The very first newspaper in Santa Rosa, the parent of today's Press Democrat, was begun in 1857, just three years after Santa Rosa was chosen as the seat of Sonoma County and seven years after California became a part of the United States. Called the Sonoma Democrat this newspaper was a four-page weekly. Its name reflected the politicsof the Santa Rosa and Russian River valleys, which were settled in the 1840s and '50s by farmers from Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee. The founding publisher was Alpheus Russell, a merchant with some newspaper experience who came to open a general store on Third Street. John Taylor, a prosperous rancher south of the new town, encouraged Russell to establish the paper, giving him a five-dollar gold piece for the first subscription. At the end of a year, Russell sold the paper to printer E.R. Budd, who sold it again in 1860. The new owner was Thomas Thompson, a young Virginian who had edited Petaluma's Sonoma County Journal five years earlier at the age of 17.

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The Press Democrat

The Press Democrat's headquarters in Santa Rosa, CA, United States

Eric Johnston

Kris Browne

Raquel Issenberg

Michelle Rodd

Emily Paulsen Debacker

Sofia Englund

Heather Irwin

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Heather Irwin

Gil Mansergh

Martin Espinoza

Allison Gibson

Yovanna Rodgers

Robert Digitale

Alana Minkler

Matt Villano

Vincent Vitale

Andrea Granahan

Kris Browne

Sandy Morales

Ken Jaggie

Emily Paulsen Debacker

Diane Peterson

Michelle Rodd

Raquel Issenberg

Kienan O'Doherty

Gus Morris

Jaime Monte

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