Workday Wednesday - Newspaper Man

Ad in 1916 Mercer County Farmer's Directory

I knew my great-grandfather George Pulskamp was publisher of a German language newspaper, Der Mercer County Bote, but I didn't know anything about his early career. Thanks to Notre Dame putting the Notre Dame Scholastic student weekly online, I now have some details.

George graduated from Notre Dame in June 1896 with a Bachelor of Letters. By October, he was helping to edit the Mercer County Standard in Celina. Ohio. Interesting that they slipped a bit of political commentary in.

Notre Dame Scholastic, October 10, 1896

By 1887 he was a foreman in the Standard office and was also spending his spare time getting subscribers for the Bote. I thought this second clipping was especially interesting since it includes an article from the Mercer County Standard that quotes the Bote talking about George and the Standard. Both newspapers give high praise to George.

Notre Dame Scholastic, January 23, 1897

A little more than 3 years after graduating from Notre Dame, George purchased the Bote. I was surprised to find out that he bought the paper that early. The paper was discontinued sometime after WWI, but George continued to run a print shop until his retirement in 1947.

Notre Dame Scholastic, November 26, 1898

In addition to the info on George's career, I found a lot of fun facts about him in the Notre Dame Digital Archives. There were a couple of papers that George wrote while in school and reviews on a play he was in. I also found his dorm, classes he took, and some of his grades. I highly recommend this resource if you have ancestors that attended Notre Dame. One last thing... Can anyone tell me what the meaning of "Hock!" is in the last article?