The Manhattan Mercury is the successor (by a long series of acquisitions) of the first newspaper west of Topeka. That was the Western Kansas Express , founded by Count Carlos De Vivaldi, an Italian refugee, in 1859 -- four years after the founding of Manhattan. It was a strongly anti-slavery paper. The editor, James Humphrey, was shot at in the office in the 300 block of Poyntz.

The Mercury itself was started as a weekly newspaper by Jefferson J. Davis. Exactly when is a matter of some dispute, but his obituary indicated Davis started the publication in Manhattan in May, 1884. Davis was a Democrat and an ardent opponent of prohibition. He had been born in Georgia in 1850 and died at age 52. He had moved to Manhattan in 1874 and had worked at another newspaper -- the Manhattan Nationalist -- for years prior to starting his own.

The paper changed hands twice and then was owned by Charles Vernon, who converted it to a daily paper in February, 1909. It competed directly with the Nationalist asa daily.

The Kimball family eventually took control of The Mercury and consolidated it with the Manhattan Republic .

In 1915, Fay N. Seaton bought the Mercury from the Kimballs. Seaton had been a secretary (what today would be thought of as a chief of staff) for U.S. Sen. James Bristow in Washington. But Bristow -- who was a newspaperman from Salina -- lost his Senate seat as a result of the Bull Moose split in the Republican Party, and advised Seaton that he might want to look into buying The Mercury as a business venture. Seaton had business experience.

The Seaton family has owned The Mercury ever since.

Fay N. Seaton ran the paper until his death in 1952. During that time, The Mercury bought out the Nationalist in 1926 (they operated under both names until 1943) and the Morning Chronicle around 1915. Seaton operated the Chronicle as a separate paper until 1943, when it merged with The Mercury.

Fay Seaton's two sons ran the family business with him. R.M. Seaton operated the Coffeyville Journal for many years, and Fred Seaton operated the Hastings (Neb.) Tribune. Fred Seaton achieved some fame as a U.S. Senator and Secretary of the Interior. The Hastings paper is still a Seaton family business, as are newspapers in Winfield and Arkansas City, Kansas; Sheridan, Wyo.; Spearfish, S.D.; and Alliance, Neb.

Edward Seaton , the son of R. M. Seaton, is The Mercury's current publisher and editor-in-chief. He has run the Mercury since 1969. He moved the newspaper from its office on 4th Street (near the current-day Community Building) to its plant at 5th and Osage, shortly after taking over. The newspaper installed its current printing press at that point.