A Christmas Day Newspaper
On December 25, 1879, B. E. Morrison began a Newton Hamilton newspaper called the Flea-Bite. Its unusual name was matched by its small size: Franklin Ellis’s 1886 history described a four-page, two-column sheet measuring just five by eight inches.
That makes this one of the community’s best short history stories: a local newspaper small enough to explain its own name. The publication’s existence and dimensions are recorded history, rather than a ghost story or an unverified town legend.
A Small Paper Grows
The Flea-Bite begins
Morrison launches the small four-page publication.
A new name: Watchman
Ellis records the change from Flea-Bite to Watchman.
A larger format
The paper expands to a four-column quarto format.
Eight pages
Another enlargement follows.
Another Name in Local Print
Ellis also recorded the first issue of the Newton Hamilton Standard on November 20, 1885. H. C. Kinsloe was its proprietor, and H. C. Kinsloe and W. M. Doughman were its editors. The county history gives us this publication milestone; it does not justify treating every locally published newspaper as one uninterrupted business.
Original issues would add another layer: advertisements, announcements, local voices and the design of the paper itself. Until an issue is located, an illustration of the Flea-Bite should be identified as a modern illustration, not presented as a surviving front page.
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Sources and Further Reading
Researched and updated October 1, 2026. Nineteenth-century histories are attributed to their authors and reflect the period in which they were compiled.