Monday, November 8, 2010

George T. Jones and the Bi-State Weekly

The newspapers business in Delmar centered around George T. Jones and his wife, Mrs. Jones. Interesting altho the two ran the newspaper jointly I have found no reference to her first name. Prior to Mr. and Mrs. Jones entering the scene in Delmar there was the Delmar American newspaper run by William H. Hayman and the Delmar News, run by Frank A. Robertson. The papers were printed in Dover and sent to Delmar by rail each week. The Delmar American dropped out of existance around 1900. In 1911, Mr. and Mrs. Jones begin publishing The Herald. Shortly afterwards the two papers consolidated into the Delmar News-Herald. In 1913 Mr. and Mrs. Jones took control of the paper and renamed it the Peninsula News. In 1920 the publishing rights were sold to the Wicomico News of Salisbury, Maryland. After a short span Mr. and Mrs. Jones repurchased the paper and edited it again in Delmar, until 1927 when it was sold to Loren Quinn of Crisfield, Maryland. In 1932 Mr. and Mrs. Jones began publication of the Bi-State Weekly. The Bi-State Weekly would continue under various people until 1964. Altho later picked up as part of the State Register of Laurel it was never a Delmar paper after that. To this day Delmar does not have a paper it can call it's own.

Mr. Jones was born near Whitesville, Delaware in 1879. Mrs Jones was born in 1885 near Ward. Mr. Jones had a photography business in Ocean City until he was married in 1903. In 1903 they opened a photograph and print studio on the corner of East and South First street where they mainly printed circulars. After beginning the paper they continued to be the print shop for the town. Later the paper was moved to a shop behind their home on Delaware Avenue. Mr. and Mrs. Jones had one daughter Mrs. Myra Parks.

In 1948 Mr. and Mrs. Jones sold the Bi-State Weekly to two World War II veterans; William C. Calloway and Vernon L. Livingston. They continued to publish the paper until 1962 when it was sold to James K. Hazel, Jr. The paper struggled on, but by 1964 was done for.

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