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SEARCH MY WASHINGTON COUNTY PENNSYLVANIA WEBSITES
HISTORY OF NEWSPAPER PUBLICATIONS
 
James McDermott
Once a printer with the REPORTER newspaper,
Washington PA
McDERMOTT
James McDermott who came to this place at an early day and became identified
as a printer with the REPORTER [The Reporter newspaper], and has also served the town many years as
postmaster, is now eighty seven years of age and still a resident of the town.
He was born about one and one half miles from Gettysburgh [sic], April 24, 1795,
and resided at home until he was about fourteen years of age, when he was
apprenticed to Robert Harper, then editing the ADAMS SENTINEL in Gettysburg. In
1814 he was drafted into the United States army and placed under the command of
Captain John McMillan. On the first of November the company marched to Erie,
Penna. Later he was a participant in the battles of Chippewa and Lundy's Lane,
and other battles and skirmishes in Canada. After his return home he visited
Gettysburg, Washington, DC, and Martinsburg, Virginia, and worked a short time
in each place. In the latter part of 1817 or the early part of 1818, he came to
Washington, Penna, and entered the office of John Grayson on the EXAMINER [The
Examiner newpaper] where
he remained six or seven months. In the latter part of 1818 he entered the
office of the REPORTER [The Reporter newspaper] and remained with that paper through all its various
changes for thirty two years up to 1850. In March of that year he was appointed
postmaster and served four years, and as deputy during the term of David
Acheson, his successor. Upon the election of Mr. Lincoln as president in 1860,
he was again appointed and served four years, after which he served in an
official capacity for a short time in Harrisburg.
Source: History of Washington County, Pennsylvania: with
biographical sketches
of many of its pioneers and prominent men. Edited by Boyd Crumrine. Illustrated.
Philadelphia: L.H. Everts and Co., 1882. p. 489 [for Grayson and McDermott]:
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me.
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