Emanuel County Live Information

The Pine Forest, established in 1877, was consolidated with The Wiregrass Blade in 1903 to form The Forest-Blade. The modern-day newspaper gets its name from the consolidation of The Pine Forest and The Wiregrass Blade in 1903 in a series of rather rapid developments on the local newspaper scene. In the early spring of 1903, Alfred Herrington, editor of The Pine Forest, sold his interest in the newspaper to W.W. Larsen and Seaborn Bell. Mr. Larsen was named editor and Mr. Bell was listed as business manager. A second newspaper was in existence in Swainsboro at the time. It was The Wiregrass Blade, established in 1898, and was edited by George H. Bell. The Forest and The Blade continued to compete until May 11, when it was announced that Larsen and Seaborn Bell of The Forest had purchased The Blade. In doing so, they stated they would continue to publish both newspapers. This practice was apparently continued, with Ernest Camp, who had been an employee of Messrs. Seaborn Bell and Larsen, serving as editor of The Blade. On Sept. 25, 1903, purchase of the two newspapers was announced by W.E. Boatright, who had served as superintendent of the printing departments of the newspapers, and by S.J. Tyson. In the following week's issue, Mr. Larsen confirmed the sale and stated that he still owned half of The Stillmore Dispatch, another newspaper in the county. The lives of The Blade and The Forest, as the newspapers were affectionately called, were short lived under the guidance of Mr. Tyson and Mr. Boatright. On Oct. 29 of that year, they combined the newspapers into one, naming it The Forest-Blade. On May 2, 1907, Mr. Tyson purchased Mr. Boatright's interests. Mr. Tyson continued as editor until Nov. 3, 1910, when J.D. Mathews assumed this post. Two years later J.E. Miller and W.E. Boatright became editors of The Forest-Blade. They had previously published the Swainsboro News, according to an announcement of the sale, which also stated that Mr. Boatright would be editor of The Forest-Blade and Mr. Mathews editor of ...