Marcus M. Pomeroy

Marcus Mills "Brick" Pomeroy (December 25, 1833 – May 30, 1896) was an American partisan newspaper publisher and Wisconsin pioneer. He is most notable for using his newspaper, the La Crosse Democrat, to publish anti-Lincoln and anti-war messaging during the American Civil War.

Early life Pomeroy was born in Elmira, New York in 1833. As a young man, he worked as a printer's devil. He settled in La Crosse, Wisconsin, where he established the La Crosse Democrat newspaper, which he printed from 1860 to 1869 as a partisan Democratic newspaper. In 1869, he moved to New York City, where he began printing Pomeroy's Democrat. He brought the paper back to La Crosse in 1879 and continued printing until 1887.

It was during this time that he acquired the nickname "Brick". According to one account, after he had displayed skill in writing an article, another editor said that someone that could write so well was "a perfect brick" (i.e., a good fellow). According to another account, a journalist in the eastern United States had written a series of articles about celebrities called "charcoal sketches," and Pomeroy imitated these in a more extravagant manner, describing Wisconsin personalities and dubbing his articles "brick-dust sketches."

Pomeroy relocated to New York in 1868, and then to Chicago in 1875, also spending time in Denver before returning to New York.

Pomeroy died in Brooklyn in 1896.