 Smith and Combs operated the newspaper until 1858 , when they sold it to James Parsons ; he in turn sold it to his younger brother William Miller Parsons in 1859 . After a few months of ownership and experience , Parsons sold the newspaper to Alexander W. Monroe , a prominent Romney lawyer and onetime member of the Virginia House of Delegates , and Job N. Cookus in 1861 . Monroe and Cookus continued serving as the proprietors , editors , and publishers until the outbreak of the American Civil War , when they joined the Confederate States Army . The newspaper was closed by the Union Army in August 1861 , and was not revived after the war . 
