Grinnell Newspaper Lauds Edward Doty
(From Grinnell Register)
“Thirty,”
that mystic term which to all printers means “the end”, came to Edward
Rutledge Doty Wednesday afternoon at the home where for his declining
years he had lived surrounded by the loving care of his wife and
children. He was 88 years of age at his last birthday, Sept. 8.
Mr.
Doty had been a newspaper man all of his active life, and every one oof
the papers which he conducted during his long career was a Democratic
paper and no mistake about that. Mr. Doty enjoyed a wide acquaintance
among his brethren of the art preservative as a genial personality,
forceful and fearless. He was widely known for his editorial utterances
during his more active days and was never afraid to call a spade a
spade.
The Doty’s were real American stock. The first of them to arrive in this country, Edward | 
E. R. Doty
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Doty,
came over on the Mayflower and handed down to his descendants the
sturdy integrity and strong convictions which have been characteristic
of the Doty clan.
Funeral services were held from the Smith Funeral Home Friday morning with burial in Hazelwood cemetery.
Edward
Rutledge Doty was born Sept 3, 1850, in Marysville, Ohio, the son of
Jackson Doty and Sarah Ann Jacques Doty, his wife. He spent his youth
in Ohio during which time he learned the printer’s trade and in his
early twenties came to Iowa where the rest of his life was to be spent.
The
newspaper drew him as if with a magnet. He started his long editorial
career in 1889, when he became publisher of the Oxford Leader, now the
Johnson County Democrat. It was the first Democratic paper in Johnson
County. In keeping with the primitive customs of those first days in
Iowa newspaperdom, it was printed on a Washington handpress.
While
a resident of Oxford, Mr. Doty was married on Sept. 3, 1884, to Anne
Elizabeth Rapp, who has been his faithful companion through the years.
After
leaving Oxford in 1913, he edited papers at several Iowa points until
1925 when he came to Malcom as publisher of the Malcom Leader,
continuing there for nine years at which time he retired from active
work and came to Grinnell to make his home.
Considering his advanced
age, Mr. Doty had enjoyed excellent health until just a month ago, when
he was stricken with pneumonia, which with attendant complications,
ultimately caused his death.
To Mr. and Mrs. Doty were born five
children, one of whom died in infancy. He is survived by his wife and
four children, Mrs. L. C. Whitford of Ottumwa, and Pauline, Lenore and
Wade of Grinnell. All of the last three named are valued members of the
Herald register staff so that his death comes especially close to all
the folks in The Herald-Register office.
Mr. Doty lived to a
ripe old age. He enjoyed the affection of a devoted family and many
friends. He did a man’s work in the world and he was true to himself
all through the years. As he lays down forever the editor’s pencil and
the printer’s rule there is no one who will not say “well done.”
It’s “thirty” for Edward Doty but his memory will live after him.
(Source: Johnson County Democrat & Oxford Leader, Thurs, Jan 5, 1939, pg. 1)
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