Strokestown newspapers

[nkcassidy]

Does anyone know what newspaper or newspapers the residents of Strokestown would have read in the late 19th and early 20th century? My Mother, born in Strokestown in 1907, said that her father bought a newspaper every day and that several neighbors stopped at her house on a regular basis to read it. Unfortunately, I have no idea what the name of the local newspaper was at the time. Thank you!

[pflanagan132]

In 1907 the only newspapers available on a daily basis were The Irish Independent from 1905, The Irish Times from 1859 and The Freeman's Journal from 1763.
Local newspapers were published on a weekly basis, The Roscommon Herald from 1859, The Roscommon Journal from 1828, The Roscommon Weekly Messenger from 1848 and The Western Nationalist from 1907. The latter later became The Roscommon Champion, which sadly folded earlier this year.
Patrick Flanagan

[Mike Lennon]

There is one addition to Patrick's list of newspapers of that period - The Strokestown Democrat was founded by the Morahan family in 1907 and continued publishing until 1948. The Democrat is also remembered as the only newspaper in the region which supported and printed election leaflets for Count Plunkett in the famous 1917 North Roscommon bye-election, which was the start of Sinn Fein's victorious campaign over John Redmond's Irish Party in the following year's general election.

Mike Lennon