One of the prominent representatives of the journalistic profession in
ths section of the state is the gentleman whose name heads this brief
notice, the well-known editor of The Gazette-Express, of Earlville,
Illinois. He is numbered among the native sons of this state, his birth
having occurred April 10, 1860, at Farmer City (then Mount Pleasant), De
Witt county, Illinois. His father, John Griffith, a veteran of the civil
war, was born in Pickaway county, Ohio, and in early manhood married Miss
Malinda E. Clearwater, a native of Mount Pleasant, already mentioned, and a
daughter of Nathan and Mary M. Clearwater, who came to this state from
Indiana and were one of the first four white families to settle in that
neighborhood.
In 1879 Martin L. Griffith commenced learning the
printer's trade in the office of The Public Reaper, at Farmer City, and in
1885 purchased the plant, which he moved to Dana, Indiana, but sold it two
years later. He went to North Dakota in 1889 and was there engaged in
newspaper work for himself two years, and for the same length of time worked
in the state printing-office at Bismarck. He returned to Illinois in 1893
and the same year purchased The Gazette published at Earlville. Two years
later the paper was consolidated with the Leland Express, owned by A. L.
Hall, and the firm of Hall & Griffith conducted the paper known as the
LaSalle County Gazette-Express; but on the 4th of February, 1899, Mr. Hall's
interest was purchased by M. L. Griffith & Company, the company being Dr. D.
M. Vosburgh. The paper is now published by that firm, and is one of the
leading journals of the county and a staunch supporter of Republican
principles in politics.
Mr. Griffith is an able newspaper man, is a
good writer and has a thorough comprehension of every department of the
work, so that he is conducting the paper with consummate skill and ability.
He is unmarried. His mother, four brothers and one sister are still living.
Extracted 18 Aug 2017 by Norma Hass from Biographical and Genealogical Record of LaSalle County, Illinois, published in 1900, volume 2, pages 521-522.
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