v “RAISED MONEY BY HOOK AND CROOK, GOT MY PAPER OUT”: SUNSHINE AND SHADOW IN THE LIFE SEASONS OF EDITOR AND PHYSICIAN DR. ELIHU S. McINTIRE (1832–1899) by Earl Henry McIntire A dissertation submitted to the faculty of The University of Utah in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Communication The University of Utah May 2017 vi Copyright © Earl Henry McIntire 2017 All Rights Reserved v THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH GRADUATE SCHOOL STATEMENT OF DISSERTATION APPROVAL The dissertation of Earl Henry McIntire has has been approved by the following supervisory committee members: David J. Vergobbi , Chair February 24, 2017 Date Approved Kimberley Mangun , Member February 24, 2017 Date Approved Glen Feighery , Member February 24, 2017 Date Approved Avery Holton , Member February 24, 2017 Date Approved Thomas Huckin , Member February 24, 2017 Date Approved and by Kent A. Ono , Chair of the Department of Communication n and by David B. Kieda, Dean of The Graduate School. vi ABSTRACT Dr. Elihu S. McIntire (1832–1899) grew up on farms in Ohio and Indiana and was a physician who served as an assistant surgeon with the 78th Illinois Infantry Regiment during the Civil War. He practiced briefly in Dallas City, Illinois, and Grantsburg, Crawford County, Indiana, before settling in Mitchell, Lawrence County, Indiana, where he spent the last 30-plus years of his life. He served as editor and proprietor of the Mitchell (IN) Commercial from 1872 to 1883. This dissertation in the form of a cultural biography traces his life story based on 13 personal diaries and more than 100 issues of the Commercial that have survived to the present day. It applies James Carey’s approach to cultural history in attempting to capture the “way in which men in the past have grasped reality,” “how action made sense from the standpoint of historical actors,” and the “structure of feeling” that existed in McIntire’s time and place. It attempts to paint McIntire as a real person, considering both his fine points and flaws in the many roles he fulfilled as husband, father, doctor, journalist, and citizen. This dissertation identifies how McIntire’s life experiences shaped his journalism and how the practice of his craft later influenced his declining years. It also uses framing and textual silences as analytical tools to consider how McIntire himself, his contemporaries, and this biographer employed these two devices in the telling of McIntire’s story. It also argues that framing and textual silences cannot be studied or employed independently of each other and suggests that they can be combined in historiography generally and in cultural biography specifically. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ...........................................................................................................................iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................................vii PREFACE ..............................................................................................................................viii Chapters ONE: INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................1 Purpose of Study ............................................................................................................3 Significance ....................................................................................................................8 Chapters ..........................................................................................................................11 TWO: REVIEW OF LITERATURE .....................................................................................20 Post-Civil War Journalism in America ..........................................................................20 Lives of Small-Town Newspaper Editors ......................................................................27 Examples of Cultural Biographies .................................................................................33 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................41 THREE: METHOD AND THEORY .....................................................................................48 Methodology for This Study ..........................................................................................48 Historical Method ...........................................................................................................51 Theory ............................................................................................................................58 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................68 FOUR: WINTER ...................................................................................................................75 Parents and Cultural Heritage of Elihu S. McIntire .......................................................76 National and Local Picture .............................................................................................77 The Land, the Farm, and Farm Life ...............................................................................78 Birth, Birthplace, and Elihu’s Place on the Farm ...........................................................80 The Move West ..............................................................................................................82 Winter Themes in McIntire’s Writings ..........................................................................86 Winter-Season Experiences That Portended McIntire’s Journalism ..............................93 viii FIVE: SPRING ......................................................................................................................101 Farm Work, Teaching, Apprenticeship ..........................................................................102 Medical School ...............................................................................................................108 Margaret .........................................................................................................................113 Early Married Life, Dallas City ......................................................................................115 The War, the Muster, the Movement .............................................................................118 Duty in Kentucky ...........................................................................................................123 Resignation, War’s End, and Reflections .......................................................................129 Grantsburg, the War’s Aftermath, and Mitchell .............................................................131 Spring Themes in McIntire’s Writings ...........................................................................133 Clues to McIntire’s Reporting Style from the Springtime of His Life ...........................140 SIX: SUMMER ......................................................................................................................155 Lawrence County and Mitchell ......................................................................................156 Beginning His Diary, Purpose for Writing It, Changes in Profession ...........................162 Mitchell Commercial ......................................................................................................172 U.S. Railway Mail Service .............................................................................................178 Exploring Options and a Return to the Commercial ......................................................183 Politics, Social Justice, and Civic Responsibility ...........................................................187 Writing, Financing, and Printing the Commercial .........................................................191 Rivalry Among Newspapers in Lawrence and Surrounding Counties ...........................198 Implications of Personal Interests and Family Affairs for his Public Life .....................201 Summing Up His Commercial Run ................................................................................206 Summer Themes in McIntire’s Writings ........................................................................209 The Season’s Effects on McIntire’s Journalism and Summer’s Ebb .............................214 SEVEN: FALL.......................................................................................................................231 Board of Examining Surgeons .......................................................................................234 Medical Activities ..........................................................................................................238 Politics ............................................................................................................................241 Business Venture ............................................................................................................245 The Farm ........................................................................................................................249 Children, Grandchildren, and “Wife” .............................................................................261 Invalid Years ..................................................................................................................276 How McIntire