The Moorefield Examiner, a Hardy County weekly newspaper, and its predecessors date their origins to 1845. In 2002, the same family had published the Examiner for a full century. In 1902, Samuel Alexander McCoy and G. W. McCauley bought the Hardy County News from Capt. J. J. Chipley. By the end of the year, ‘‘Mr. Sam’’ was the sole owner and the paper was called the Weekly Examiner. Following McCoy’s death, his daughter, Katherine, and her husband, Ralph E. Fisher, took over the paper’s management in 1936. R. E. Fisher’s death in 1968 brought in the third generation, Phoebe Fisher Heishman, and her husband, David.
The editorial page of the Examiner has always promoted county growth and supported historic preservation, among other causes. From countywide telephone service to the building of four-lane Corridor H, editors have pushed for what they believed would be best for Hardy County. Like other country weeklies, the Examiner serves the home county and those who left home and moved to other places; recently the paper had subscribers in more than 40 states. The Examiner has survived floods, economic woes, and angry subscribers.
While Phoebe Heishman continues to write editorials and serve as publisher emeritus, the newspaper’s current publisher is her daughter, Hannah Heishman, extending family ownership into a fourth generation. In 2016, the paper’s circulation was 3,813.
This Article was written by Phoebe Heishman
Last Revised on March 10, 2023
Cite This Article
Heishman, Phoebe "Moorefield Examiner." e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia. 10 March 2023. Web. 28 April 2024.
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