its very first issue a notable newspaper. It soon took rank among the leading newspapers of the West, and has always been widely quoted throughout the country as an exponent of Western opinion. The humor of “G. O. West” (Mr. Poore) ran through the press of this and foreign countries side by side with that of the Detroit Free Press, Terre Haute Express and other newspapers with well-known funny columns. The Enterprise has also become a factor in politics, and ranks in that respect next to the Omaha and Lincoln dailies. Mr. Smythe became owner of the Enterprise June 24, 1889, having L. E. Britton and W. H. Poore associated with him as partners. They sold the plant and property to the Kearney Enterprise Company in July, 1890.

Mr. Smythe has recently accepted the position of chief editor, under M. Rosewater, of the Omaha Bee, and assumes the duties of the new position on October 1, 1890. This is, perhaps, the most influential position that Western journalism has to offer, and his friends predict for him a career of usefulness and distinction.