Weldon, Williams & Lick

"O. D. Weldon was a local editor and business manager of the Fort Smith Weekly Elevator. He was born near Cleveland, Ohio, on September 23, 1847. His father, Oliver, was one of the inventors of the spring clock. O. D. Weldon began learning the printer’s trade in 1861, just as the Civil War was breaking out. He worked in the office of the Thirty-fifth Parallel, a weekly paper edited and published by General A. G. Mayers of Fort Smith. This paper only survived a short time due to the hostilities between the North and South. He joined the Confederate lines and remained there until 1863, when the Federals, under command of General Blunt, captured Fort Smith and occupied it until after the close of hostilities. In 1866, he again went to work at the printing business in the office of the Fort Smith Herald, owned by Judge John F. Wheeler, and from that time engaged alternately in the butchering and printing business until 1877. He was previously connected with the New Era newspaper. He was a regular correspondent for the New York Herald, Chicago Times, Globe Democrat, Texas Gazette and Arkansas Gazette. He was the original Vice-President of the Company. George T. Williams was the original Secretary-Treasurer of the Company. After a few years he sold out his interest in the business and returned to the sales profession, which was his occupation prior to the printing business. Chauncey A. Lick was born May 15, 1868 in Kansas City, Missouri. Shortly afterward his family moved to Springfield, Missouri where his father, a printer, established a weekly paper. Chauncey moved to St. Louis to become a journeyman compositor and was in the employ of Woodward and Tiernan when the general printers strike of 1887 occurred. Despite the admonition that he would have to survive the Indians and the malarial swamps of Arkansas, Lick set out for Fort Smith, Arkansas to answer a help wanted ad. He landed in Fort Smith with a watch and $1.47 in his pocket. He obtained a job in a printing shop and a few years later opened his own business as “Lick, Artist Printer.” A short time after, he formed a partnership with Lawson Thrash under the name “Thrash-Lick” to do general job printing, booklets and a weekly newspaper. Around this time the manager of the local opera house came to Lick to “save his professional life.” He had ordered his tickets quite sometime ago from an eastern printer but they had not arrived. The advance sale for an important attraction was advertised two days later. “Lick” he said, “you are always bragging that you can print anything. Can you print some reserved seat tickets for me in a hurry?” Lick related that he worked 16 hours the first day on the job and all day and night the next day and had the tickets ready on time and without any mistakes. The die was cast. “Tickets” were to be the specialty. In 1898, Lick sold his interest in Thrash-Lick and then, with O. D. Weldon and George T. Williams, established the firm of Weldon, Williams & Lick. Lick became President; Weldon, Vice President; and Williams, Secretary-Treasurer. At first they did general printing and, for a time, a weekly newspaper, The Fort Smith Elevator."--https://wwlinc.com/resources/about-wwl/