North Carolina Gazette

Last updated
North Carolina Gazette
North Carolina 'Gazette, November 10, 1769 issue, 2.jpg
The North Carolina Gazette, November 10, 1769 issue, printed by James Davis
Type Weekly newspaper
PublisherJames Davis (1751 - c. 1783), Robert Keith (c. 1783 - 1784), Francois Xavier Martin (1786 - 1798)
Founded1751
Ceased publicationCirca 1759, and revived multiple times through c. 1798
Headquarters New Bern, North Carolina

The North Carolina Gazette was the first newspaper published in North Carolina, then the Province of North Carolina. It originally published from 1751 and continued to be published for approximately eight years, during which time it was discontinued and started up again before and during the American Revolutionary War. It was revived as the name of subsequent papers both related and unrelated to original publisher through the end of the 18th century.

Contents

History

The Gazette was published by James Davis (1721–1785) in New Bern, North Carolina. Based on the earliest still existing copy, it is believed to have first been published on August 9, 1751, styled as the NOth Carolina Gazette. Davis came from Virginia in 1749 to start a printing press, as the colonial Assembly could not publish laws without a printer. [1] [2] Previously, the lack of a paper for the colony meant residents had to rely on the Virginia Gazette (founded 1736) for news and advertising. It is believed likely that Davis trained under William Parks, who published the Virginia Gazette, but it is not certain. [3]

The Gazette ran mostly international news, and little local news. It was intended to be a weekly but its publication is believed to have been less regular, with occasional gaps in publishing, until the venture folded around 1759, or perhaps until 1761. The end date is not certain, as a very limited number of issues of the newspaper have been preserved. The latest issue that is still extant dates from October 18, 1759. [3] [4] [5]

Second Gazette

After working on publishing a newspaper for four years under another name in the 1760s, The North Carolina Magazine; Or Universal Intelligencer, Davis restarted the North Carolina Gazette on May 27, 1768, restarting at "volume 1". However, the Great Chesapeake Bay Hurricane in September 1769 wrecked his shop and stopped publication for some time. A letter to colonial governor William Tryon about the storm reported the damage: "Mr. Davis’s House [is] a mere Wreck, his printing Office broke to Pieces, his Papers destroyed and Types buried in the Sands." Davis and his family had to forage the beach to recover his type. [6] [7]

Paper shortages, and Davis' son Thomas being drafted into army during the American Revolutionary War caused further stoppages, and the paper ceased publication altogether in 1778.

Later Gazettes

Davis once again revived the Gazette on August 28, 1783, in conjunction with his son Thomas, and Robert Keith of Pennsylvania. It did not last very long, but published for at least a year. Keith took control of the paper as the elder Davis' health failed, and expanded the paper's name to North Carolina Gazette; or Impartial Intellgencer and Weekly General Advertiser.

Francois Xavier Martin published a final iteration of the North Carolina Gazette (or Martin's North Carolina Gazette) which published from about 1786 to 1798. [8] [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Craven County, North Carolina</span> County in North Carolina, United States

Craven County is located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 100,720. Its county seat is New Bern. The county was created in 1705 as Archdale Precinct from the now-extinct Bath County. It was renamed Craven Precinct in 1712 and gained county status in 1739. It is named for William, Earl of Craven, who lived from 1606 to 1697. Craven County is part of the New Bern, NC, Metropolitan Statistical Area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Bern, North Carolina</span> City in North Carolina, United States

New Bern, formerly called Newbern, is a city in Craven County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 29,524, which had risen to 31,291 people as of the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Tryon</span> British Army officer and colonial administrator (1729–1788)

Lieutenant-General William Tryon was a British Army officer and colonial administrator who served as governor of North Carolina from 1764 to 1771 and the governor of New York from 1771 to 1777. He also served during the Seven Years' War, the Regulator Movement, and the American War of Independence.

John Holt (1721—1784) was a colonial American newspaper publisher, printer, postmaster, and mayor of Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. He was involved with publishing the Connecticut Gazette, the New York Gazette, and the New-York Journal newspapers. He worked with Benjamin Franklin, the prominent publisher James Parker, and Founding Father Samuel Adams. He had a store that sold miscellaneous supplies, ink, paper, and books on a variety of subjects including religion, freemasonry, economics, history, archaeology, poetry, and biographies.

The Virginia Gazette is the local newspaper of Williamsburg, Virginia. Established in 1930, it is named for the historical Virginia Gazette published between 1736 and 1780. It is published twice a week in the broadsheet format.

William Churton was an early North Carolina surveyor.

<i>The Boston News-Letter</i> First newspaper in British North America

The Boston News-Letter, first published on April 24, 1704, is regarded as the first continuously published newspaper in the colony of Massachusetts. It was heavily subsidized by the British government, with a limited circulation. All copies were approved by the Royal governor before publication. The colonies’ first newspaper was Publick Occurrences Both Forreign and Domestick, which published its first and only issue on September 25, 1690. The Weekly Jamaica Courant followed in Kingston, Jamaica from 1718. In 1726 the Boston Gazette began publishing with Bartholomew Green, Jr., as printer.

The Boston Weekly Advertiser (1757–1775), also called The Boston Post-Boy & Advertiser was a weekly newspaper published in Boston, Massachusetts by John Green (1727–1787) and Joseph Russell (1734–1795).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Parks (publisher)</span> British printer and publisher (1699–1750)

William Parks was an 18th-century printer and journalist in England and Colonial America. He was the first printer in Maryland authorized as the official printer for the colonial government. He published the first newspaper in the Southern American colonies, the Maryland Gazette. He later became authorized as the official printer for the colonial government of Virginia. Parks was also the publisher and printer of the first official collection of the authentic 1733 set of Virginia's laws, and the first colonial publisher and proprietor of The Virginia Gazette newspaper. During his lifetime Parks established four new newspapers in the colonies. He also worked with Benjamin Franklin on several projects related to printing, most notably, the establishment of a paper mill in Virginia, the first such mill south of Pennsylvania.

Sarah Updike Goddard was an early American printer, as well as a co-founder and publisher of the Providence Gazette and Country Journal, the first newspaper founded in Providence, Rhode Island. She worked closely with her son William and daughter Mary Katherine, who both also became printers and publishers, forming one of the earliest influential publishing dynasties in the American colonies.

The Great Chesapeake Bay Hurricane of 1769 was a major hurricane to hit the mid-Atlantic coast from North Carolina north to New England on September 7–8, 1769. It is believed to have been one of the worst storms of the century.

Samuel Stalnaker was an explorer, trapper, guide and one of the first settlers on the Virginia frontier. He established a tavern in 1752 near what is now Chilhowie, Virginia. He was held captive by Shawnee Indians at Lower Shawneetown in Kentucky for almost a year, before escaping and traveling over 460 miles to Williamsburg, Virginia, to report on French preparations to attack English settlements in Virginia and Pennsylvania. He later served as a guide under George Washington during the French and Indian War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Early American publishers and printers</span>

Early American publishers and printers played a central role in the social, religious, political and commercial development of the Thirteen Colonies in British America prior to and during the American Revolution and the ensuing American Revolutionary War that established American independence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bibliography of early American publishers and printers</span>

Bibliography of early American publishers and printers is a selection of books, journals and other publications devoted to these topics covering their careers and other activities before, during and just after the American Revolution. Various works that are not primarily devoted to those topics, but whose content devotes itself to them in significant measure, are sometimes included here also. Works about Benjamin Franklin, a famous printer and publisher, among other things, are too numerous to list in this bibliography, can be found at Bibliography of Benjamin Franklin, and are generally not included here unless they are greatly devoted to Franklin's printing career. Single accounts of printers and publishers that occur in encyclopedia articles are neither included here.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Davis (printer)</span> First public printer to the Colony of North Carolina (1721–1785)

James Davis was an early American printer and the first printer and first postmaster of the colony of North Carolina. He was also the founder and printer of the North-Carolina Gazette, North Carolina colony's first newspaper. After working with William Parks in Virginia he removed to New Bern to pursue a printing career upon learning that an official printer was needed in that colony. Soon after his arrival he began to put down roots, married, and became active in local politics, holding several positions in public office, including membership in the North Carolina Assembly and thereafter a county Sheriff.

References

  1. Thornton, Mary Linsday. Public Printing in North Carolina, 1749-1815, North Carolina Historical Review, Vol. 21, no. 3 (July 1944): 181-202, at 183.
  2. Graham, Nicholas (26 August 2004). August 1751: North Carolina’s First Newspaper, North Carolina Miscellany (UNC Chapel Hill libraries), Retrieved 1 February 2019
  3. 1 2 Elliott, Robert N., Jr. James Davis and the Beginning of the Newspaper in North Carolina, North Carolina Historical Review, Vol. 42, no. 1 (Winter 1965): 1-20.
  4. Corbitt, D.L. Historical Notes: The North Carolina Gazette, North Carolina Historical Review, Vol. 2, No. 1 (January, 1925), pp. 83-86 (this brief 1925 article discusses recently found issues of the Gazette dating back to 1751, which advanced prior research suggesting the paper was not started until 1755. That conclusion had been based on the fact that April 15, 1757 issue is "Number 103", and if the paper had published weekly without gaps, 1755 would be when it had started)
  5. Reavis, Scott Aaron. James Davis: North Carolina's First Printer (Master's paper, UNC Chapel Hill, July 2000)
  6. Hand, Bill (31 July 2016). Awash in a hurricane’s wrath in 1769, New Bern Sun Journal
  7. Powell, William S., ed. The correspondence of William Tryon and other selected papers, Volume II, 1768-1818, pp. 362-63 (1981)
  8. Powell, William S. Encyclopedia of North Carolina (2006)
  9. (9 August 2014). State’s First Newspaper Issued in New Bern, 1751, NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources