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pp-- The following account of the life of Samuel Farmer was published in the 50th Anniversary Historical and Memorial Edition of the Port Perry Star in 1957. Samuel Farmer, the late owner and Editor of the Port Perry Star, came to Port Perry in September 1907. He took over the paper from the Star and Standard and re-named it the Port Perry Star. When he came to the town there were board walks and plenty of fences to keep the cattle out as they went down the dirt road of the main street to the weigh station. Fifty years later we have paved roads and the last word in automobiles - no cows. He had courage and perseverance, however, in plenty and at twenty years of age took out money a local farmer owed him in bodrd and went to public school at Epsom to try his entrance for High School. He had part of two years in Port Perry High School. Then he went to work in the printing office at Uxbridge for $2.50 per week. He had a natural gift for clear unaffected writing and he read incessantly. His self-arranged educa- tion never stopped in spite of the long hours he worked to earn a living. From Uxbridge he went to Toronto and ended up on the staff of the old "Saturday Night". He used to say that it was his job to wipe the dust of the ages off the old paper and prepare it for its place in the sun of modern Canadian life. The urge was strong to try for a paper of his own so with the help of the portrait artist, J.W.L. Forster, of Toronto, and I.R. Aiken of Grimsby, he was able to borrow enough to purchase the Port Perry Star. For forty years his work in Port Perry was a la- bour of love. He was a man in love with his work. He was proud of his community and strove always for its best interests. He had no use for foul abusive language or liquor and would not have it about the place if he knew it was there. He worked constantly for education and spent many extra days and 12 -- PORT PERRY STAR ANNIVERSARY ISSUE -- Tuesday, September 20, 1988 SAMUEL FARMER - Publishing the Star was a labour of love for 40 yrs. Samuel Farmer weeks travelling around the country learning about schools and possible grants and teachers' values. Eventually he was honoured by being presented with a life membership in the O.E.A. He always tried to write constructively. He knew that destructive criticism left worse troubles in its wake than if it had never been given. If he could point out the faults in a piece of legislation and sug- gest something better he felt that as editor of the paper he must do so. If he could not suggest some- thing better to put in place of the effort he saw be- ing made, he kept quiet or suggested that a com- mittee be formed to try and investigate the matter and see what could be done to improve the situa- tion. After his death in 1948 the family combined forces to carry on the business. We are now a limit- ed liability company with Mr. John Farmer, of Wes- ton, as president. Mr. Archie Farmer, Port Perry, vice-president; Marian Boyd (nee Farmer) and I.A.Boyd are all serving directly in the business as administrators. Anne Boyd (nee Farmer) and Mr. M.M. Boyd of Ottawa, serve indirectly writing editori- als and doing outside administrative work. The business has grown slowly but steadily over the years. Nothing spectacular has taken place but each year sees some new gain. The circulation of the paper has increased from 300 in 1907 to 1,200 in 1957. The job work covers a very wide area and in- cludes work from cities such as Toronto and Ot- tawa. The local rural area has always been of great concern to us. At one time the editor used to trade butter-paper for butter and cheese for his family and potatoes as payment did not come amiss in the early days. Life today has changed but we hope to carry on with the growing healthful interest in our community and the world at large. Our best wishes go to you, our friends in this town and in the district surround- ing it who have helped by your co-operation to make the Port Perry Star a successful business en- terprise. Yours sincerely The Board of Directors The above photo of the Farmer family is believed to have been taken about 1915 at their home in Port Perry. In the back row, from left, is daughter Ann; Mrs. Grace Farmer, Mr. Sam Farmer with son Archie. Front row seated are Marion and John Farmer. by Samuel Farmer March 1928 When the "Star" fell into our hands its light had been considerably dimmed, and it was a question whether it was going to putter out altogether. We had not more than 300 bonafide subscribers, and the advertising was sold at next to nothing an inch and collection of the next-to-nothing was not a sim- ple matter. Then the main idea was to fill up the paper with anything that would occupy space, and what is known as "boiler plate", (already made sterotype news) was freely used. All kinds of organizations were using the paper for propaganda. It was issued at a time that suited the publisher's convenience, and apparently no great effort was made to get the paper out on time. From a mechanical point of view the plant had little to build on. It was of the same character as the wardrobe of the man who went to have his suit pressed and had to stand in a barrel while the job was being done. There was not enough type to do a job of any size , and the presses were wonderful chiefly for the fact that they had served so many years. The old plant has all been scrapped; it has been sold for junk, or has been melted up and made into new type. We have not a single piece of old ma- chinery left and none of the small type, only a few fonts of the best wooden letters. Today we have an sept. 1907 unusually well equipped country office. Perhaps the most wonderful of our machines is the linotype. itis very nearly human in its capacity to set and dis- tribute type. It saves oceans of time and many weary eyes and much backache. The chief concern is to make the paper of local interest and to be of service to the community. We cannot afford to hire a staff of reporters to gather news and put it in acceptable form. The reporting end of the newspaper work taxes our ability very frequently. We hear a rumour, after talking to sever- al persons it is not always possible to get an accu- rate story and the whole thing may have to be dropped. The Star can always come into any home and be read by any member without hurting the tone of the home. It has been our business to encourage eve- ry good thing for our people and we can say that in the twenty years that this paper has been under our management not an unfair word has been said of anyone. The result is natural. Our circulation has grown and is assured. Because this is a local paper we do not attempt to print world news in any thorough- going fashion. We are not in competition with the ailies. We are gratified with the work of our corps of news gatherers. They are turning out good stuff. Our present staff of writers is excellent. We could not ask for better. : -- 1 pig RR ST a ng .