By Carla Charter

Many of us who are involved in the newspaper industry came to it at different times and in different ways. None though may have begun their career at such an early age as Willie Strong—editor, publisher and printer of the Erving Gazette, who published his first issue at age 9, according to the Montague Historical Society. The society’s digital archives are a preserved collection of Montague history and available to the public through the efforts of Chris Clawson and local historian Ed Gregory, who compiled the information on Strong. Both are members of the historical society.

The first issue of Strong’s paper was printed on Dec. 10, 1883, according to information from the society’s website. The first several issues, one 5 x 6 page, were filled with a dozen or so quips and anecdotes. That changed with the first printing of news in his paper on Dec. 24, the third issue of the paper. There it was reported the news of a Mr. Loring Briggs who was crossing the river near the pulp mill with an ox team Saturday when the ice gave way and the oxen went into the river.

“They were helped out, after getting a good soaking,” Strong’s paper stated, according to a Greenfield Recorder article from July 14, 1938.

There were advertisements to support the paper as well, with the first placed by Strong himself. In the advertisement he offered that at the age of 10, that he would do all sorts of printing jobs at low prices with the work guaranteed. There was another change in the Dec. 22, 1884, issue when the paper changed to a 5 x 7 size with print on both sides. Contributions from other local authors and poets, including verses of Dr. C.L. Fiske Sr., began filling the paper as well, according to the archives.

In the Orange Enterprise and Journal of Nov. 23, 1933, a small article notes that Elliott Holland had brought a copy of the Erving Gazette, which had been printed on March 22, 1885, to Richards store. The article stated the Gazette had been sold for a subscription of 25 cents a year in 1885. The copy brought to Richards store included notes that H.F. Burnett was spending a few days with his daughter in Springfield and that there would be a sociable at the band room the next Wednesday evening. News of that day also included a party of men with their dogs on a wildcat hunt on Thursday. The dogs followed the animal across the river but did not succeed in catching it. They had gone out again that day. That paper showed a variety of advertisers, including Dr. E.T. Litch, physician and dentist, M.M. Stebbins Dry Good and Groceries and Erving House, G.W. Fisher, proprietor.

The Erving Gazette ceased publication on Dec. 21, 1885. That November, Strong’s family had moved from Erving to Millers Falls. This was not the end of his endeavor into the newspaper world, though. Instead, the paper then became the Millers Falls News and changed from publishing on Tuesdays to Saturdays. While in Millers Falls, Strong worked on his paper, conducted a substantial printing business, and was correspondent for the Greenfield Gazette and Courier and the Orange Enterprise. The paper was permanently suspended on Dec. 31, 1887.

“It is a remarkable body of work for someone that age. We wonder what support and resources he had in making it. His local news gossip offers a unique glimpse of Franklin County life at the end of the 19th century,” said Clawson.

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In 1892, according to the historical society archives, Strong graduated from the Powers Institute in Bernardston with high honors and from Hinmans Business College in Worcester, graduating at age 19 in April 1893.

By June of that year, he found himself working for the railroad industry, accepting a position of clerk at the Boston and Albany Freight Office in Worcester. The next year he was back in Millers Falls, serving as an agent and cashier for the Fitchburg Railroad. He served in that post for five years and was an organist for the Congregational Church of Millers Falls.

In 1900, Strong was promoted to a station agent for the Boston and Maine Railroad in Marlboro and then transferred to Troy, New York. While there he contracted typhoid fever, dying on Jan. 10, 1902, just 15 days before his 28th birthday. His funeral was held at the Congregational Church in Millers Falls and he is buried in Bernardston.

The Montague Historical database, according to Clawson, contains thousands of photos and items from Franklin County history, including issues of both the Erving Gazette and Millers Falls News, which can be viewed at www.montaguearchive.org

On Jan. 28 at 2 p.m. at the Great Falls Discovery Center, in Turners Falls, Clawson and Gregory will present two history documentaries, “The Genesis of the Turners Falls Community” and the “Franklin County Fair” and will hold a discussion following the presentations.

Carla Charter is a freelance writer from Phillipston. Her writing focuses on the history of the North Quabbin area. Contact her at cjfreelancewriter@earthlink.net.