The 1880 Hiatus of the Daily and Weekly Press

I verified that the Daily Press stopped publishing on June 30, 1880 (Volume 8, No. 283). On that day, the editor published the following note:

With this issue the Daily Santa
Barbara Press ceases to exist.
We do not believe this announce-
ment will be a surprise to any
one; for a mere glance at the
columns of the Press, would con-
vince anybody possessed of an
ounce of sense that the paper is
not meeting its expenses. There
is nothing to be done but shut
it down. The undersigned further
announces that having been ap-
pointed to fill a far more agree-
able and remunerative newspaper
position in San Francisco, his
connection with the Press esta-
blishment ceases from this date.
The Weekly Press, we believe,
will be continued by a lady com-
petent in every way to conduct it.
We trust the people of this enter-
prising community will turn in
and give her a generous support.
Like the undersigned whe will not
have the same advantage enjoyed
by the preceding managers, that
of access to a rich man's purse,
but she has industry, ability,
and she is a woman. She ought to
be supported, and if she isn't it
will only be another evidence,
that in spite of all that has
been said, Santa Barbara hasn't
enough enterprise to support a
decent newspaper.

Persons who have subscribed to
the Daily Press and paid for it
in advance (they are mighty few)
will be served with the Weekly
Press, for a term equal to the
amount of their subscriptions.

Respectfully,

R. D. Bogart.
Santa Barbara, June 30, 1880.

The Daily Press started up (under new ownership) again on Sept. 1, 1880, with Volume 8, No. 284. The article that re-initiated the Daily Press made it clear that the Weekly Press had also gone out of business... the last issue of the Weekly Press that I can find is from July 10, 1880.

So, if a paper goes out of business and does not publish for two months, and is restarted by a new owner, is it the same paper? Would the proper birthdate for The Press be May 30, 1868, or Sept. 1, 1880? I don't know that there is any clear convention.

Of course, the claim that the News-Press originated in 1855 depends on a much less documented chain of connections that goes through the News side, back to the Independent, to the Democrat and then via a person, B. W. Keep, who started the Gazette in 1855 but then left the publishing business for many years.