Gridley Herald

On October 29, 1880, Charles Neff Reed published the first issue of the Gridley Herald.^[1][2] Reed was a drummer boy, orderly and spy in the Union Army for three years during the American Civil War. He was also a direct descendant of Joseph Reed. In 1891, Reed died. In his obituary, the Sacramento Bee called him "one of the best-known and most popular newspaper men in Northern California.^[3]

Reed's widow tried running the paper by herself for several months and ended up selling it to a group of local farmers.^[4] H. K. Goddard became the manager and Charles L. King did the printing.^[5] Charles H. Deuel was hired as editor in 1895, but he left after two years when he and Chet Richards bought the Chico Record.^[4]

In 1897, William Davis Burleson arrived in Gridley from North Adams, Michigan after a group of local farmers hired him to work as the Herald's new editor.^[4] In 1908, he bought the paper and expanded it to a semi-weekly.^[4] His youngest son Charles R. Burleson, who volunteered to fight in WWI,^[4] joined the staff in 1919.^[6] Charles Burleson became a co-owner and publisher in 1936,^[6] and bought out his siblings to became the sole owner in 1938.^[7] His father William Burleson operated the paper until his death in 1936. At that time, editorship was passed to Charles Burleson.^[8] In 1943, the paper's printer Alvie D. McDaniel bought in as a minority owner.^[9]

Charle Burleson's son William "Bill" D. Burleson joined the paper's staff in 1950.^[10] Charles Burleson died in 1961.^[6] In June 1998, Bill Burleson retired after selling the newspaper to Liberty Group Publishing, which was later renamed to GateHouse Media.^[11] In 2018, the paper closed with staff given only a single day of notice.^[11][12] Messenger Publishing Group bought the Herald and revived it two weeks after it closed. None of the paper's former staff were rehired.^[13]