Connecticut Journal

November 4

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Connecticut Journal (November 4, 1774).

“The Proceedings of the Continental Congress will shortly be ready for sale at the Printing Office in New Haven.”

William Bradford and Thomas Bradford, the printers of the Pennsylvania Journal in Philadelphia were the first to advertise the Extracts from the Votes and Proceedings of the American Continental Congress after the First Continental Congress adjourned its meeting in the fall of 1774, but other printers in other towns soon hawked their own editions.  A multiplication of copies produced and disseminated throughout the colonies aided in keeping colonizers informed beyond what they read in newspapers or heard from their friends and neighbors.

The Bradfords announced publication of the Extracts on November 2, a week after the First Continental Congress concluded its meeting.  On November 3, John Holt, the printer of the New-York Journal, ran a shorter advertisement to the same effect: “THE PROCEEEDINGS OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, With their Letter to the People of QUEBEC, To be sold by the Printer.”  He may have been so occupied with taking the Extracts to press as quickly as possible that he did not focus on crafting an advertisement.  On the other hand, considering the level of interest in the decisions of the delegates, Holt may not have considered an elaborate advertisement necessary to market the pamphlet.  Anne Catharine Green and Son, the printers of the Maryland Gazette in Annapolis, ran their own advertisement that day, though they did not have their edition ready for sale.  Still, they wanted readers to know that it would soon be available: “Now in the press, and speedily will be published, EXTRACTS FROM THE VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN CONTINETNAL CONGRESS.”  They placed their notice immediately after the news, testifying to its consequence.

Thomas Green and Samuel Green, the printers of the Connecticut Journal and New-Haven Post-Boy, also moved quickly to publish an edition of the Extracts.  They inserted a note in the November 4 edition of their newspaper: “The Proceedings of the Continental Congress will shortly be ready for sale at the Printing Office in New Haven.”  It appeared at the bottom of the final column on the third page of that issue.  Printers usually printed the first and fourth pages on one side of a broadsheet and let them dry while they set type for the second and third pages to print on the other side.  That meant that the Greens’ notice about the Extracts would have been the last item added to that edition.  Perhaps they had hoped to have the pamphlet ready for sale by the time the second and third pages of the newspaper went to press, but settled for alerting readers that they could acquire copies soon.  As quickly as they could, the Greens joined other printers in disseminating the political pamphlet far and wide.

October 28

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Connecticut Journal (October 28, 1774).

“When a boat shall set off from either side, a boat shall immediately put off from the other.”

Jesse Leavenworth had two years of experience of operating a ferry “to and from East Haven, on the lower road,” but they had not been easy years.  In an advertisement he placed in the October 28, 1774, edition of the Connecticut Journal, he explained that the “hounourable General Assembly … thought fit to establish under his care and direction” the ferry in October 1772.  He accepted the charge, seeking to support “himself and a numerous family.”  That site, however, possessed “many difficulties” due to the “flats and openness of the place to sea” that had previously made it “insurmountable by all those who have heretofore attempted” a similar venture.  At a “vast expence,” Leavenworth “furnished himself with a number of large & sufficient boats.”  Whether they ran ferries or stagecoaches, entrepreneurs who provided transportation frequently underscored the financial investments they made in their businesses.  Leavenworth kept at least two boats on each side and hired staff to give “suitable attendance.”

Despite the obstacles, Leavenworth met with success.  He asserted that he “gain’d the approbation and custom of the public beyond his most sanguine expectations, which he gratefully acknowledges.”  The ferry was so successful that the operator prepared to introduce another innovation to the service.  Three weeks later, he planned that “when a boat shall set off from either side” that another boat “shall immediately put off from the other, to supply its place.”  The companion boat would go whether or not it had passengers or freight.  That way the ferry would maintain two boats on each side “to oblige his customers and prevent all suggestions of nonattendance on either side.”  Patrons would face less inconvenience in waiting if they happened to arrive when the ferry was in use.  Leavenworth concluded by noting that “this will be an additional expense” so he “hopes for the countenance of the public, and a continuance of their custom.”  Again, he suggested that prospective customers should recognize his investment and choose to hire his services because of it.

Following his signature, Leavenworth added a brief note aimed at recruiting an employee, a “hardy stout Man … who can be well recommended (for honesty, sobriety, and good nature).  A month earlier, he had advertised that a “negro man” who “speaks the Portuguese language, and bit little English” had “let himself to me.”  Suspecting that his new employee may have been an enslaved man who fled from his enslaver, Leavenworth placed a notice in the public prints.  Not long after that, an advertisement about just such a man in the Connecticut Courant featured an observation that a “Negro answering the above Discription has let himself to Mr. Jesse Leavenworth of New-Haven.”  The forthcoming innovation in his ferry service may not have been the only reason Leavenworth sought a new employee.  The Black man that he hired as he planned to launch the next stage of his business may have been captured and returned to his enslaver.

October 14

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Connecticut Journal (October 14, 1774).

“The directions for taking the above [medicines], may be seen at the Printing Office.”

Colonial printers not only disseminated advertisements for patent medicines but also sold them to supplement the revenues from the other goods and services they offered at their printing offices.  In some instances, printers cooperated with others in advertising and selling patent medicines.  That seems to have been the case with Thomas Green and Samuel Green, printers of the Connecticut Journal and New-Haven Post-Boy, and Eleazer Oswald in the fall of 1774.  Oswald advertised a “few Boxes of OGDEN’s Antidysenteric Pills, For the Cure of the BLOODY-FLUX, And a few Bottles of WEED’S Syrup, with Powders” in the October 14 edition of the Connecticut Journal.  For those unfamiliar with these nostrums, he explained, “These are excellent medicines for the disorder now prevalent in town, as Ogden’s Pills, when properly administered, have never failed effecting a cure, even in the most desperate Fluxes; nor have Weed’s Syrup and Powder been attended with less success.”  As further evidence, Oswald suggested that prospective customers could examine the directions for the patent medicines at the printing office.

Oswald did not mention his affiliation with the Greens, nor did he give a separate address where customers could purchase the medicines.  In a town the size of New Haven, local readers did not always need advertisers to list their addresses.  In this instance, doing so might have been unnecessary if Oswald worked in the printing office and the community knew that without him stating it in the advertisement.  He apparently spent some time in New Haven in addition to seeking opportunities in other towns.  Born in England, Oswald migrated to the colonies in the early 1770s.  He served as an apprentice to John Holt, the printer of the New-York Journal.  In 1779, he entered a partnership with William Goddard in printing the Maryland Journal in Baltimore.  In 1782, he established his own newspaper, the Independent Gazetteer, in Philadelphia.  In the time between his apprenticeship with Holt and his partnership with Goddard, Oswald formed some sort of relationship with the Greens.  He may have worked in their printing office, selling patent medicines as a side hustle, or he may have been a tenant.  Either way, his advertisement for Ogden’s pills and Weed’s syrup and powders had the potential to increase traffic in the printing office, making it an even more bustling hub of activity as colonizers exchanged goods and information.

October 7

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Connecticut Journal (October 7, 1774).

“The SPEECH, intended to have been spoken on the BILL for altering the Charters of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay.”

Among the other advertisements that appeared in the October 7, 1774, edition of the Connecticut Journal and New-Haven Post-Boy, Thomas Green and Samuel Green inserted a notice for two political pamphlets “To be sold by the Printers hereof.”  They stocked “The SPEECH, intended to have been spoken on the BILL for altering the Charters of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay.  Written by the Rev. Dr. Jonathan Shipley, Lord Bishop of St. Asaph” as well as “A DECLARATION of the People’s Natural Right to Share in the LEGISLATURE; which is the Fundamental Principle of the British Constitution of State.  By Granville Sharp.”

Both pamphlets supported the American cause against abuses perpetrated by Parliament.  The first critiqued the Massachusetts Government Act, legislation that revoked the colony’s charter, gave greater authority to a governor appointed by the king, and prohibited town meetings without prior approval.  As a bishop of the Church of England, Shipley was a member of Parliament.  He intended to object to the Massachusetts Government Act, one of the Coercive Acts passed in retaliation for the Boston Tea Party, but was not allowed to deliver it.  Instead, he had it published.  Although it had little effect in England, the speech circulated widely and to great acclaim in the colonies.  In addition to imported editions sold by booksellers, colonial printers produced at least eleven American editions in Salem, Boston, Newport, Hartford, New York, Philadelphia, Lancaster, and Williamsburg.  The Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy reprinted the speech in a supplement that accompanied its September 12, 1774, edition.  In addition, Daboll’s New-England Almanack, for the Year 1775 included the “Celebrated Speech” and a portrait of Shipley on the title page.  The bishop achieved great acclaim among colonizers for his support during their plight.

The Greens advertised and sold Shipley’s speech, but they did not publish their own edition.  They were so eager to disseminate the pamphlet to their customers that they first advertised it in the outer margin of the second page of the September 30 edition of the Connecticut Journal.  A single line declared, “The celebrated SPEECH, of the Bishop of St. Asaph, on the Bill for altering the Charter of the Colony of Massachusetts-Bay.  To be sold by the Printers, and Nathan Hicok, jun. price 4d.”  Hicok was a post rider who joined the ranks of post riders who not only delivered letters and newspapers but also sold political tracts that advocated for the rights of the colonies.  It appears that the Greens may have received copies of the bishop’s speech shortly before taking the September 30 edition to press, but rather than wait an entire week to promote it in the next issue they instead opted to squeeze it into the margin.  They then converted it into a regular advertisement to continue promoting it to readers.  The advertisements do not reveal how many customers purchased and read the pamphlet, but they do indicate that printers and post riders actively worked to distribute it widely.

September 30

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

Who was the subject of an advertisement in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Connecticut Journal (September 30, 1774).

“Yesterday let himself to me a lusty negro man … speaks the Portuguese language.”

At the end of September 1774, Jesse Leavenworth placed an advertisement in the Connecticut Journal and New-Haven Post-Boy to give directions for finding and hiring “the ferryman … in the east side of the New Ferry” since there had recently been some confusion that caused frustration, inconvenience, and delays.  In addition, he briefly noted, “Yesterday let himself to me a lusty negro man, about 23 or 24 years old, speaks the Portuguese language, and but little English.”  In other words, Leavenworth had hired a Black man, yet he had concerns about whether that man was free to make contracts for his labor or had seized his liberty by running away from an enslaver.  In the absence of evidence that the Black man was indeed a fugitive seeking freedom, Leavenworth hired him, yet he also alerted the public in case anyone had more information or was looking for a young Black man who spoke Portuguese an not much English.

The public prints facilitated that sort of surveillance and oversight of Black people in early America, even in Connecticut and other colonies in New England.  Elsewhere in the same issue of the Connecticut Journal, William Smith ran an advertisement that described “a MOLATTO SLAVE, half Negro and half Indian, named DICK” who “RANAWAY from … the South Side of Long-Island” in late August.  Dick did not depart alone.  An “INDIAN FELLOW, named JOE,” accompanied him, fleeing from Nathaniel Woodhull, though Smith did not specify if Joe was indentured or enslaved.  Apparently, he was not free because Smith offered a reward to anyone who “secures him or them in any of his Majesty’s Gaols, or shall bring one or both of them to their Masters.”

Leavenworth could have taken similar action, delivering the unnamed Black man to the jail in New Haven and placing an advertisement for his enslaver to claim him.  Such advertisements appeared with regularity, most often in southern colonies and occasionally in New England.  They demonstrated the precariousness of living their everyday lives that Black people, including free Black men and women, faced since they could be imprisoned solely on the suspicion that they might be enslaved people who escaped from their enslavers.  Although Leavenworth chose to hire rather than imprison the young Black man who spoke Portuguese, his simultaneous decision to make an announcement in the newspaper also testified to the level of suspicion that Black people encountered as well as how colonizers used the power of the press to regulate them.

August 19

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Connecticut Journal (August 19, 1774).

“A School for the Instruction of Youth … in the polite and agreeable Exercise of dancing MINUETS.”

Francois-Dominique Rousseau, a “Native of Old France,” arrived in New Haven by way of the West Indies in the summer of 1774.  When he took up residence in the town, he placed an advertisement in the Connecticut Journal to inform the public that he “intends to open a School for the Instruction of Youth, of both Sexes, in the polite and agreeable Exercise of dancing MINUETS.”  The dancing master further explained that he gave lessons “agreeable to the most exact Rules,” so his charges would be proficient when they completed their studies.  Unlike other dancing masters who advertised in colonial newspapers, he specified how many lessons that would require, a total of twenty-four to be “compleatly instructed” for “the moderate Price of one Dollar.”  For those who preferred private lessons rather than have their initial awkwardness on display in front of fellow students at the school, Rousseau offered to instruct them “at their Places of abode at Nine Shillings.”

The dancing master could have chosen to migrate to one of the largest urban ports, such as Boston or Charleston or Philadelphia, in search of a cosmopolitan clientele rather than take his chances in New Haven.  Dancing masters frequently advertised in those cities.  Yet Rousseau might have been confident that he would indeed find “suitable Encouragement” in New Haven.  Perhaps he had even spoken with ship captains or merchants familiar with the town when they conducted business in the West Indies, getting a sense of his prospects before setting off for Connecticut.  After all, other smaller towns in New England apparently had some demand for dancing masters.  St. George de Viart and Edward Hackett, for instance, operated dancing academies and gave private lessons in New Hampshire.  Viart had even left Portsmouth for Philadelphia, but returned to New England after a short time.  He must have considered his prospects in the smaller town more favorable.  Perhaps he faced too much competition from other dancing masters in the larger city.  That could have been why Rousseau chose New Haven over New York.  Just as the goods associated with the consumer revolution found their way to even the smallest towns in the colonies, not just major urban centers, so did admiration for the skill and gracefulness exhibited through genteel pastimes like dancing.  Rousseau likely encountered prospective students just as eager for instruction in New Haven as any in larger cities.

May 20

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Connecticut Journal (May 20, 1774).

“GOODS.”

Only six advertisements appeared in the May 20, 1774, edition of the Connecticut Journal and New-Haven Post-Boy, far fewer than in the previous issue.  The printers, Thomas Green and Samuel Green, made space for the entire text of the Boston Port Act, passed in response to the destruction of tea the previous December.  The act closed and blockaded the busy port until residents paid for the tea dumped into the harbor.  It filled the entire front page and overflowed onto the second, followed by news that Thomas Hutchinson, the royal governor of Massachusetts, had returned to England with the king’s permission and, in turn, George III appointed “Thomas Gage, Esq; Lieutenant general of his Majesty’s forces, to be Captain-general and Governor in Chief of the said province, and Vice Admiral of the same.”  Other news from England and the rest of Europe completed the page, followed by extensive news from Boston and brief updates from New York, Hartford, and New Haven on the third and fourth pages.  The advertisements in that issue completed the final columns on the last two pages.

Despite the significance of the news on the front page and throughout the rest of the issue, no headlines directed attention to the Boston Port Act, the appointment of Gage, or any of the other coverage.  The sorts of headlines familiar to modern readers usually were not part of eighteenth-century newspapers, no matter how momentous the news they carried. Advertisements, on the other hand, much more frequently made use of short summaries and larger fonts.  Instead of a headline that proclaimed, “BOSTON PORT ACT TO CLOSE HARBOR ON JUNE 1,” running across the page just below the masthead on the first page, the largest font in the May 20 issue appeared in an advertisement.  The introduction for that advertisement had a slightly larger font than the news in the column to the left and throughout the rest of the newspaper.  The names of the merchants, “Morgan & Shipman,” ran in a font approximately twice the size of that for the news.  The word “GOODS,” concluding a description of their “good Assortment of Spring and Summer GOODS,” extended across the column in a font approximately three times the size of any font used for news.  It even rivaled the size of the font in the masthead, drawing eyes to Morgan and Shipman’s advertisement as readers sought news to buttress what they previously heard and read.  The format made the advertisement visually engaging, especially compared to other content.  Printers did not consider the same treatment necessary for news, testifying to a different manner for producing and reading newspapers in early America compared to later periods.

March 18

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Connecticut Gazette (March 18, 1774).

“Make Way! A Probationer for NEW GATE!”

For Matthew Talcott, all was fine on the evening of March 4, 1774, but he woke up to discover a calamity the next morning.  Sometime during the night six silver spoons “marked M R,” “one silver neck buckle, two pair silver knee buckels,” quite a bit of cash, and “some shop goods, uncertain,” had been stolen from his shop in Middletown, Connecticut.  In response, Talcott turned to the public prints, running advertisements in hopes that someone “shall take up the thief, and secure him in some [jail], where he may be brought to justice.”  He also sought to recover the stolen items and money.  In addition to giving a reward, he invested in advertisements in three newspapers published in the colony.

Connecticut Journal (March 18, 1774).

Talcott’s advertisement first appeared in the Connecticut Gazette, published in New London, and the Connecticut Journal and New-Haven Post-Boy on March 11.  In each instance, a headline alerted readers to the contents of the rest of the advertisement.  The Connecticut Journal used “STOLEN” as the headline, while the Connecticut Gazette featured a more playful one that may have attracted even more attention: “Make Way! A Probationer for NEW GATE!”  The colony had recently opened a prison in a copper mine converted for that purpose in East Granby.  Someone in the printing office, rather than Talcott, may have devised the headline.

What suggests that was the case?  The two advertisements featured some variations.  The one in the Connecticut Gazette indicated that the theft took place “out of the Shop” while the Connecticut Journal stated it occurred “OUT of the house” of the unfortunate Talcott.  He likely worked where he resided.  Some of the stolen goods also appeared in slightly different order.  Talcott likely wrote the copy once for one newspaper and then copied it for the other, but was not exact in the process.  The compositor for the Connecticut Journal then used the first word as the headline, a common practice.  The editor or the compositor for the Connecticut Gazette, on the other hand, may have spotted an opportunity for creativity.

Connecticut Courant (March 15, 1774).

Consider that Talcott’s advertisement next ran in the Connecticut Courant, published in Hartford, on March 15.  It featured the same copy, including the snappy headline, that appeared in the Connecticut Gazette.  It also appeared in the margin on the final page, suggesting that the printing office received the advertisement at the last moment.  Type had already been set for the rest of the issue, but the compositor found a way to include Talcott’s notice.  Rather than Talcott submitting his advertisement directly to the Connecticut Courant, he may have made arrangements with the printer of the Connecticut Gazette to instruct his counterpart in Hartford to publish it, marking it in the copy sent as part of an exchange network of printers throughout the colony and the region.

While not conclusive, the circumstances collectively suggest that Talcott wrote the original copy, the Connecticut Gazetteembellished it with a provocative headline, and the Connecticut Courant reprinted it.  Several people played a role in creating the advertisement ultimately distributed to readers throughout the colony.

March 11

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Connecticut Journal (March 11, 1774).

“You thought that I was in jest.  I would have you take me now to be in earnest.”

Leverett Hubbard was not amused.  He made his displeasure known in an advertisement that first appeared in the Connecticut Journal on February 18, 1774, and continued for several weeks.  Perhaps he grew even more frustrated each time that it appeared and those he addressed continued to ignore his call for them to settle accounts.

Hubbard used “ADVERTISEMENT” as a headline for his notice, an unusual opening line.  In this instance, he likely deployed the word according to one of its earliest meanings, one largely obsolete as use of “advertisement” has evolved.  The Oxford English Dictionary gives this definition: “the action or an act of calling the attention of someone; (an) admonition, warning, instruction.”  In a few sentences, Hubbard delivered an admonition, issued a warning, and gave instructions.

“YOU may remember,” he confided to the “GENTLEMEN AND LADIES” he addressed, “I have several times desir’d in this paper, that you would settle accounts with me.”  Such notices regularly appeared in newspapers throughout the colonies, but Hubbard composed lively copy for this “ADVERTISEMENT.”  Sarcastically, he opined, “I suppose by your not taking any of me, you thought that I was in jest.  I would have you take me now to be in earnest.”  Following that admonition, Hubbard gave instructions to settle accounts by “the first day of March.”  He concluded with a warning to his “large number [of colonizers] to settle with,” declaring that since he did not have “time to wait upon you, I shall employ an Attorney.”  Others who placed similar notices sometimes resort to that threat.

Hubbard departed from the formulaic language reiterated from one advertisement to another, perhaps hoping that a more emphatic approach, demonstrating that made his appeal “in earnest” rather than “in jest,” would convince those with open accounts who had ignored his previous notices that it was indeed in their best interests to heed this advertisement with its admonition, instructions, and warning.

March 4

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Connecticut Journal (March 4, 1774).

“50 Stands of FIRE-ARMS, with Bayonets.”

The image distinguished the advertisement from most of the others that ran in the March 4, 1774, edition of the Connecticut Journal.  A woodcut depicting a gun adorned Abel Buell’s advertisement for “50 Stands of FIRE-ARMS, with Bayonets, Cartridge Boxes, Belts, Straps, and Cases completely finished.”  Only two other images appeared in that issue, a post rider on a horse in the masthead, as usual, and a house in an advertisement in a real estate advertisement.  Printers supplied stock images of houses, horses, ships, and enslaved people when they matched the contents of the notices in their newspapers.  Advertisers interested in other images, including those that replicated their shop signs or represented their merchandise, commissioned the woodcuts and then had exclusive use of them.  In some instances, such advertisers in towns with more than one newspaper sometimes collected their woodcuts from one printing office and delivered them to another when they chose to advertise in multiple publications.

Buell’s woodcut was noteworthy for other reasons.  Not especially sophisticated to modern eyes, it was a rarity in the Connecticut Journal.  Newspapers in urban ports tended to carry a greater number of images commissioned by advertisers, but Thomas Green and Samuel Green in New Haven did not handle that many special orders.  That made Buell’s woodcut all the more innovative and eye-catching in that particular newspaper.  In addition, it did not correspond to his trade.  In previous advertisements, he described himself as a “GOLDSMITH in New-Haven” and listed a variety of jewelry available at his shop.  Yet as spring approached in 1774, he marketed dozens of “the best English made Pieces, proper for Hunting, as well as Military Use.”  Buell made an investment in a woodcut unrelated to his primary occupation, though he may have produced it himself rather than commissioning it.  His skills included engraving.  A decade earlier, according to the Library of Congress, he “used his skill as an engraver to produce counterfeit colonial paper currency, a crime for which he was tried and convicted.”  Following that incident, he put his skills to better use, producing “the very first map of the newly independent United States compiled, printed, and published in America by an America.”  Perhaps along the way he made a woodcut to enliven his advertisement for firearms in the Connecticut Journal.