Editing Castroville, California (section)

=== ''Castroville Argus'' newspaper ===
The ''Castroville Argus'' was established on July 17, 1869. The publishers were Juan Bautista Castro and Joseph R. Merritt. The editors were Manuel R. Merritt (nephew of Juan Bautista Castro) and S.F. Geil. The office was in the Hicks Building (hardware store, later turned into school house, La Scuola) on the corner of Merritt and Poole Streets. It was a weekly paper and a new edition was available every Saturday.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84038762/|title=The Castroville Argus.|access-date=12 August 2018|website=Chroniclingamerica.loc.gov|archive-date=30 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140830175611/http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84038762/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Joseph Merritt was born April 19, 1851. He was publisher for the ''Monterey Democrat'' and the ''Castroville Argus''. In 1882, he was editor of the [[San Jose Mercury News|''San Jose Mercury'']]. In 1884, he was on the editorial staff of the ''San Jose Daily Herald''. He married Annie Phillips in 1872. He died at the age of 36.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}

Manuel R. Merritt was born June 8, 1855. He was the editor of the ''Castroville Argus'', ''Castroville Gazette'', and the ''Monterey County Herald''. In 1878 he was in the mercantile business, elected supervisor of Monterey County from the First District. Four times he was a delegate to the Democratic State Convention. He served as Secretary and as chairman for the Democratic County Committee. He became Postmaster and Justice of the Peace. Real estate and insurance business. He died at the age of 48 from an accidental gunshot wound.<ref>Diane J. Dennett.</ref>