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- [S74] Atchley Funeral Home Records, Volume IV, 1987-1999, Larry D. Fox, (Smoky Mountain Historical Society), 9 Dec 1996.
Frank Yett Eckel obituary
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 13 Sep 2014.
Upland Chronicles: Eckel was newspaper editor 40 years
CARROLL MCMAHAN
Herbert O. Eckel was editor and publisher of the Sevier County Record-Republican for 40 years.
Although blind the last 19 years as editor and publisher of the Sevier County Record-Republican, Herbert O. Eckel saturated himself so thoroughly with current events through personal contacts, telephone conversations, a hired reader and Knoxville radio, that he was more aware of world and local events than journalists with good eyesight.
Herbert Odie Eckel was born Oct. 1, 1871 in Knoxville. He was a son of Alexander Eckel and Mary Jane Rawlings. Eckel became an apprentice in his father's printing office when he was very young. He later worked for the Knoxville Sentinel and was a charter member of Asheville Typographical Union in Asheville, N.C.
In 1894 Eckel, decided to exchange the newspaper printing business for a teaching career. He graduated from U. S. Grant Memorial University (now Tennessee Wesleyan College) in Athens, Tenn., and accepted a position as teacher of mathematics and Latin at Murphy College in Sevierville.
On June 22, 1896, he married Elizabeth Mae "Lizzie Mae" Wynn, a daughter of former Sheriff Elkanah Mitchell Wynn and Caroline Trotter Wynn. In the ensuing years, Herbert and Lizzie Mae had four sons: Harry, Frank, Hugh, and Herbert W.
Soon after the marriage, Eckel's in-laws were embroiled in a sensational and tragic situation. Pleas Wynn, one of Lizzie Mae's brothers, was convicted and hanged in 1899 for the 1896 "White Cap Murders" of William and Laura Whaley. Another brother, William Wynn, was shot and killed by Sheriff Fillmore Maples, during the time for Pleas Wynn's trial.
After teaching school for eight years, Eckel returned to his first love by joining a stock company which bought the Sevier County Republican newspaper. In 1915 the newspaper was consolidated with the Sevier County Record, and Eckel gradually bought out the stockholders until he was sole owner.
The newspaper that became the Sevier County Republican had originally been named the Sevierville Enterprise when Preston Love established the first newspaper in Sevier County in 1882. Love sold the publication to a group of investors a couple of years later and continued to serve as the editor until Eckel came.
Throughout his career, two themes permeated Eckel's writing, the cause of the Republican Party and the fight for temperance.
Eckel enjoyed a good laugh at the expense of his few Democratic friends. He once described the crowd gathered at the Sevier County Democratic Convention as follows: "The members of the party and delegates to the convention assembled on the front seat of the Circuit Court room in the courthouse."
In 1909 when temperance was a hot issue, he wrote eloquently in its defense: "As fathers of children, and as our brother's keeper, shall we not exert our influence against such an evil?"
As long as was possible, he religiously walked to work from his two-story frame home on Old Knoxville Highway near the banks of the Little Pigeon River, refusing to drive a car. Teasing him about his frugality, his friends said he knew how to keep from spending money.
Throughout the years Eckel was editor and publisher, he had competition from Bill Montgomery, a well-respected editor who published the Montgomery Vindicator. Montgomery established his newspaper in Sevierville in 1895.
While the men agreed on politics, they were at odds over the issue of temperance. Montgomery was a heavy drinker and a ruthless critic of anyone with whom he disagreed. One of his favorite targets for ridicule was prohibition. Due to his unwavering support of prohibition, on numerous occasions Eckel was the subject of Montgomery's attacks.
By the time Eckel became editor of the Sevier County Record-Republican, the reign of terror at the hands of the notorious Whites Caps had passed. However, many stories and rumors still abound about the vigilantes. Perhaps because of the connection his wife's family had to the group, Eckel chose never to mention the White Caps in his newspaper. The example set forth by Eckel was carried over through various editors throughout the most of 20th century.
Eckel was known for his generosity in giving space in his newspaper for local stories. He was a member of the Mountain Star Lodge No. 197, a patron of the Sevierville Order of the Eastern Star, and a member of the Sevierville First Methodist Church. For 15 years he served as secretary of the East Tennessee Press Association.
His dedication of the newspaper to what he considered right was introduced in the first issue after he became editor on Aug. 18, 1909, when he wrote: "We come before the reading public, take off our hat, bow, and present you volume 1. As an agency for accomplishing good, we count the newspaper second to none.
"In politics we all uphold the Republican Party. We thoroughly believe in the principles and doctrine of the G.O.P. Public offices are public trusts and should we find such trusts are being abused, we shall certainly make a noise."
Eckel continued publishing the newspaper until his death on March 31, 1949, at age 77. He is buried in the Shiloh Cemetery. Following in their father's footsteps, all of his sons were involved at some point in the publishing business. His son Frank was associated with the Knoxville News Sentinel.
After Eckel's death, William Postlewaite became publisher of the newspaper and the name was changed to Sevier County News-Record. In 1954, the Montgomery Vindicator was sold at public auction to a group of investors who included Postlewaite, publisher of both the Sevier County News-Record in Sevierville and The Mountain Press in Gatlinburg. The Vindicator name was no longer used. Since that time, the two papers have merged into The Mountain Press, which currently serves the entire county.
Carroll McMahan is special projects facilitator for the Sevierville Chamber of Commerce and serves as Sevier County historian.
The Upland Chronicles series celebrates the heritage and past of Sevier County. If you have suggestions for future topics, would like to submit a column or have comments, please contact Carroll McMahan at 453-6411 or cmcmahan@scoc.org; or Ron Rader at 604-9161 or ron@ronraderproperties.com.
- [S73] Rawlings Funeral Home, Book 2, 31 Mar 1949.
Eckel, Herbert Odis Oct 1, 1871 Sevier Co. March 31, 1949
Spouse: H.O.
Father: Eckel, Alexander Tn
Mother: Rawlings, Mary Jane Sevier Co.
Sons: Herbert W., Frank, Harry A., Hugh
Cemetery: Shiloh
- [S87] Death Certificate.
Name: Herbert Odis Eckel
Event Type: Death
Event Date: 31 Mar 1949
Event Place: Sevierville, Sevier, Tennessee
Gender: Male
Age: 78
Birth Year (Estimated): 1871
Father's Name: Alexander Eckel
Mother's Name: Mary Jane Rawlings
- [S34] In the Shadow of the Smokies, Smoky Mountain Historical Society, (1993), 347.
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