Wiregrass Farmer

The Wiregrass Farmer is reported to be the second newspaper created by Irish immigrant Joe Lawrence.

Lawrence, a devout Christian, moved his family from Ireland to the United States in the late 19th century. After arriving in New York, he headed south, eventually settling in south central Georgia in the community which later became Ashburn.

Lawrence's first attempt at a newspaper was a religious publication, according to subsequent stories told about him by his daughter Nora Lawrence Smith (December 25, 1886 - July 17, 1971). No copies of Lawrence's first paper, if it ever existed, have surfaced.

There is reason to doubt the stories of Miz Nora, as she was called, because among other stories, she told of leading her family's covered wagon through the woods at night with a lantern. The time frame she gave for this would have her being about two or three years old at most, considering her stated

birthday. Miz Nora, for reasons no one really knows, postdated the first edition of The Wiregrass Farmer and Stockman to 1899 in subsequent editions of the paper by changing its volume number. It is believed that Lawrence's religious paper was published in 1899, and she included those editions as part of The Wiregrass Farmer.