The Victoria Advocate, the second oldest paper in Texas, was founded in the year 1846. The Victoria Advocate is an independent regional media company and the premier information and advertising source of the area.
The Initial years
The Victoria Advocate’s first publishers were Thomas Sterne and John David Logan who both were experienced news papermen. Initially, the paper was founded with the name “Texan Advocate” but soon within a year, it was changed to “Texian Advocate” in response to requests from Texas pioneers. Thomas and John sold the newspaper in the year 1853.
Later, the editors and publishers of The Victoria Advocate were Sam Addison White, Victor Marion Rose, Frank R. Pridham, Edward Daniel Linn, John L. Bartow, Louis Nicholas Hofer, and James McDonald. Between the years 1859 to 1861, the paper was owned by Sam Addison White and during White’s ownership, the newspaper was renamed as the “Victoria Advocate”. Later, in the year 1897, McDonald introduced the “Daily Advocate”. Both daily and weekly editions were published until the year 1943. After 55 years and about nine owners, In the year 1901, the paper was acquired by George H. French who operated it for coming 41 years.
The Journey
After the inaugural edition of the Victoria Advocate printed on 8th May 1846, an extra edition covering the first battle of the Mexican war was also published the same day to inform local citizens of the battle of Palo Alto. The paper was first delivered to points such as Gonzales, New Braunfels, and San Antonio by horseback. Later the Victoria advocate became the headquarter for three stagecoach lines and then they started sending paper by stagecoach.
In October 1942, the Victoria Advocate was purchased by Morris Roberts and several leading citizens. In April 1961, Roberts became sole owner of the paper by purchasing all the stock. Robert’s ownership was shared with his son, John M. Roberts, who served as president and daughter Catherine R. McHaney, who served as secretary-treasurer. Currently, Dan Easton is serving as the Publisher of the Victoria Advocate. Now, Stephen McHaney is serving as President of Texas Community Media (TCM) and Publisher of the Longview News-Journal who previously was Co-Publisher with Easton. In June 2012, Members of the Roberts/McHaney family purchased Longview and 13 other East Texas Newspapers and formed TCM.
The Victoria Advocate has missed publications only a few times, because of the fires in the year 1876 and 1892, and the Civil War, when it could not publish due to lack of newsprint. In the year 1999, The Advocate’s Web site, VictoriaAdvocate.com, was established.
The Victoria Advocate delivers the results for their advertising partners. As per the latest report issued by The Audit Bureau of Circulations (now Alliance for Audited Media), The Victoria Advocate is still delivering impressive readership. As per the figures, The Victoria Advocate is read by 76,388 adults in the Victoria market Monday through Saturday and 94,330 on Sunday. Adding to it, their Big Wednesday paper is delivered to an additional 17,100 households each week.
Over the years, Newspapers have become a valuable resource for providing genealogical information about historical events in the lives of our ancestors. The newspapers also provide all types of clues about vital statistics (birth, marriage, and death announcements), obituaries, local news, biographical sketches, legal notices, immigration, migration, and shipping information and other historical items, that place our ancestors in the context of the society in which they have lived.
Likewise, about the Advocate newspaper, as per research by Frank N. Magid Associates Publishing Division (formerly MORI Research), The Victoria advocate is quite popular among the Victoria area residents and is rated as the top source for community news and information and by the largest margin, for local advertising and shopping information.
As per the data from G2 Stack, Victoria Advocate uses 51 technology products and services which includes HTML5, jQuery, and Google Analytics. Additionally, for its website, Victoria Advocate is actively using 19 technologies, according to Built With. These include Domain Not Resolving, Amazon, and IPv6.
