USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > New Bedford > History of New Bedford and its vicinity, 1620-1892 > Part 50
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The New Bedford Courier, edited by Benjamin T. Congdon, made its first appearance June 12, 1827. Beginning with the seventh volume, June 5, 1833, the words Weekly Lyceum were added to the title, and an engraving, representing the Lyceum building, was placed at the head. In the ensuing year the Workingmen's Press, a paper which first appeared in May, 1832, was united with the Courier. The first number of the consolidated sheets was issued February 26, 1834, under the charge of Harris & Burroughs, to whom Mr. Congdon had trans- ferred his interest in the paper ; but owing to some disagreement, after the publication of the second or third number the paper again passed into his hands and was continued by him under the same title, New Bedford Weekly Courier and Workingmen's Press, until July 2, 1834, when he disposed of it to Jeremiah G. Harris and Charles W. Rexford, who changed the title to The New Bedford Gazette and Weekly Courier, and published it in connection with the Daily Gazette until November
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EARLY NEWSPAPERS.
3 of the same year, when the partnership was dissolved by the with- drawal of Mr. Rexford. The paper was then continued under the ed- itorship of Mr. Harris until 1838, but it was printed and published after January 1, 1837, by J. Allyne & Co. The name seems to have been again changed in 1838 to the New Bedford Weekly Advertiser, but neither this paper nor the Daily Gazette was published in 1839. The New Bedford Daily Gazette, established in 1833, was edited by Charles W. Rexford and J. G. Harris, as above noted.
The Register, a daily and weekly paper, edited and published by William Canfield, first appeared in 1839. It was continued as the Morning Register, and New Bedford Register, by Canfield & Andros, in 1841. It also appeared as the Evening Register, and New Bedford Register, under William Young, in 1845.
The Daily Evening Bulletin, and The Semi- Weekly Bulletin com- menced in 1842, edited by William Eddy in 1843, by Charles T. Cong - don in 1844, by Henry Tilden in 1845-6. During the year 1846 the evening paper was published tri-weekly, and the name of the weekly changed to The Weekly Bulletin and Advocate.
The Whaleman's Shipping List and Merchant's Transcript was edited by Henry Lindsey from its commencement, March 17, 1843, to 1853, in which year Mr. Lindsey died. The paper then passed into the hands of Benjamin Lindsey, and was conducted by him until 1875, when it was purchased by E. P. Raymond, who has managed it since 1861. Mr. Raymond still conducts the paper and in its peculiar character it has no competitor in the world. Its subscribers are found in every land and every clime where civilization is known.
The Seaman's Reporter and Family Visitor, afterwards the New Bed- ford Reporter and Whaleman's Visitor, edited by Joseph H. Smith, appeared in July, 1844. In 1848 it was issued in an enlarged form and was still edited by Mr. Smith. He was succeeded in 1849 by Charles H. Kingsford. In connection with the weekly, Mr. Smith also pub- lished from July 2, 1847, a semi weekly, called the New Bedford Re- porter and Semi-Weekly Democrat. Mr. Kingsford subsequently issued an octavo sheet, containing advertisements almost exclusively, and cir- culated it gratuitously.
The New Bedford Times, a weekly paper, was edited and published by John Fraser, from 1857 to 1861.
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HISTORY OF NEW BEDFORD.
The New Bedford Signal, a twenty-column sheet, edited and pub- lished by George Robertson, began its career December 14, 1878. It was subsequently enlarged to a twenty-four column paper, and was in- dependent in its political and religious views, being " bound by no sect, ruled by no party." It was, however, published but a short time.
The Old Colonist, published quarterly at the office of Charles W. Knight, 88 Purchase street, first appeared in July, 1884. H. J. Stone was the news editor and business manager. The paper was devoted largely to church matters, its supporters being members, according to an article contained in its columns, of the Old Colony Conference of Congregational Churches. No place was given to political controversy, but the paper contained a display of well-chosen advertising matter, poetry, and personal sketches. Rev. Albert Hayford Heath assumed editorship in October, 1884, and Mr. Stone continued as business man- ager. The paper was then published monthly and enlarged from eight to ten pages. During the last year of its existence it was not pub- lished regularly and the last number appeared in December, 1886, at 45 William street, Mr. Stone having previously withdrawn from the enter- prise.
New Bedford has been prolific, indeed, in its production of news- papers, many of which, although of comparatively short life, were of a high standing, morally and intellectually. The following were pub- lished at irregular intervals and by various editors. Some of them ad- vocating political causes, ceased to be of value when their ends were served or their constituents defeated, while others from lack of patronage by the public, or indisposition on the part of the proprietors, were discon- tinned within a few months of their first appearance :
The Christian Philanthropist, edited by Daniel K. Whitaker, first appeared May 14, 1822. It was issued every Tuesday, and printed by B. Lindsey. It was devoted to the discussion of religious topics, com- ments upon philanthropy, and contained a summary of the United States Congress, some foreign intelligence, marriages, deaths and ship news. It was discontinued with the fiftieth number, May 13, 1823, when the editor announced through its columns that the paper would thereafter be "incorporated with the Christian Register, a weekly peri- odical published at Boston."
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EXTINCT NEWSPAPERS.
The New England Gazette, published in 1823 by Joseph C. Melcher and a Mr. Rogers, under the firm name of Melcher & Rogers On Jan- uary 23, 1826, under the proprietorship of Benjamin T. Congdon, the paper was united with the Weekly Mercury, and its publication as the New England Gazette was discontinued.
The Bristol Reporter, which was first issued January 3, 1826, was published by Bigelow & Clark, second door south of Commercial Bank on Water street, and came out every Tuesday. Only a few numbers are known to be in existence.
The New Bedford Advertiser was published by Lindsey & Co. at the Mercury office. It was begun January 3, 1826, and lived less than a year.
The Censor.
The Record of the Times, a weekly published in 1830, by Stephen S. Smith, was printed on Water street, a few doors south of what is now Union street.
The Morning Halcyon, Frederick S. Hill, editor, first appeared Oc- tober 18, 1843, and was published under the firm name of Shaw, Still, Ellis & Co., at No. 4 Third street, corner of Union. It was a daily paper and lived but a short time.
The Mayflower, printed at the Advocate office for the. managers of the temperance fair, held at the City Hall, May, 1844.
The Advocate, commenced in January, 1844, published by Henry Tilden.
The Independent Press, first appeared November 1, 1848, and was issued only a short time. It advocated Hon. A. H Howland for Con- gress, and was discontinued after the election. It was a sixteen-column, small folio.
The Harpoon, edited by William Miller.
The Weekly Echo, first appeared in March or April, 1849, edited by Moses Brown, and printed by P. B. Sherman and I. F. Jones, at No. 20 North Water street.
The Path-Finder, an anti slavery sheet, began April 9, 1854. It was published weekly, "by an association of men and women, if sufficient means are supplied." John Bailey was the manager and publishing agent at No. 23 Purchase street. On October 18, 1854, there appeared
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HISTORY OF NEW BEDFORD.
under the same editorship The People's Press, which lived only a few months. Mr. Bailey afterwards removed to Lynn, Mass., where he died at an advanced age.
The Whaleman, published weekly from January 4, 1854, to August 18, of the same year. It was edited by William S. Anderson.
The Express, Chaney & Co., daily and weekly, February 25 to No- uember 3, 1856
The Herald.
The Union, 1857, by Henry Tilden.
The Citizen, one number, March 3, 1860.
The City Hall Advertiser, February, 1860. Several numbers were afterwards issued as The City Hall Hour Glass, March 3, 1860.
The Waste Basket, a semi-weekly school journal, was established by William M. Emery and George A. Hough, and was published from September, 1884, until June, 1885. Numbers one to nine were edited by George A. Hough, with William M. Emery as business manager ; numbers ten to twenty, and supplement to number twenty, were edited by William M. Emery.
New Bedford and Its Industries was an official paper printed and published at the second annual exposition of the New Bedford Board of Trade, which was held October I to 27, 1888. The paper was illustrated and there were nine numbers issued.
Having noticed the early newspapers, most of which no longer exist, it remains for us to review New Bedford's representative journals of to- day, in the order in which they were established.
The New Bedford Mercury, a weekly newspaper, and the third one published in the place, was established August 7, 1807, by Benjamin Lindsey, a compositor and foreman, who came from the printing office of the Palladium in Boston. It was a sixteen-column folio, printed by the editor "in Water street," and the subscription price was $2 per annum. In his address to the public, the editor says : " It is our wish and intention to publish a useful, and as far as our resources will per- mit, an entertaining journal, embracing all those objects which properly fall within its scope." In politics the paper adhered to the Republican principles of Washington's Farewell Address, " being convinced that all Americans are alike interested in their support " The Mercury was a
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THE NEW BEDFORD MERCURY.
very interesting sheet, considering the disadvantages experienced in those days in securing any intelligence of a foreign nature. The first number contained a proclamation by Thomas Jefferson, and several local advertisements, among which were those of Abraham Shearman, jr., Peter Barney & Sons, John Alexander, William James, Howland & Grinnell, Congdon & Taber, and Josiah Wood.
Mr. Lindsey conducted the Mercury alone until 1826, when he associ- ated with him his son, Benjamin Lindsey, jr. For five years father and son conducted the paper together and it grew in importance and value, was edited with ability, and enjoyed a wide circulation. In 1831 they started the Daily Mercury (the first daily paper published in New Bed- ford), and the senior member retiring soon after, the entire management devolved upon the son. His ability to successfully assume the whole responsibility is amply shown by a glance at the files of the bright and enterprising sheet issued under his management. On Monday morning, October 3, 1842, the Daily Mercury appeared in an enlarged form, the columns being lengthened to meet the steadily increasing demand for advertising space and give the readers a more generous supply of ed- itorial and miscellaneous matter. Thirty- five years had elapsed since the initial issue of the Mercury as a weekly paper, and speaking in its own behalf, at that time, it happily says : "During the whole of that long period-in times of adversity and prosperity, in sunshine and in storm-it has enjoyed the confidence and support of the community, in a degree flattering and substantial. It has grown with the growth of New Bedford, and strengthened with her strength. It has outlived many of its best and earliest patrons, and has chronicled the marriages of nearly two generations."
Mr. Lindsey was appointed United States consul at St. Catharines, Brazil, in 1861, and finding it impractical to continue the duties of edi- tor longer, he disposed of the newspaper establishment to C. B. H. Fessenden and Willjam G. Baker, who took charge of the paper on the very eve of the late civil war, July 15, 1861. The new proprietors had a limited amount of capital and were deficient in knowledge of the de- tails of the newspaper business, but were persevering, industrious, and were animated by ambition that could not be restrained. The charac- ter of the Mercury did not suffer under their supervision. It was among
67
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HISTORY OF NEW BEDFORD.
the earliest to advocate through its columns the arming of the enslaved negroes, and one of its many editorials on this subject had this caption : "We must fight them or free them." It at all times heartily supported the Republican administration in the prosecution of the war and throughout the long dark days of the Rebellion it assumed a cheery and hopeful tone. It also advocated with much urgency the introduction of pure water into New Bedford, and the supplementing of the loss to the city from the inevitable decline of the whale fishery by the increase of manufactures.
The Mercury passed into the hands of Messrs. Stephen W. Booth, Warren E. Chase and William L. Sayer, on May 1, 1876. These gen- tlemen are thoroughly qualified to conduct a modern newspaper, and under the style of The Mercury Publishing Company, still continue it. Mr. Booth had for years been in the employ of Fessenden & Baker as clerk and then as business manager. Mr. Chase had unlimited experi- ence and skill as a practical printer, and Mr. Sayer had graduated with honor from the Mercury office as a reporter. Mr. Sayer, its editor, has essayed to keep the paper independent in politics, approving or con- demning measures irrespective of party, and always maintaining a moral tone and character beyond reproach.
The Evening Standard, and the Republican Standard, weekly, were founded by Edmund Anthony a native of Somerset. He learned the newspaper business in Taunton and established several newspapers there, publishing for many years the Bristol County Democrat and also establishing the Daily Gasette. In 1865 he founded the Springfield Union. The Standard was first issued in February, 1850, and from that time to this it has been one of the representative news organs of the city and stands among the leading newspapers of Southern Massachu- setts. In politics it has always been unflinchingly Republican and its editorial columns have endorsed and advanced the great reforms of the times in touch with morality and progress The Standard began as a four-page sheet, of twenty columns and has grown to a large eight-page paper, publishing every Saturday an extra four page supplement to accommodate the increasing amount of matter. From a limited circu- lation at first, it has grown to an issue of over 7,coo copies per day. The paper has been printed on a variety of presses, the first being a
华:
Edmund Anthony
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EVENING STANDARD - EVENING JOURNAL.
small hand press. In 1889 a web perfecting press, manufactured by C. Potter, jr, & Co, with a capacity of 12,000 copies per hour, print- ing from stereotype plates, was put in to supply the growing demands for the Standard. This press has worked with wonderful success. Ex- tensive improvements of great advantage have recently been made on the Standard building and its facilities for collecting and printing news matter are of the best. It originally occupied a part of the building on the corner of North Water and Union streets, now used by Charles Taber & Company. Since its removal to its present location, additions have been made until now its floor space covers an area of 96,750 square feet. Upon the death of Edmund Anthony, his sons, Edmund, jr., and Benjamin, succeeded him in business, and have since been at the head of the establishment. The firm was incorporated January 1, 1891, under the name of E. Anthony & Sons, and is comprised of the following : President and managing editor, Edmund Anthony, jr., treasurer, Ben- jamin Anthony ; clerk, Benjamin H. Anthony ; cashier and manager advertising department, George S. Fox ; foreman job department, Charles E. Pierce. George A. Hough is the city editor and Henry Willey, editorial writer.
The New Bedford Evening Journal, published daily except Sun- days, was first issued October 11, 1890. The company was incorporated with the following officers : President, Robert F Raymond ; clerk, Charles W. Knight; treasurer, Eben C. Milliken ; directors, Robert F. Raymond, Eben C. Milliken, Charles W. Knight, Isaac W Benjamin, William H. Pitman, Henry S. Hutchinson and W. P. Tobey. The present officers are : President, H. S. Hutchinson ; treasurer, Eben C. Milliken ; clerk, Charles W. Knight ; directors, H. S. Hutchinson, Henry G. Walters, John W. Macomber, and Alexander MacColl. The editorial staff consists of Alexander MacColl, editor ; Horace B. Allen, city editor ; J. B. Rockefeller, foreman composing-room. The Journal has secured a wide circulation and has remained independent in pol tics.
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HISTORY OF NEW BEDFORD.
CHAPTER XXVII.
RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS.
The First Congregational Church of New Bedford - The North Congregational Church - Trinitarian Church - County Street M. E. Church - Fourth Street M. E. Church - The Pleasant Street M. E. Church - The Allen Street M. E. Church - First Primitive M. E. Church - Portuguese M. E. Church - Second Baptist Church - The Salem Baptist Church - The Bethel African M. E. Church - African M. E. Zion Church - The Society of Friends - Grace Episcopal Church - St. James Episcopal Church - North Christian Church - Spruce Street Christian Church - Christian Sci- entists - Church of the Sacred Heart - St. Hyacinthe Parish - Latter-Day Saints - St John Baptist Church (Portuguese) - Ladies' City Mission and Early Tract and Missionary Societies-Seaman's Bethel and Port Society- First Presbyterian Church -Rockdale Free Chapel - Cannonville Chapel - Extinct Churches - Charitable and Benevolent Organizations.
T HE First Congregational Society in New Bedford.1-" It was in 1795 that the first action was taken by which this society, in time, came to have an individual and corporate existence of its own. But before that corporate existence came, it had a specially organized joint existence with the ancient parish of the old township of Dartmouth, which had its meeting-house at the head of the Acushnet river. This society was a direct offshoot from that old parish by ecclesiastical procedure. More- over, by a special provision, it continued to hold certain rights in the mother society even after attaining a corporate life by itself; and now, of the several Congregational societies within the limits of New Bedford and Fairhaven, this one is bound back to the common parentage by more direct ties of ecclesiastical and legal continuity than any other.
" The early and long-continued struggles between the several religious sects, Presbyterians, Baptists, Episcopalians and Quakers, in the col- onies have been quite fully treated in the opening chapters of this work, and therefore need not be further discussed here. It was not until 1708, sixteen years after the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies were consolidated under a new charter, that the persistent efforts of the Gen-
1 Condensed from the historical discourses of Rev. William J. Potter, delivered in New Bedford in May and June, 1888.
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FIRST CONGREGATIONAL SOCIETY.
eral Court to have in Dartmouth a minister after its own heart were crowned with success. In that year Samuel Hunt came to town and began his labors for establishing a church of the Congregational order. He was an educated man, a graduate of Harvard College. He was regularly appointed June 8, 1708, by an order of the General Court. He lived and labored here twenty-one years, and then died at his post in middle life, on the 25th of January, 1720, (N. S. 1730). But there had been Congregational preaching here before that time. James Gard- ner, a minister from Scotland, was living and working here in the earlier years of the century. The town records say that on the 15th of Feb- ruary, 1703, 'the town did vote that Mr. James Gardner should not be the minister of the town.' But this rebuff did not prevent the contin- uance of his labors. It was not, however, until Mr. Hunt came that Congregationalism began to have in Dartmouth a 'local habitation and a name.' There is evidence in the manuscripts preserved in Yale College, that the church was not organized until 1716; but this, doubt- less, means the church as a body of communicants. There were un- doubtedly preaching services from the time of Mr. Hunt's arrival, which were probably held at first in private houses. But a meeting-house was soon built, as is shown by a vote of the General Court on June 15, 1709, that ' fifteen pounds be allowed and paid out of the public treas- ury to Seth Pope, esq., towards the finishing of the meeting- house lately erected in the town of Dartmouth ' That meeting-house stood on the old burying ground at the head of Acushnet River. The grave-yard was in use at least as early as 1711-the date of the earliest marked stone.
" A petition of Mr. Hunt to the General Court one and three-quarters years after his arrival in the town, shows that there were sixteen families dependent on his ministry, and that they had engaged themselves to pay him thirty pounds a year, and also to give him eighty acres of land and help him build a house upon it, 'as a farther encouragement to stay among them.' From 1708, therefore, the orthodox theory of the town as a parish was considered to have taken effect. Dartmouth, with 140 square miles, had a meeting- house at one side of it, and one minister for the whole, and approved by the General Court. It is certain, however, that the town as a whole never built the meeting house nor had any
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HISTORY OF NEW BEDFORD.
control over it. Mr. Hunt told the governor's council the next winter that his auditors had agreed to build a meeting-house. John Jenne's deed of the land says that the house had been built ' by the people of God called Presbyterians.' In reality the church was not of the Pres- byterian order. It was Congregationalist, of the colonial era. But while the orthodox polity of one established church co extensive with the limits of the town, and having a lien upon all the town's inhabitants, had now been nominally introduced into Dartmouth, the town parish was so shaped and curtailed in its action by its peculiar surroundings, that from the outset it exhibited strong tendencies to differentiation from the authorized standard. By the provincial charter of 1692 the religious test in voting had been swept away (except as to Papists). Quakers as well as Baptists now had the franchise in Dartmouth, if they held certain estate, and the two classes together could largely out-vote the Congregationalists in town meeting. And both Baptists and Quakers were conscientiously opposed to the imposition of a general tax upon the town for religious purposes.
" Mr. Hunt began early to recognize this peculiar condition of things in the field of his ministry, and was evidently moved by it to a spirit and methods of toleration. In the succeeding strife between the town and the provincial authorities relative to taxation for the church and the ministry, and in the difficulties surrounding the collection of his salary, he acted as an honorable pacificator. Regarding his salary, he went before the governor and council at Boston and said, among other things, that he was ' altogether unwilling any distress be made upon the said town of Dartmouth for any part of the said sum' for his mainte- nance. Here, then, was a proposal by a Congregationalist minister himself, at the outset of his ministry, to trust to the voluntary prin- ciple of supporting religious institutions in Dartmouth. It was utterly contrary to the theory which the provincial authorities held and were trying to enforce. The long struggle that followed between the court and the town upon this point need not be followed liere. It must suffice to state that in the end the town was victorious, and in 1729 the General Court passed the important law exempting Baptists and Quakers from taxation for the support of the town churches.
" Mr. Hunt died in 1730, and on the 19th of June of that year a com- mittee was appointed to present to the town in due Congregational
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FIRST CONGREGATIONAL SOCIETY.
order the name of Rev. Richard Pierce as minister. The officers of the town were as dexterous as ever in resisting the authority of the ecclesiastical powers, and after considerable agitation of the matter, Mr. Pierce's name was not put to vote; but on the same day, 'Philip Taber and Nicholas Davis were chosen and approbated by the said town for the said town's ministers to dispense the word and promote the go-pel of Christ.' This indicates the persistence of the town in op- position to Congregationalism, and in having its own way in the choice of ministers. Nicholas Davis was a Quaker, and Philip Taber was a Baptist. However, Mr. Pierce stayed with the parish as its pastor for sixteen years, and finally had a contest with the church for his salary, showing that he had probably entered into an understanding with the attendants of the so called town-church, by which they became re- sponsible for his pay. Mr. Pierce died in 1849. During his ministry a new meeting-house had been built on the lot of land deeded by John Jenne to ' the people of God called Presbyterians.' It was dedicated January 5, 1744, and stood nearly a century. Another important event during Mr. Pierce's administration was the act of the General Court in 1747, by which all this part of Dartmouth around the Acush- net Kiver was set off from the town as a separate precinct, and was called the second precinct, the remainder of the town being left by right as the first precinct. The petitioners for this division-the Congrega- tionalists-acknowledged in their petition that the methods of the past had failed, as far as related to taxation, business, etc. When a separate precinct was set up in a town, the act meant that all parochial affairs were thenceforth to be removed from the town's business, not only those of the precinct established by law, but those also of the older parish, if there was one. A precinct still had power to tax for religious purposes all inhabitants in its territory (except those exempted by statute) and power to levy on the estates of persons who did not pay such tax, but it did not do its business any longer in town meetings or through the town officers. The special act in this case went further in the matter of freedom from taxation and exempted not only the Quakers and Anabaptists, ' but all such that shall hereafter commonly attend the Quaker and Anabaptist meetings.' Now that the township of Dartmouth had ceased to be even theoretically a parish, it is proper
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