George Yarnell was born 1830; at age 17 he went to Putnam, Ohio, where in the office of the Western Recorder he learned the printer's trade. At the end of two years, on account of ill-health, he went to Missouri, where he rapidly recovered, and entered the office of the Liberty Tribune, published at Liberty, Mo., and there gained a large practical experience; afterward he became employed at Lexington and St. Louis; returning to Ohio he remained until 1854, when the California mining excitement was at its height. He crossed the plains with Russell, Waddell & Co., and after a wearisome trip of 4 months he landed at Marysville, California. Near Diamond Spring he began life as a miner; he remained in California 9 years; and was also editor of the Placerville Daily News. He then returned to Fulton Co., Illinois, where, near Lewistown, he bought farm property and followed agricultural life until 1869. At that time he returned to Los Angeles, California, where in connection with a younger brother he established the Los Angeles Daily Express, which had a very good circulation. In 1871 Mr. Yarnell permanently settled in Fulton county and followed farming. In 1875, Nov. 13, George Yarnell founded the Lewistown News, a five-column folio. He purchased new presses and office material and started a job office, and issued the paper to advertise his new enterprise. This little sheet was so well received that Mr. Yarnell was encouraged to enlarge it and send it forth as a regular publication. This he did March 30, 1876, when it was increased to the present size of The News-Chronicle. It is an eight-column folio, neatly printed, and besides its foreign, national and local news, its literary clippings and productions, its personal, poetry, editorials, market reports and miscellany, it contains a goodly number of advertisements, thus showing that it is appreciated by the best judges of the value of a newspaper, advertisers.

enjoys the distinction of seniority, and with one exception it is the oldest daily newspaper published in Southern California. Its publishers are organized into a corporation called the Evening Express Company, of which H. Z. Osborne is President, E. R. Cleveland, Secretary and Treasurer, and J. Mills Davies, Business Manager. They publish also the Weekly Express, which has an extensive circulation among the farmers, ranchers and fruit-growers.
The Evening Express was founded and first published by an association of practical printers comprising Jesse Yarnell, George Yarnell, George A. Tiffany, J. W. Painter and Miguel Verelo. The first number appeared March 27, 1871, and consisted of four pages, six columns to the page. In March, 1875, Colonel J. J. Ayres and Joseph D. Lynch purchased the Evening Express from Mr. Tiffany and his associates, which was by them enlarged to an eight-column paper, with new type and a new press, and in 1875 it was still further enlarged to a nine-column paper.
In 1884 the Evening Express was sold to H. Z. Osborne and E. R. Cleveland. [History of Los Angeles Co...., p. 143]

On February 1, 1873, the first number of the Weekly Mirror appeared, a diminutive sheet 10 x 13 inches, of four pages and three columns to the page. It was published every Saturday by Yarnell & Caystile, (Jesse Yarnell) and distributed free. The office was at No. 14 Commercial street, in an old building where the proprietors started with $500 worth of second-hand job printing materials which they had purchased on credit, the primary purpose being to do job printing. The little paper prospered and grew brighter every issue. On March 1, 1873, William M. Brown was taken into the firm, the title becoming Yarnell, Caystile & Brown, and on the 19th of that month the Mirror was enlarged a column to the page, making a sheet 11� by 16� inches. This important event was announced in a double-leaded editorial in which the publishers stated that, having abandoned the idea of publishing the smallest paper in California, they should set no bound to the Mirror's growth. In November, 1873, the Mirror office was moved into a new building erected for its use on Temple street, an addition to the Downey Block. There the office remained until it was removed into the new Times building in May, 1887. The second enlargement of the Mirror was made March 27, 1875, when it was made a twenty-column sheet 17x22 inches - four times it original size, "the subscription price remaining $1." On October 29, 1875, William M. Brown retired from the firm on account of ill health and died the following March. The Mirror bindery was purchased January 22, 1876, and a Potter drum cylinder press was added February 19, 1876. In August, 1880, Mr. S. J. Mathes came into the firm, and the succeeding month the Mirror was again enlarged to an eight-column paper, 24x38 inches, and the subscription price raised to $2 per year, with Mr. Mathes as editor. Subsequently it was enlarged to a nine-column paper and two more pages added, making the Mirror by far the largest paper published up to that time in southern California. The fifth enlargment took place in July, 1882, - six months after the Daily Times was started, and immediately following the second enlargement of the daily-when the Mirror was made a double sheet of eight large pages. After the Times was started, in December, 1881, the Mirror became practically the weekly edition of the former, but retaining its original name, as being the older journal. In May, 1888, its form was changed to twelve pages of six columns each-its present shape. The subscription price is now $1.50 a year. Unlike the Times, it is not a partisan paper, though it aims to give all the current political news. The Mirror's specialty is in the advocacy of the development and advancement of Los Angeles and southern California, of whose interests it is an able champion, and in many thousands of whose intelligent homes it is a welcome weekly visitor. [History of Los Angeles Co...., pp. 148-149]

This enterprising journal, which in all the elements that enter into the composition of a great newspaper, ranks among the first on the Pacific Coast, was started on the 4th of December, 1881, as a seven-column folio. The projectors were Cole & Gardiner. Mr. Gardiner retired with the first issue, and Mr. Cole on January 1, 1882. They were succeeded by the proprietors of the Weekly Mirror, Yarnell, Caystile & Mathes, who bought the Times outright and continued its publication as a Republican morning journal. It was a lusty journalistic child, and grew and waxed strong and vigorous from the start. It proved a phenomenal success in view of the disastrous fate of the number of Republican papers which had attempted but failed to "make a live of it" in Los Angeles. So cordial was the reception given and so generous and substantial the patronage accorded to the young Times, that on April 2, 1882, it was made an eight-column paper, an expansion fully justified by its business. Three months later, July 2, 1882, it was enlarged to nine columns to the page. August 1, 1882, Colonel H. G. Otis became an partner in the firm and the editor of the Daily Times and Weekly Mirror. His proprietary interest in the papers has been continued ever since that time, and with the exception of short intervals his management has also been continuous. On the 22d of May, 1883, Mr. A. W. Francisco, then of Ohio, now of Los Angeles, an honored journalist of wide experience, bought Mr. Yarnell's interest, and the following October was made business manager, which position he filled with marked ability until his retirement July 31, 1884. Mr. Mathes retired at the same time to engage in other pursuits. [History of Los Angeles Co...., p. 149]