DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker on this site has to say — and friend, it is worth every word. Right here. This very spot.
This is where it all happened. This is the ground where The Northern Standard planted its flag and held it for the better part of half a century. August 20, 1842.
That's the day Colonel Charles DeMorse struck up the press and launched a pioneer Texas newspaper in a land that was still figuring out what it was going to be. And that man — born in 1816 — did not let go of that press lightly. He ran The Northern Standard, edited it, published it, breathed life into it issue after issue, all the way until October 25, 1887.
The marker calls him a loyal statesman and a finished scholar. And then it gives him a title that tends to silence a room: the Father of Texas Journalism. Now think on that a moment.
Not just a newspaper editor. Not just a man who kept the ink flowing on the frontier. The Father of Texas Journalism.
That's a legacy with some weight to it. And on every single issue — every one — there ran a line across the top like a battle cry. "Long shall our banner brave the breeze — the standard of the free." They printed that. Every time.
Like a promise renewed each publication day. You have to admire a man who picks a motto and means it. Colonel DeMorse died in 1887 — the same year the paper's long run under his hand came to a close.
But here's the part that tends to catch people off guard. The story doesn't end there. His daughter, Isabella DeMorse Latimer, picked up what her father had built and kept it going.
Kept that banner bravin' the breeze. She carried The Northern Standard forward until December 6, 1888 — making sure the paper her father had poured his life into didn't simply vanish the moment he was gone. There's something quietly extraordinary about that.
A pioneer newspaper, born on this site, outlasting its founder by the sheer will of the family that loved it. The Northern Standard. Right here.
Long may the standard of the free be remembered.
What the marker says
On this site stood the home of The Northern Standard - A pioneer Texas newspaper edited and published from August 20, 1842 to October 25, 1887 by Colonel Charles DeMorse (1816-1887) - A loyal statesman and a finished scholar often referred to as "The Father of Texas Journalism" - After his death the paper was continued until December 6, 1888 by his daughter Isabella DeMorse Latimer - "Long shall our banner brave the breeze - the standard of the free" appeared on each issue