Texas Emigrant

The Texas Emigrant was the first newspaper printed at Washington-on-the-Brazos. This weekly was one of only ten papers published in the Republic of Texas during the summer of 1839. John Warren J. Niles began the Emigrant on July 6, 1839, and chose Washington because the town was located in the Brazos valley, where the population was rapidly growing. Niles had published the Matagorda Bulletin before moving. According to a contribution to the Emigrant by William Jefferson Jones in August 1839, Niles permitted President Mirabeau B. Lamar's administration the use of his weekly in Lamar's political struggle with Sam Houston. In the spring of 1840 Niles had to suspend printing of the Texas Emigrant because of financial problems, but he had resumed publication by June 17, 1840. The Houston Morning Star referred to Niles's paper as the Washington Emigrant on September 19, 1840. Niles quit publication in August or September 1840 because his paper had few readers. Franklin L. Brigance may have continued publication of the Emigrant at Washington-on-the-Brazos during 1841.