- Llewellyn F. Terry -

By Danny McCarthy

There just happens to have been someone who “was born in Sag Harbor, on February 20th, 1849.” Then “at the age of twenty,” {in 1869}, “he established a weekly newspaper known as ‘The Traveler,’ at Cutchogue.” In 1870, “he moved {‘The Traveler’} office to Southold.” “In 1877{,} he sold the ‘Traveler’ and moved to Greenport, purchasing from C. L. Young ‘The Suffolk Weekly Times.’” {This “relative information” was generously exchanged from the Mattituck-Laurel Library from its Suffolk Times Obituaries online website, and concerns a gentleman by the name of Llewellyn F. Terry.}

The Suffolk Weekly Times “was known as a Republican newspaper while the opposition {The Traveler} supported the Democratic Party. Terry was still running the Times in 1888, the year of the famous blizzard. About that time, the huge storm paralyzed eastern Long Island, {and Mr. Terry} moved the newspaper plant from Front to South Street and the new location became known as ‘Printing House Square.’” {This comes from former Southold Town Historian Antonia Booth’s article titled The History of the Long Island Traveler and the Mattituck Watchman that appeared in the June 2011 Peconic Bay Shopper.}

For thirty years, Mr. Terry “edited and published” The Suffolk Weekly Times, and then he sold the plant to John L. Kahler in 1906. {Mr. Kahler was formerly associated with The Suffolk County News ~ This comes from the August 6, 1926 The Suffolk County News.}

“Politically Speaking - Mind You!” ~ “Not Self So Much, But Service”

Llewellyn F. Terry had such a varied career. The April 17, 1886 The South Side Signal “reported the fact” that Llewellyn F. Terry was appointed as one of the Notary Publics in Suffolk County that year. He is mightily credited for being a “School Director, President of the Village of Greenport, Tax Collector, Town Clerk, {and} Justice of the Peace.” He served as Justice of the Peace for “over a quarter of a century.” And he was “Clerk of the Board of Education for {30} years.” Llewellyn F. Terry “was also well known for serving as Scribe of {the} Sithra Chapter{,} and {also for serving for} over {30} years {as} Secretary of {the Civic & Social Association known as} Peconic Lodge, F & A.M.” He was Town of Southold Supervisor from 1911 to 1912.

An Executive Editors’ Meeting

The January 23, 1898 The Brooklyn Daily Eagle included a special entry telling the organization of “about twenty editors of the county newspapers” that formed “The Suffolk County Editorial Association.” At that time of course, “Editor L. F. Terry” was of the Suffolk Weekly Times.

Was He a “Boy ‘Wonder?’”

September 19, 1946 The Long Island Traveler-Mattituck Watchman shared the fact that “The forerunner of the Traveler, the Wonder, was avowedly ‘devoted to popular literature,’ but was actually produced to {advertise} the business principles of the Sandford family, vendors of books and stationery.”

That September 19, 1946 article continues: “It is interesting to note that the publishers felt that local happenings, today considered the ‘backbone’ of every country newspaper, had no place in their columns; they were dismissed as ‘of no interest to the general readers.’”

Llewellyn F. Terry published the Wonder beginning in May 1870. {Actually, at that time, Mr. Terry’s business was referred to as L. F. Terry and Company.”}

December 5, 1946 The Long Island Traveler-Mattituck Watchman carried this bit of information: “THE TRAVELER – Published first at Cutchogue, September 20, 1871, by Llewellyn F. Terry and edited by Nathan Hubbell, then pastor of the Cutchogue Methodist Church. Moved to Southold in 1872.”

There’s a Bit of Confusion!

That December 5, 1946 The Long Island Traveler-Watchman reads: “Martin B. Van Duzen, to whom Terry sold The Traveler in 1875 …” And: “When Llewellyn F. Terry founded The Traveler in 1871, he was a young man in his twenty-second year of life, having been born February 29, 1849 …”

The February 9, 1901 The Brooklyn Daily Eagle reads: “The Suffolk Weekly Times was established at Greenport in 1856 by John J. Riddell, and had a number of changes until purchased by its present owner and editor, Llewellyn F. Terry, in 1877. In 1869 Mr. Terry established the Long Island Traveler at Patchogue, and the next year moved it to Southold. Mr. Terry has filled a number of offices in his town, and is now police justice of Greenport Village. He is a member of many orders and societies.” {I believe that February 9, 1901 The Brooklyn Daily Eagle should have read: “In 1869 Mr. Terry established the Long Island Traveler at Cutchogue, and the next year moved it to Southold.”}

Aha! A Bit of Clarification!

The History of the Long Island Traveler and the Mattituck Watchman that appeared in the June 2011 Peconic Bay Shopper by former Southold Town Historian Antonia Booth reads: “… The Long Island Traveler was first published in Cutchogue on September 20, 1871, succeeding the short-lived Cutchogue Wonder. … At first Llewellyn F. Terry operated the paper, then Martin B. Vandeusen became ‘editor and proprietor.’”

In that June 2011 Peconic Bay Shopper write-up, Mrs. Booth {with “thanks to Linda Cooper for her research”} also makes mention of “J.N. Hallock {who} first worked for Martin Vandeusen in 1888 {and} then took possession of The Traveler on April 1, 1889. In addition to all this he was Southold town clerk from 1915 until 1932.”

Wait! ~ There’s More!

Joseph N. Nelson also remarks in the September 19, 1946 The Long Island Traveler-Mattituck Watchman that “It was a cold May 3rd morning in 1887 that I entered the Long Island Traveler office as a printer’s devil. Mr. Martin B. Vandusen (he spelled his name that way, though the family has changed it to Van Duzen since his demise) was the owner and proprietor.” {It was written in that article that Mr. Hallock stepped away from The Traveler after “53 ½ years.”}

Let’s Pay Dues With a Variation of Spelling

Here’s a website link regarding Mr. Van Dusen:

https://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi/pages.suddenlink.net/http//fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6458547

Llewellyn F. Terry died on Monday, July 26, 1926 at his son’s {Fred’s} Waynesville, North Carolina summer home. Funeral services were held in the Greenport Presbyterian Church of which “{Llewellyn F. Terry} was for many years a faithful and conscientious member.” “Interment was in the {Greenport] Stirling Cemetery, {with} the members of the Peconic Lodge F. & A. M. conducting the services at the grave.”

Llewellyn F Terry (1849-1926) - Find A Grave Memorial

There are 15 matches using keywords Llewellyn F Terry on the Suffolk Historic Newspapers website. Here’s a link:

http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/search/pages/results/?SearchType2=phrase&from_year2=1800&to_year2=2016&county=Suffolk&ortext=&andtext=&phrasetext=Llewellyn+F+Terry&proxtext=&proxdistance=&dateFilterType=range&date1=01%2F01%2F1800&date2=12%2F31%2F2016&rows=20&searchType=advanced