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James McLaughlin, the father of Lewis
McLaughlin, lived in Stafford Springs,
Connecticut, from 1866 until his death in
1895. He was born in North Windsor,
New York, in 1838, passed his boyhood
in Fallsburg, of that State, and received
the more important part of his education
at the Walkill Academy of Middletown.
His inclinations were literary, and he
early resolved to take up literary occupations.
In 1857, he went to Palmer, Mas-
sachusetts, to learn the printing trade.
As an apprentice he entered the office of
"The Journal," the publishers of which
Palmer paper at that time were Messrs.
Fisk and Goff, who published an edition
of their paper for circulation in Stafford
Springs under the name of the "Stafford
News Letter." In 1862, James McLaugh-
lin purchased the interest of Mr. Goff in
the Palmer establishment, and four years
later, in 1866, sold his interest in the
Palmer Journal and removed to Stafford
Springs, having become sole owner of
the "Stafford News Letter," with his
brother, H. C. McLaughlin, whom he
took into partnership. The "Stafford
News Letter" was at that time the only
publication in Tolland county, through-
out which it circulated, and to make it
more representative of its field, the name
of the paper was changed in 1867 to the
"Tolland County Press," another change
being made in 1883, the paper being then
changed to "The Press." As "The
Press" the paper has since remained, and
as its standards and general policies were
then, so it has been continued through
almost four decades to the present. A
press notice regarding "The Press," as
it was under the editorial direction of Mr.
James McLaughlin, stated :
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
" 'The Press'
has always been characterized by a policy
at once conservative and liberal,—con-
servative, in that it has shunned sensa-
tionalism, persistently declining to attract
140
readers by lurid appeals to morbid tastes,
or the unnecessary treatment of unhealth-
ful subjects, liberal, in that it has dealt
with all public questions, alike reporteri-
ally and editorially, in the spirit of justice
and fairness. Its devotion to local interests,
has from the first, been marked, and
its record of local happenings, full and
accurate." The same is true of the paper
to-day, and has been since the advent to
editorial control of its present editor and
owner, Lewis McLaughlin. In 1872,
James McLaughlin again became sole
owner of "The Press," and continued in
independent ownership until 1885, when
his son, Lewis, was admitted to partnership.
The publishing house then became
McLaughlin & Son, the son taking charge
of the job printing and business department,
thus giving the elder Mr. Mc-
Laughlin more time to devote to editorial
and public work. The influence of Mr.
McLaughlin, and of his journal, was evi-
dent in the affairs of Stafford Springs,
and his pen was ever at the service of the
community to further and emphasize any
project that gave promise of betterment
to the town. And he came into State rec-
ords in more than one public capacity.
In 1880, he sat in the State Legislature,
or General Assembly, as the representa-
tive of Stafford. One notable appointment
he held was membership in the
committee appointed by the State Board
of Agriculture, to secure the establishment
of a State experimental station, the
first of its kind in the United States. In
i8qo, James McLaughlin was census su-
pervisor for the five eastern counties of
Connecticut. He was director of the
Stafford Savings Bank, and of the Agri-
cultural Society, and also of the State
Prison. He died August 2, 1895. His
wife, whom he married in June. 1863. was
Ellen J. Atwood, of Belchertown, Massa-
chusetts.