Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Halstead, Murat

HALSTEAD, Murat, journalist, b. in Paddy's Run, Butler co., Ohio, 2 Sept., 1829. He spent the summers on his father's farm and the winters in school until he was nineteen years old, and, after teaching for a few months, entered Farmer's college, near Cincinnati, where he was graduated in 1851. He had already contributed to the press, and after leaving college became connected with the Cincinnati “Atlas,” and then with the “Enquirer.” He afterward established a Sunday newspaper in that city, and in 1852-'3 worked on the “Columbian and Great West,” a weekly. He began work on the “Commercial” on 8 March, 1853, as a local reporter, and soon became news editor. In 1854 the “Commercial” was reorganized, and Halstead purchased an interest in the paper. In 1867 its control passed into his hands. After pursuing for a time a course of independent journalism, he allied himself with the Republican party, which he has since supported. The Cincinnati “Gazette” was consolidated with his paper in 1883, and he became president of the company that publishes the combined journal under the name of the “Commercial Gazette.”