There Is a previous chapter that affects the present Wabasha County Herald-Standard, mentioned in the very interesting article on the " Frontier Press of Minnesota " in the December, 1933, issue of MINNESOTA HISTORY, that may be of interest — so here is the story.
When William Cairnduff McMaster, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, arrived at Read's Landing on the steamer "Cremona" on April 19, 1857, with his family, It included two sons, Joseph and William J., aged respectively twenty-nine and nineteen. Among their effects was a complete printing outfit — newspaper and job — brought for the express purpose of establishing a newspaper at Read's Landing. Joseph was a full-fledged printer, having learned the trade in Ireland, and William was well versed in the craft for his years.

The outfit was set up at once and the initial number of a paper which bore the name Waumadee Herald was issued under the date of May 9, 1857. We have been told that this particular name was used, chiefly, to assist certain people in their effort to have the name of Read's Landing changed to Waumadee. The paper, however, was not printed until the morning of Tuesday, May 12, 1857. That afternoon Joseph McMaster and a younger brother, Thomas, accompanied by two other men, went out on the Mississippi in a sailboat which capsized and the two brothers were drowned.This put an end to the paper, so far as the McMasters were concerned, as William lacked the age and experience to carry on. Some two months or so later, N. E. Stevens came In from some point in Wisconsin and purchased the outfit. Just when this happened Is not known, but in February, 1879, the writer saw In a reading room at Read's Landing a copy of volume 1, number 2, of the Waumadee Herald which bore the date of August 15, 1857, and reported the fact In the local news of the place published in Lake City, by William J. McMaster. How long Stevens continued the paper as the Waumadee Herald is unknown.

D. S. B. Johnston in his "Minnesota Journalism In the Territorial Period," in Minnesota Historical Collections, vol.10, gives an account of the Waumadee Herald and the Wabashaw County Herald. He erroneously says that Thomas McMaster was one of the proprietors of the Waumadee Herald. Thomas was neither a newspaper man nor a printer. Johnston figures backward from the earliest known copy of the Wabashaw County Herald in existence-volume 2, number 22, dated January 29, 1859, now In the files of the Minnesota Historical Society — and on the supposition that the paper was issued each week, finds that the date of volume 1, number 1, of the Herald should have been September 5, 1857.
This Is a reasonable conclusion based on continuous weekly publication and would suggest that Stevens may have published the Waumadee Herald on August 22 and 29 before changing the name to Wabashaw County Herald. There is no evidence, however, as to the number of issues brought out between August 15,1857,and January 29, 1859. Nor is there any evidence that when Stevens changed the name of the paper, volume 1, number 1, was applied to that issue. In fact we consider that it was more than a fifty-fifty proposition that he continued the Waumadee Herald volume and numbers when he changed the name, since there was no change in ownership or policy.In any event the present Wabasha County Herald-Standard had its beginning in the Waumadee Herald dated May 9, 1857.

Stevens told the writer a number of years ago that he changed the name to give the paper a better standing In the county and that he moved the paper from Read's Landing to Wabasha in 1860. For some time before that, the date line of the paper carried the names of both places.There are two copies of the original McMaster paper In existence. One, which was In the pocket of Thomas, whose body was not recovered for nearly six weeks after the drowning, is In the possession of the writer, and the other is owned by the Minnesota Historical Society. William J. McMaster continued in the newspaper business and was employed on various newspapers, including Lute A. Taylor's Prescott [Wisconsin] Journal and the St. Paul Press, until 1865, when with T. H. Perkins he purchased the Lake City Times and changed the name to Lake City Leader. McMaster was editor of the Leader most of the time until March, 1880, when failing health compelled his retirement. He died on June 10, 1880. You may wonder how the writer happens to know so much of this ancient history. He came to Read's Landing In 1867 and ten years later it was his great good fortune to secure for a companion for over fifty years Clara M.the youngest member of the William C. McMaster family.

One by one the early settlers of our county are dropping away, and as they pass from among us, it is fitting that we who remain should recount their virtues and be guided by their good example.
Mr. McMaster was born in County Down, Ireland, in June 1801. Of his early life, we know little. In the fall of 1848, he, with his family, emigrated to the United States, and settled at Pittsburgh, Pa., where he remained until April, 1857, when he removed to Read's Landing, where he resided until his death. Mr. McMaster's character may be summed up in a few words -- he was a christian gentleman in the highest and best sense, unyielding as a rock in all things whenever principle was concerned, stern in condemnation of all sin and crime, he was yet as warm and tender in his feelings as a child. Always calm and trustful no matter how sorely tried by affliction; never repining at his lot in life; always ready to lend a helping hand to all who were in trouble, for all the years he has lived at Reads Father McMaster was respected, trusted and loved by all who knew him. For many years he had been a consistent and active member of the Presbyterian Church, and with all the tenacity of the Scotch-Irish character clung to the principles and observances of that church.
His disease was Congestive Chills and Fever, and from the first he was assured that his time had come to die, but death had no terrors for him. For many years he had been living ready to meet the summons of "The Reaper," so calmly, peacefully and willingly he bade farewell to the loved ones who gathered around his bed to hear the last words of the husband and father, and as the shadows of night fell around, he said good night to earth and fell asleep to wake in the eternal morning of the heavenly home.

One thing that always stood out in her childhood recollections was her first view of Read's Landing from the shoulder of her father on the deck of the " Cremona." Lake Pepin was late In opening in 1857 and there was a long line of steamers tied up at the little town waiting for the ice to go out of Lake Pepin so that they might get through to St. Paul. Some accounts say there were thirty-three boats, others say twenty-seven, but there were plenty to leave a lasting impression on the child's mind. Her most cherished possessions were the copy of the Waumadee Herald found on the body of her brother and a picture of the members of the first Minnesota editorial convention in 1867, in the organization of which another brother took a prominent part. .............................FRED A. BILL ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA

click on links below for further information.	Children: ..click on links below for further information
Family links:  Thomas McMasters (1754-1835) County Down NI & Sarah Cairnduff (1762-1835) Parents: of William Cairnduff McMaster born 11 May 1801 died 1871 Spouse: Eleanor McDowell McMaster (1807 - 1883)	Joseph McMaster (1828 - 1857) Sarah Jane McMaster Mateer (1830 - 1894) John McCutcheon McMaster (1832 - 1852) Thomas Alexander McMaster (1835 - 1857) Susanna McMaster (1837 - 1837) William James McMaster (1838 - 1880) Eleanor Anna McMaster (1840 - 1844) Hugh Henry Bates McMaster (1843 - 1910) Robert Stewart McMaster (1845 - 1877) Mary Eleanor McMaster (1847 - 1848) Eleanor Anna McMaster (1849 - 1850) Clara M. McMaster Bill (1852 - 1928)
The names above link out to 'Find a Grave' where a lot more information can be found - click on Links above.