Parsons Advocate

{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}

{{Infobox newspaper

| name = Parsons Advocate

| image =

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| type = Weekly newspaper

| format =

| foundation = 1896

| ceased publication =

| owners = Mountain Media

| publisher =

| editor =

| language =

| political =

| circulation = 3,033

| headquarters = 219 Central Avenue, Parsons, WV 26287

| oclc =

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| website = {{URL|parsonsadvocate.com}}

}}

The Parsons Advocate is a newspaper serving Parsons and surrounding Tucker County in the U.S. state of West Virginia.{{Cite web|url=http://www.wvculture.org/history/newspapers/newspaperlistcurrent.pdf|title=Newspapers Currently Received in the West Virginia Archives and History Library|date=December 2016|website=West Virginia Division of Culture and History|publisher=State of West Virginia}} Published weekly, it has a circulation of 3,033 and is owned by Mountain Media.{{Cite book|url=https://wvpress.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/2016-directory-print-062916-small.pdf|title=2016 West Virginia Press Association Newspaper Directory|publisher=West Virginia Press Association|year=2016}}

The paper began life as the Parsons City Advocate, a Republican weekly founded in 1896.{{Cite web|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86092348/|title=About Parsons city advocate|website=Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers|access-date=15 August 2018}} From 1896 to 1903, future governor William Gustavus Conley was a co-owner of the paper.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K30UKW0aewgC&pg=PA101 |title=Encyclopedia of West Virginia |last=Capace |first=Nancy |date=1999-01-01 |publisher=Somerset Publishers, Inc. |isbn=9780403098439 |language=en}} The title was shortened to the Parsons Advocate in 1901.{{Cite web|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84008412/|title=About Parsons advocate.|website=Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers|access-date=16 August 2018}}

In 1907, Parsons resident David Wallace Thurston became editor of the Advocate, and on July 1, 1913, he leased the plant and business, buying it in full in November 1919.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4zUTAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA545|title=History of West Virginia, Old and New|last=Callahan|first=James Morton|date=1923|publisher=American historical society, Incorporated|language=en}} Thurston, who cast his first presidential vote for Theodore Roosevelt in 1904, was heavily involved in the Republican party, holding many local administrative positions and running for mayor as the Republican nominee in 1932.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22854914/both_parties_name_candidates_at_parsons/|title=Both Parties Name Candidates at Parsons|date=19 March 1932|work=Cumberland Evening Times|access-date=16 August 2018}} The 1923 History of West Virginia referred to the Advocate as the "official paper" of Tucker County, and noted that under Thurston's leadership, its circulation was extended well beyond the county's borders.