History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 51

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed. n 85042884-1
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1538

USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I > Part 51

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Court. Subsequently, in 1674, a printing press was " set up" in Boston, and this was by special leave of the General Court, which had previously ordercd, in 1664, that there should be no other press than that in Cambridge; for, besides the cost of importing a printing press from England, and the great cost of paper and other materials, the early printers had to en- counter the objections of the Puritan authorities, who, although ready to patronize the press to some extent, looked upon the freedom of printing with a jealous eye. They early appointed certain trusted clergymen to act as licensers of the press.

The first attempt to establish a newspaper in North America was made in 1690, when (September 25th) a single number of a small sheet was printed in Boston by Richard Pierce for Benjamin Harris. It was con- demned at once by the public authorities, and it is believed that a second number was never issued. It was fourteen years after this before another party ven- tured to try the experiment, and this person was John Campbell, the postmaster of Boston, who succeeded in establishing the Boston News Letter.

While, therefore, Salem was the third town in the colony, iu the order of time, to enjoy the advantages of a public printing press, it was nearly a century later than Boston in getting one. The arrival of this press in Salem, in 1768, was a great event. Although the town contained many literary persons of distinction, and the inhabitants were generally well educated, the literary resources of the town which were available by the public were quite limited. There were few books, for they were very costly, and these were in possession of the wealthy families. Most families were esteemed fortunate if they possessed the Bible, the almanac and a few approved sermons. The first attempt to collect a library in Salem was when the Social Library was formed, and this was after the printing press was established.

But the decade preceding the Revolution was one of great intellectual activity. The press in the colony had been relieved from the supervision and control of the clergy, and its absolute independence was nearly secured. Several newspapers had been commenced in Boston, and there was a general disposition to en- courage and sustain such publications.

The person who undertook to establish the printing business in Salem was Samuel Hall, a young man, a native of Medford, and one who, from his qualities of mind and energy of character, was well suited to per- form the task of a pioneer in this matter. He was a practical printer, and had learned his trade of his uncle, Daniel Fowle, who was the first printer in New Hampshire. Before coming to Salem he had been concerned with Mrs. Anne Franklin, sister-in-law of Benjamin Franklin, in the publication of the New- port (R. I.) Mercury, a newspaper originally estab- lished by James Franklin, and which has been con- tinued until this time.

Mr. Hall was iu sympathy with the rising party of

young men who were becoming restive under the yoke of the mother-country, and he was afterwards active in the Revolution; and it is quite probable that he was assisted in his enterprise by leading per- sons of the patriotic party.

Mr. Hall opened his office in Salem in April, 1768. It was located on Main Street, a few doors above the Town-House-about where the Creamer block is sit- uated. This locality was then, as now, near the centre of business. The Town-House was a wooden building of two stories, next above the First Church, on the spot between the present church and the para- pet of the railroad tunnel. It was where the town- meetings were usually held (in the lower story), and was also occupied, in the second story, as a court- house. It was afterwards called the State-House, as the Provincial Assembly of Massachusetts convened therein in 1774, with John Hancock as president. It was a building of humble pretensions, its chief claim to notice arising from the circumstance that it was a painted building, which was an uncommon distinction in those days. In front of the building, extending on either side of the door, was a wooden bench, where the elderly men of the town were ac- customed to assemble to gossip and converse on pub- lic and private matters.

1. THE ESSEX GAZETTE,-Mr. Hall soon resolved to commence a newspaper here. Salem was the principal place in the colony outside of Boston. It was a town of about five thousand inhabitants, largely engaged in the fisheries and in the coastwise and West India trade, and was generally prosperous. There were many wealthy and eminent people here, some occupying important positions in the colonial or in the royal service. The town was also noted for its intellectual culture and the elegance of its society.

Proposals were issued by Mr. Hall in July, 1768, for publishing a paper to be entitled The Essex Gazette, to be issued weekly, on Tuesday, at 6s. 8d. per annum. The prospectus was full and explicit in re- gard to the character of the proposed paper ; and, as indicating the spirit in which the enterprise was started, we quote the following passage:

"I shall exert myself to obtain as general and fresh a Collection of News as will lay in my Power, both Foreign and Domestic, and insert it with accuracy and in due order ; and I shall at all times assiduously endeavor to procuro and carefully publish, as I may have room, any Compositions that may have a tendency to promote Religion, Virtue, Industry, good Order, a due sense of the Rights and Liberties of our Country, with the Importance of true and genuine principles of patriotism, and whatever may servo to enliven and animate us in our known Loyalty and Affec- tion to our gracious Sovereign. In short, any Pieces that may be pro- ductive of Public Good, or contribute to the innocent Amusement and Entertainment of my Readers, will be inserted with Pleasure ; and any writings of a Contrary Nature will, if offered for Insertion, be instantly rejected."

These comprehensive, patriotic aud emphatic state- ments of his intentions, with more of a similar char- acter, constituted Mr. Hall's introduction to his readers. And all that he here promised he thoroughly performed, for he was prompt and faithful in the

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execution of all his contracts, devoting himself with great energy and spirit to the discharge of his duties.

The first number of the paper appeared August 2, 1768, and was a very creditable publication in its typographical execution and the general character of its contents. It was printed upon a crown sheet, folio, ten by sixteen inches, three columns to the page. This diminutive sheet, less than one-third the size of the Gazette of to-day, was spoken of in the prospectus as " four large pages, printed in folio." It was doubtless considered as large at that time. The head was adorned by a rude wood cut, compris- ing the figures of two Indians, with a codfish over- head, and a dove with a sprig in its bill in the centre. This device bears some resemblance to the Essex County seal, and was probably intended to be em- blematical of peace, the fisheries and successful emi- gration. A portion of this device is contained in the seal of the city of Salem. The head-line assured the reader, in the common phraseology of that day, that the sheet contained "the freshest advices, both for- eign aud domestic." It bore as a motto a quotation from Horace, "Omne tulit punctnm qui miscuit utile dulci."

The contents of the paper were such as were looked for in public prints at that time, chiefly items of polit- ical news from various parts of the world, very con- cisely stated, and selected with care and good judg- ment. Foreign news occupied a large share of the columns. Domestic news was given simply, under the names of the several towns in the colonies, whence it was received. A few advertisements filled ont the sheet. The contents were mostly selected, but few original pieces, either editorial or contributed, ap- pearing in the columns in those days. The public did not estimate so highly at that time as they seem to now, the off-hand remarks, speculations and effu- sions generally, of editors and their correspondents. Among the contributors to Mr. Hall's paper was Col. Timothy Pickering, then a rising young man, and afterwards an officer in the Revolutionary army and Secretary of State of the United States. He pub- lished a series of able and elaborate articles upon the importance of a reorganization of the militia, which had great influence in arousing attention to the snb- ject, and which suggested complete plans for increas- ing the efficiency of that branch of the public service. His father, Deacon Timothy Pickering, also fre- quently communicated with Mr. Hall's readers, usnally to rebuke some growing evil in the commn- nity or to encourage some good work.

Mr. Hall was eminently qualified for the task he had undertaken. He possessed business talents, enter- prise, ability, editorial tact and judgment, and withal sympathized entirely with the state of the public mind at that time with respect to the mother-conn- try. He had commenced his paper at an important season. The causes were then actively at work

which soon eventuated in the Revolution. A spirit of independence was growing up in the breasts of the people, and the principles of civil and political liberty were undergoing a thorough discussion. With this condition of popular feeling Mr. Hall sympa- thized warmly and earnestly.

Subscribers to his Gazette were obtained, not only in this town, but also donbtless in most of the princi- pal places in the colony; for a newspaper at that period was a much more important thing than at the present day, when such publications abound in all directions. There were then but five papers in the state, all of which were in Boston, namely, the New's Letter, Evening Post, Gazette, Chronicle and Advertiser. There was none at the eastward except in Ports- mouth. No regular stages or other means of trans- portation having been established, excepting a single stage to Boston, Mr. Hall's eastern subscribers were supplied by a post-rider, who left the office on publica- tion mornings for the towns between here and New- buryport, depositing the papers on the way. To ob- tain the most recent news from Boston, he incurred the expense of a special messenger from that town, on the previous day, who brought the latest papers. The news from New York was a week old, from Phila- delphia a fortnight, and from London two months.

In 1772 Mr. Hall admitted his younger brother, Ebenezer, into partnership with him. Their business connection continned until the death of Ebenezer, in Cambridge, February, 1776, aged twenty-seven.

The Essex Gazette was published here nearly seven years, a period which embraced the most important events that immediately preceded the Revolution. All the great questions which agitated the colonies during that time were discussed in its columns. The odious taxes imposed by the King, the non-importation agreements, the Boston Massacre, the Boston Port Bill, the Tea troubles, the doings of the people in their town-meetings and other primary assemblies, the popular hatred of the officers of the crown, and other similar topics were laid before Mr. Hall's readers in the succession of their occurrence.

In October, 1770, an attempt was made to injure the subscription of the paper on account of an al- leged partiality in its columns towards the non-impor- tation agreements. But the effort was unsuccessful, and seems to have resulted in the increase rather than diminution of the list. The number of subscribers at this time was about seven hundred.

As indicative of the spirit of the paper, we may quote an article which appeared March 5, 1771. This was the anniversary of the massacre in State Street, Boston. The columns on this occasion were draped in black. On the first page was a mourning tablet, surrounded by heavy black lines, upon which was in- scribed the following animated declaration :

"AS A SOLEMN AND PERPETUAL MEMORIAL :

"Of the Tyranny of the British Administration of Government In the years 1768, 1769, and 1770 :

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"Of the fatal and destructive Consequences of quartering Armies, in Time of Peace, in populous cities :

"Of the riduculous Policy, and infamous Absurdity, of supporting Ciril Gorernment by u Military Force.

"Of the great Duty und Necessity of firmly opposing Despotism at its first AApproaches:

"Of the detestable Principles and arbitrary Conduct of those Ministers in Britain who udvised, and of their Tools in America who desired, the Introduction of u Standing Army in this Province in the Year 1768:

" Of the irrefragible Proof which those Ministers themselves thereby produced, that the Civil Government, as by them administered, was wenk, wicked and tyranical:

" Of the vile Ingratitude and abominable Wickedness of every American, who abetted and encouraged, either in Thought, Word, or Deed, the establishment of nt Standing Army among his Countrymen :

"Of the unaccountable Conduct of those Civil Governors, the immediate Representatives of his Majesty, who, wbile the Military were tri umphantly insulting the whole LEGISLATIVE AUTHORITY OF THE STATE, und while the blood of the massacred Inhabitants was flowing in the Streets, persisted in repeatedly disclaiming all Authority of re- lieving the People, by auy the least Removal of the Troops :

" And of the savage Cruelty of the IMMEDIATE PERPETRATORS, " Be it forever Remembered,

That this Day, THE FIFTH OF MARCHI, is the Anniversary of PRESTON'S MASSACRE-IN KING STREET-BOSTON-NEW ENG- LAND-1770.

In which Five of his Majesty's Subjects were slain and six wounded, By the Discharge of a Number of Muskets from a Party of Soldiers under the Command of Capt. THOMAS PRESTON.

GOD Save the People !

"Salem, March 5, 1771."

In May, 1775, soon after the Concord fight - a full account of which, as well as of Leslie's invasion, etc., had appeared in the Gazette-Mr. Hall transferred the publication of his paper from Salem to Cambridge, for political purposes. The last number issued here was dated May 2d, and the next number in Cam- bridge May 12th. The office was in a building of the college, Stoughton Hall. The title was then en- larged to the New England Chronicle or Essex Ga- zette. This movement was made "at the desire of many respectable gentlemen of the Honorable Pro- vincial Congress," with whom Mr. Hall was in high favor. The paper was continued in Cambridge until the evacuation of Boston by the British, when it was removed thither, and at the same time the title of Essex Gazette was dropped.

Before Messrs. Hall left Salem, their printing- office was burnt out by the great fire of October, 1774, which destroyed a meeting-house, custom-house, eight dwellings, fourteen stores and several barns and out-buildings. The meeting-house destroyed was the Rev. Dr. Whitaker's, which was succeeded by the Tabernacle, and stood on King Street just above School Strect, about where the Endicott building now is. The custom-house was just above. The printing-office was subsequently located in a brick building on School Street, which was afterward incorporated in the brick block near the corner of Norman Street.

2. THE SALEM GAZETTE AND NEWBURY AND NEWBURYPORT ADVERTISER .- Before Mr. Hall left town another newspaper was commenced, July 1, 1774, with the foregoing elaborate title. It was pub- lished by Ezekiel Russell, from Boston, an unsuccess-

ful printer, who had been an unsuccessful auctioneer also. His antecedents were those of a Tory. In 1771 he had published in Boston a small paper called the Censor, which was in the interest of the loyal party, and soon expired. He had also been known, in 1773, as the printer of a hand-bill entitled "The Trades- men's Protest against the proceedings of the Mer- chants relative to the new Importation of Tea." This handbill excited so much feeling among the patriotic merchants and tradesmen that, at a large town-meet- ing in Faneuil Hall, the printer and the authors of it were pronounced as "detestable," and the protest it- self as "false, scandalous and base." Mr. Russell's office in Salem was "in Ruck Street, near the State House," somewhere on Washington Street, near the depot, we presume. The head of the paper an- nounced that it was " A Weekly, Political, Commer- cial and Entertaining Paper-Influenced neither by Court or Country." But the Country decided that it was influenced by the Court. The editor was sus- pected of a bias in favor of the British, probably on account of his previous course in Boston, and the paper accordingly terminated in a few months an un- popular career.

3. THE AMERICAN GAZETTE, OR THE CONSTITU- TIONAL JOURNAL .- This was the title of another paper by Mr. Russell, the author of the previous one ; and like that, it failed to command public confidence and support. It was published during the Revolu- tion, commencing June 19, 1776, and closing in a few weeks. It was nominally published by John Rogers, at Mr. Russell's office ; bnt as Rogers was merely Russell's journeyman, and owned neither press nor types, the latter was doubtless the. true proprietor. The printing-office at this time was near the upper end of Main Street. The paper was published weekly, on Tuesday, at eight shillings a year. The device at the head of the paper, coarsely cut in wood, was that of an open journal, supported by two figures-one that of fame with her trumpet, and the other an Indian with his bows and arrows. Beneath the volume was a ship under sail.

Some time after the suspension of this paper Mr. Russell removed to Danvers, and printed for a few years near the Bell Tavern, and then returned to Boston. There he continned the printing business, in a small way, until his death, in 1796, at the age of fifty-two.

Mr. Russell seems to have experienced through life a constant succession of the reverses of fortune. Be- sides the fruitless efforts we have mentioned, he had been a publisher of the Portsmouth Mercury, in com- pany with Thomas Furber, and that paper continued but three years. It is said that Mr. Russell's wife was the "better half" of his family, assisting as a practical printer in his office, composing popular bal- lads for publication, and assuming the business upon his death.

4. THE SALEM GAZETTE AND GENERAL ADVER-

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TISER .- For nearly five years during the Revolution there was no paper in Salem. But in 1780 Mrs. Mary Crouch, widow of a printer in Charleston, S. C., removed hither with her press and types, and De- cember 6, 1780, issued a prospectus, in the name of Mary Crouch & Co., for the publication of the Salem Gazette and General Advertiser. For this purpose they announced "an elegant assortment of type and printing materials," and stated their purpose to re- late such matters as should refer " to the safety and welfare of the United States, to the liberties aud in- dependence of which the Salem Gazette will be ever sacredly devoted." The first number of the paper was dated January 2, 1781. It was of the crown size, issued weekly at fifty ceuts a quarter. The paper was more miscellaneous than its predecessors had been. It commenced the publication of stories, tales and other entertaining articles.

Mrs. Crouch exhibited spirit and enterprise, but was unable to succeed with the paper, which lasted only nine months, closing October 11th of the same year. She assigned as reasons for the stoppage, "the want of sufficient assistance, and the impossibility of obtaining house-room for herself and family to reside near her business." Her printing-office was at the corner of Derby and Hardy Streets. Mrs. Crouch afterwards removed to Providence, her native place.

5. THE SALEM GAZETTE .- In just a week after the close of Mrs. Crouch's paper Samuel Hall again en- tered upon a career as publisher in Salem. He had returned from Boston, and probably bought Mrs. Crouch's materials. He commenced a new paper en- titled The Salem Gazette, the first number of which was dated October 18, 1781. It was of the size and general character of his previous paper. He contin- ued the publication of this series of Gazettes for a little more than four years, enlarging the sheet in the third volume, and bringing it to a close in this town November 22, 1785. At that time he removed the paper to Boston.

In finally terminating his connection with Salem, Mr. Hall stated that he did so only under the pres- sure of stern necessity. His business had been ma- terially injured by a tax upon advertisements, which had been imposed by the Legislature the previous summer. This tax, in conjunction with the decline of trade, had operated so disastrously as to deprive him of nearly three-quarters of the income of his paper from that source, and on this account he ac- cepted the advice of friends, who recommended his removal to Boston. The contracted circulation of the paper, and the great expense attending its publi- cation in Salem, he said, rendered a burdensome tax upon his advertising columns insupportable. The expense of procuring intelligence from Boston alone, by special messenger, was so great that to defray it he would gladly have given more than half the profits of all the newspapers circulated in this town.

The tax on advertisements, of which Mr. Hall

complained so bitterly, was voted by the Legislature July 2, 1785, aud had elicited an outcry of indigna- tion from nearly all the papers in the State. It was imposed to aid in liquidating the war debt incurred during the Revolution. It required the payment of six pence on each advertisement of twelve lines or less, and one shilling on those of twenty or less, and so on in proportion. This act was denounced in severe terms as an infringement of the liberty of the press, as the "Bostonian Stamp Act," etc. When the law went into operation, Mr. Hall spoke of it in the Gazette as follows:

" No printer can now advertise, even in his own paper, any books or pieces of piety or devotion, not excepting the HOLY BIBLE, without pay- ing a heavy tax for it. How this accords with His Excellency's late ' Proclamation for the encouragement of Piety, Virtue, Education and Manners,' let the framers of the act determine. Were it not for the tax upon advertising good books, the Printer hereof would inform the Pub- lic that he has just published ' Extracts from Dr. Priestly's Catechism,' which he sells at five coppers single, and two shillings the dozen."

In leaving, Mr. Hall said he should always retain the most grateful recollection of favors received in this place, aud should "always endeavor to promote the interests and reputation of the town of Salem."

The removal to Boston was executed with charac- teristic promptness, so that not a single issue of the paper was omitted, the next number, under the new name of The Massachusetts Gazette, appearing as a continuation ou the regular day, November 28th. Mr. Hall made arrangements to supply his Salem subscribers as usual, by a carrier. He subsequently sold the Gazette to other parties. He afterwards printed a paper for a short time in the French lan- guage, entitled Courier de Boston,-the first paper in that language in New England. In 1789 he opened a book-store in Cornhill, which he sold in 1805 to Lincoln & Edmands, of which firm Gould & Lincoln were the modern successors.

Mr. Hall, as we have stated was born in Medford November 2, 1740, of Jonathan Hall and Anna Fowle. He died October 30, 1807, aged sixty-seven years. He was au industrions, accurate and enter- prising printer, a judicious editor and excellent man. His life was one of active usefulness and of remark- able success. Besides his newpaper publications, he was the printer and publisher of many works of var- ious degrees of importance, some of them of consid- erable value. The list of his publications during his residence in Salem, and subsequently in Boston, would reflect great credit on him as a man of business enterprise. In his papers he advocated liberal opin- ions with firmness and discretion, and always com- manded the confidence and respect of the best men in the community. "The country," says Mr. Buck- ingham, " had no firmer friend, in the gloomiest per- iod of its history, as well as in the days of its young and increasing prosperity, than Samuel Hall."

6. THE SALEM CHRONICLE AND ESSEX ADVER- TISER-The short interim succeeding Mr. Hall's sec- ond series was followed, March 30, 1786, by the

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commencement of a weekly paper with the foregoing title, by George Roulstone. It continued less than a year, and possessed no special interest. It was printed on Paved Strect, on a crown sheet, at nine shillings.

7. THE SALEM GAZETTE .- The present Salem Ga- zette was commenced October 14, 1786, when John Dabney and Thomas C. Cushing issued the first num- ber of The Salem Mereury, which in 1790 (January 5th) assumed the name of The Salem Gazette, and has so continued ever since. Mr. Cushing was a native of Hingham. He had served his apprenticeship with Mr. Hall, and had afterwards, in 1785, been con- nected with John W. Allen in the publication of the American Recorder and Charlestown Advertiser, in Charlestown. He was twenty-two years of age when he came to Salem, and, from his intercourse with so excellent a master as Mr. Hall, had doubtless been strengthened in the liberal principles and correct habits which he brought to his new undertaking.

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 51

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed. n 85042884-1 Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1538

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed. n 85042884-1
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1538