Elizabeth Coleman

March 25

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Boston-Gazette (March 23, 1772).

“Elizabeth Coleman … Continues the Brewing-Business.”

Women who advertised that they provided goods and services usually fell into one of several occupational groups. Female shopkeepers promoted a variety of imported goods, especially textiles and accessories for making clothing. Milliners and seamstresses advertised the hats and garments they made for clients.  Schoolmistresses invited prospective students and their parents to lessons that included reading, writing, and sewing.

On occasion, however, women who pursued other occupations ran advertisements in the public prints.  Elizabeth Coleman, for instance, informed the public that she “Continues the Brewing-Business” in a notice that ran in the March 23, 1772, edition of the Boston-Gazette.  She pledged to “serve with Dispatch, the best of double and single Malt and Spruce Beer in as large or small quantities as is wanted.”  No order was too large or too small for Coleman!  Furthermore, she set prices “at as reasonable Rate as good Beer can be afforded.”

Although Coleman operated a “Brewing-Business,” she may have been the proprietor and employer rather a brewer herself.  She indicated that she “now employed a Person brought up to the Business.”  Perhaps that employee’s knowledge, skill, and experience supplemented her own, expanding the number of brewers affiliated with Coleman’s business.  Perhaps as a woman in a predominantly male occupation she sought to downplay her own contributions as brewer in favor by giving credit to an employee “brought up to the Business,” believing that strategy would attract more customers.

Whatever the extent of Coleman’s active participation as a brewer, she was an entrepreneur who ran her own business and sought visibility for it in the public prints.  In addition to selling beers produced by her “Brewing-Business,” she also marketed “the best of Philadelphia and Baltimore Beer” imported from other colonial ports.  Her customers could choose from among a selection of beers to suit their tastes and budgets.  They could even enjoy their beverages, perhaps with some food, at Coleman’s establishment.  She declared that she “keeps good Entertainment for Man and Horses.”  In addition to retailing beer, she ran a tavern with access to a stable as part of her larger operation.  That made her as industrious an entrepreneur as any of the male merchants, shopkeepers, and artisans who also placed advertisements in the Boston-Gazette.

December 11

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

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

dec-11-12111766-pennsylvania-journal
Pennsylvania Journal (December 11, 1766).

“Philip Coleman peddler, my husband; for some time past has eloped from me.”

Many colonists experienced geographic mobility during the eighteenth century. Even as some used their ability to move from place to place to seize opportunities and improve their lot in life, others found such mobility problematic, especially in the cases of slaves and indentured servants who ran away from their masters.

While advertisements for unfree laborers constituted the vast majority of runaway advertisements in the eighteenth century, advertisements for wives who had “eloped from” (rather than with) their husbands appeared with such frequency that no one would have considered them extraordinary in any particular way. In the larger urban ports newspapers sometimes featured multiple advertisements concerning runaway wives in a single issue, usually following a set formula announcing that a woman had “eloped from” her husband, that she had behaved poorly before her departure, and, perhaps most importantly, that merchants, shopkeepers, and others were not to extend her credit or otherwise allow her to make purchases on her husband’s account.

Advertisements for runaway husbands, on the other hand, were much more rare. Elizabeth Coleman published her advertisement about “Philip Coleman peddler, my husband,” only after he had “eloped from” her. That would have been bad enough, but he also made efforts to publicly damage her reputation “by inserting in the publick paper an advertisement very much to my prejudice.”

Elizabeth Coleman was not in a position to replicate the standard advertisement for a runaway wife; as a married woman, a feme covert, she could not instruct others not to trust her husband on her account. Instead, she resorted to defending herself in no uncertain terms. She lamented that her husband’s advertisement “scandalously vilified my character.” It presented accusations “contrary to my known character.” As a feme covert, Elizabeth would not have owned property independently of her husband; her reputation – her character – was her most valuable possession. Given the very public aspects of the rupture in the Coleman household, Elizabeth may have needed an unsullied reputation more than ever just for her everyday survival.

Just as her husband had used the power of the press to level accusations against her, Elizabeth Coleman published a counter advertisement as her means of “justifying myself.” Unlike advertisements for runaway wives that relied solely on the word of the husband, Elizabeth relied on her community to affirm her declarations concerning her character and her relationship with her husband. Philip’s advertisement was “villanous and false, which is well know to al- my neighbours.”

N.B. I am examining newspapers printed in Philadelphia in the summer and fall of 1766 in hopes of identifying Philip Coleman’s original advertisement.