Existing Clientele

December 18

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

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

Connecticut Courant (December 18, 1775).

“Gentlemen in the army … forwarding their commands by any of the post-riders, may depend on fidelity and dispatch.”

Thomas Hilldrup, a watch- and clockmaker, had a history of running engaging advertisements in newspapers printed in Connecticut in the 1770s.  He once again took to the pages of the Connecticut Courant and Hartford Weekly Intelligenceron December 18, 1775, this time informing existing and prospective clients that he had moved to a new location.  In framing this announcement, he asserted that he had already built a reputation and earned the trust of many customers.  Having been “imboldened by the many favours received of the indulgent public,” Hilldrup declared, he “hereby informs them that for the conveniency of his business, he has removed his shop a few rods north of the State-House, to that, for many years, occupied by Dr. William Jepson.”  He supplemented this announcement with assurances about his skill and the quality of his work, stating that he “continues to repair watches properly and warrant them as usual.”

Realizing that the Connecticut Courant circulated far beyond Hartford, Hilldrup took the opportunity to address “Gentlemen in the army, or others at a distance.”  Like other watchmakers, he provided mail order services for cleaning and repairs.  He promised those clients that by “forwarding their commands by any of the post-riders” they “may depend on fidelity and dispatch.”  As the Continental Army continued the siege of Boston, Hilldrup may have known that some of the clients he served in recent years too part in that endeavor.  In an unfamiliar place that experienced some of the most significant disruptions during the first year of the Revolutionary War, they may have been at a loss to identify local artisans that they trusted to do repairs and perform routine maintenance.  That might have made Hilldrup’s mail order service look especially attractive.  The watchmaker likely also hoped that others enlisted in the army (as well as “others at a distance”) who had not previously availed themselves of his services would be influenced by his claim that he already established a robust clientele, those “many favours received of the indulgent public” that he invoked at the beginning of his advertisement.  Whether or not this strategy proved effective, Hilldrup envisioned “Gentlemen in the army” as a new category of customers to target in his marketing.  The Revolutionary War presented opportunities to savvy entrepreneurs as well as challenges and disruptions.

November 9

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Maryland Gazette (November 9, 1775).

“All work sent home as soon as done by the return of post.”

After his partnership with Abraham Claude ended, watchmaker Charles Jacob opened his own shop in Annapolis in the fall of 1775.  He placed an advertisement in the Maryland Gazette in hopes that “his former customers in town and country will favour him with their custom,” though he also intended for the notice to draw the attention of new customers.  Mentioning both his partnership with Claude and the clientele they had established demonstrated to prospective new customers that Jacob had the experience to serve them well.  In addition, he pledged “constant application to his business” or, in other words, an industriousness that customers would find more than satisfactory.

For the convenience of customers who lived outside Annapolis, Jacob provided an eighteenth-century version of mail order service.  In a nota bene, he stated that “orders from the country shall be strictly observed, and all work sent home as soon as done by the return of the post.”  In other words, he gave the same attention to watches sent to him to clean or repair as if the customer had visited his shop.  He did not give priority to customers who resided in Annapolis, nor did he delay returning watches to their owners when he finished working on them.  Prospective customers did not need to worry that their watches might end up sitting on a workbench or tucked away in a drawer and forgotten while Jacob attended to other projects.  Instead, he ran an orderly shop.

Jacob may have occupied the same location where he and Claude previously kept shop.  In their earlier advertisements, including one in the October 1, 1773, edition of the Maryland Gazette, they gave their address as “opposite Mr. Ghiselin’s, in West-Street.  In his new advertisement, Jacob declared that he “has just opened a shop next to John C. Lindsey’s tavern, and facing the late R. Ghiselin, in West-street.”  A familiar location may have helped him retain some of the customers that frequented the shop when he ran it in partnership with Claude.

May 26

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

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

New-Hampshire Gazette (May 26, 1775).

“HAIR-DRESSERS … The Business is still carried on in the same Shop.”

William Knight, a “PERUKE MAKER and HAIR DRESSER,” placed advertisements for the wigs he made and the services he provided on several occasions.  In the January 22, 1773, edition of the New-Hampshire Gazette, for instance, he announced that he “open’d SHOP near LIBERTY BRIDGE” in Portsmouth, where he will be ready to serve any Persons on reasonable Terms.”  Six months later, he established a partnership with Peter Man.  On July 30, they published an advertisement to advise prospective clients that they “carry on their Business in all its Branches, at their Shop on the Parade in Portsmouth.”  They continued together for nearly two years, but as the Revolutionary War began Man and Knight decided to part ways.

That prompted another newspaper advertisement, one that deployed standard language for such circumstances.  Upon “having agreed to dissolve the Partnership which was between them,” they called on “all Persons with whom they have Accounts open to close them as soon as possible.”  They did not indicate why they ended their partnership, though perhaps Knight retired or moved to another town.  He did not place any more advertisements in the New-Hampshire Gazette.  Man, on the other hand, used the notice about the partnership ending for a second purpose.  With a manicule to draw attention, he proclaimed, “The Business is still carried on in the same Shop, on the Parade and constant Attendance given.”  Even as one iteration of the business closed, Man hoped to maintain the clientele that he and Knight had established over the past two years as well as attract new customers for wigs and styling.

He was not the only one to advertise such services.  In an advertisement for the inn that he operated in nearby Greenland, John Williams added a nota bene to inform “Amy Gentlemen Travellers inclining to have their Hair or Wigs dressed before they go to Town, may have it done by said WILLIAMS in the genteelest and most fashionable Manner.”  Even as the New-Hampshire Gazette carried the “Freshest ADVICES FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC” about the imperial crisis, advertisers catered to ladies and gentlemen who wanted their hair or wigs presentable for appearing in public.

January 31

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal (January 31, 1775).

“She intends to carry on the UPHOLSTERY BUSINESS in all its branches, except paper hanging.”

Ann Fowler, “Widow of the late RICHARD FOWLER, Upholsterer,” took to the pages of the South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal to advertise a variety of merchandise that she sold out of her house on Meeting Street in Charleston.  She indicated that she imported her wares “in the Ship MERMAID, Captain CHARLES HARFORD, from LONDON,” a vessel that arrived in port on December 29, 1774, according to the list of “ENTRIES INWARDS” at the custom house published in the January 3, 1775, edition of the South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal.  Those goods should have fallen under the jurisdiction of the Continental Association.  Nevertheless, Fowler hawked a “Large quantity of paper hangings, of the newest and genteelest fashions, a great variety of bed furniture cottons, some of which are very rich and elegant, with a variety of trimmings to suit, [and] a few sets of handsome looking glasses, with girandoles to match.”  The widow was not the only advertiser who placed notices about imported goods that looked the same as those published before the Continental Association went into effect.

Fowler appended a nota bene to “inform her late Husband’s good customers, that she intends to carry on the UPHOLSTERY BUSINESS in all its branches, except paper hanging.”  Widows often took over the family business in colonial America, sometimes doing the same tasks their husbands had done and sometimes supervising employees.  Even though Ann had not been the public face of the enterprise while Richard still lived, she likely had experience assisting him in his shop and interacting with any assistants that he hired.  She hoped that she and her husband had cultivated relationships that would allow her to maintain their clientele, though they would have to look elsewhere when it came to “paper hanging” or installing wallpaper.  Fowler sold papers hangings “of the newest and genteelest fashions,” but her customers needed to contract with someone else to paste them up.  That may have been because she lacked experience with that aspect of the family business, her role having been primarily in the shop.  On the other hand, perhaps she felt comfortable doing all sorts of upholstery work in the shop, a semi-public space that now belonged to her, but she did not consider it appropriate to enter the private spaces of her customers, especially male clients who lived alone.  As a female entrepreneur, Fowler may have attempted to observe a sense of propriety that the public would find acceptable.  Whether or not Fowler had prior experience installing paper hangings, she constrained herself in discontinuing that service following the death of her husband.

December 4

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

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

Virginia Gazette [Purdie and Dixon] (December 1, 1774).

“Our Press shall be as free as any in America.”

The first page of the December 1, 1774, edition of the Virginia Gazette featured two notices about the future endeavors of the partners who printed that newspaper.  In the first, Alexander Purdie announced his withdrawal from that partnership and outlined his plans to publish another newspaper on his own as soon as he garnered enough subscribers to make it a viable venture.  In the other, John Dixon expressed his appreciation for customers who had supported the partnership and revealed that he would continue to publish the Virginia Gazette with a new partner, William Hunter.

Although those were the only advertisements on the first page, they were not the only advertisements in that issue, nor the end of the notices inserted by the printers.  The remainder of the advertisements appeared after news and essays, commencing in the final column of the second page.  A notice placed by Dixon and Hunter led those advertisements, making clear that the new partnership would actively serve current and prospective customers.  They asserted that their newspaper “will be printed … upon good Paper and new Type.”  Beyond that investment that would benefit readers, Dixon and Hunter pledged that “no Pains or Expense shall be wanting to make this Gazette as useful and entertaining as ever.”  In other words, the newspaper would maintain the same quality that readers expected when the new management went into place.  Furthermore, they proclaimed that “our Press shall be as free as any in America.”  They hoped that would convince customers to continue their patronage, yet did not make assumptions.  “We beg Leave,” they declared, “to send put Papers regularly to the old Subscribers,” but recognized that some might not wish to renew.”  “If any Gentlemen choose to discontinue their Subscriptions at the end of the Year,” they instructed, “we request the Favour of them to let us know by that Time.”  The new partners also promoted other branches of their business, offering “BOOKS, STATIONARY, or PRINTING WORK” to residents of Williamsburg who visited their shop and customers in the country who sent orders.

That, however, did not conclude their advertisement.  Instead, Dixon and Hunter alerted readers that they would soon publish “THE Virginia Almanack For the Year of our LORD GOD 1775.”  The list of contents, intended to entice prospective customers, occupied more space than their announcement about upcoming changes in the partnership.  It contained the usual astronomical data and a selection of informative and “entertaining PIECES” along with several items related to current events.  Those included a list of “DELEGATES who formed the Grand AMERICAN CONGRESS convened at Philadelphia the 5th of Sept, 1774, and Names of the Provinces, &c. they represented,” a “List of DUTIABLE GOODS imported into the Colonies, by Virtue of a British Act of Parliament,” “His MAJESTY’S REGIMENT in AMERICA, and where stationed,” and “SHIPS of WAR on the American Station, with their COMMANDERS.”  The imperial crisis loomed large among the materials selected for inclusion in Dixon and Hunter’s almanac.  Before they began publishing the Virginia Gazette together, they disseminated information about the troubled relationship between the colonies and Britain in an almanac that customers would consult throughout the entire year of 1775.

December 1

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

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

Virginia Gazette [Purdie and Dixon] (December 1, 1774).

“I have sent Subscription Papers into all publick Places of the Country.”

Two advertisements that led the front page of the December 1, 1774, edition of Alexander Purdie and John Dixon’s Virginia Gazette provided important updates from the printers.  In the first, Purdie reported that he planned to “resign the Conduct of this Gazette” and wished to express his “sincere and most grateful Acknowledgments to all our Customers, and to the Publick in general,” for years of support.  In addition, he announced that he “shall begin doing Business for myself, and intend to print a GAZETTE as soon as I am furnished with a moderate Number of Customers.”  To entice them, he unveiled the proposed newspaper’s motto: “ALWAYS FOR LIBERTY AND THE PUBLICK GOOD.”  To acquire content, Purdie asked “the Favour of my BROTHER PRINTERS to the Northward to furnish me with their Newspapers, and they shall be sure to have mine, as soon as I begin to print.”  No doubt he and Dixon already participated in such exchanges.

Purdie planned to launch that enterprise “Immediately after Christmas,” but there was no guarantee that he would attract enough subscribers and advertisers to make a go of it.  After all, his newspaper would compete with the Virginia Gazettethat Dixon continued to publish and another Virginia Gazette printed by John Pinkney.  Was Williamsburg and the rest of the colony ready to support three newspapers?  To get a better sense of the market, Purdie “sent Subscription Papers into all publick Places of the Country” and instructed prospective customers that they could also contact him by letter or visit his printing office.  He eventually gained the “moderate Number of Customers” that he needed, though it took a couple of months before he distributed the first issue of his Virginia Gazette on February 3, 1775.  In that time, he also operated a shop where he sold books, sheet music, and stationery, pledging to circulate “a Catalogue of all my Books, &c. as soon as I possibly can.”  Purdie resorted to a variety of marketing media: newspaper advertisements, subscription papers, book catalogs.

In the second advertisement, Dixon revealed William Hunter, “Son of the late Mr. WM. HUNTER of this City, Printer,” would become his new partner in printing the Virginia Gazette and running a book and stationery shop.  He suggested that customers would experience a seamless transition, expressing his “most grateful Thanks for their many Favours” in the past, reminding them that “my Conduct, while in Company with Mr. PURDIE, met with general Approbation,” and pledging that “my future Endeavours to serve the Publick … will render me an Object worthy of their Encouragement.”  Aas Purdie sought subscribers and advertisers for his proposed newspaper, Dixon hoped to maintain the clientele they had cultivated over nearly a decade of working together.

Before perusing news articles or essays in the December 1 edition of Purdie and Dixon’s Virginia Gazette, readers first encountered two advertisements that delivered important news about the future of that newspaper and the possibility that another newspaper might soon be published in Williamsburg.  As was so often the case, printers used advertising space in their own publication to promote their enterprises, framing their work as service to the public.

June 17

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

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

South-Carolina and American General Gazette (June 17, 1774).

“MARY HART … will be greatly obliged to her Husband’s Customers to continue their Favours.”

When she took to the pages of the South-Carolina and American General Gazette in the summer of 1774, Mary Hart advertised several wheeled vehicles for sale “remarkably cheap, at the Shop where the late Richard Hart, Chairmaker, lived” in Charleston.  Her inventory included a “VERY neat new CHAISE,” described by the Oxford English Dictionaryas a “light open carriage for one or two persons, often having a top,” and a “PHAETON, very little the worse for Use,” described as a “light four-wheeled open carriage, usually drawn by a pair of horse, and having one or two seats facing forward.”  Like the modern automobile industry, Hart marketed both new and used vehicles.  She also had three “RIDING CHAIRS,” which public historians at George Washington’s Mount Vernon describe as a “wooden chair on a cart with two wheels … pulled by single horse.”  They explain that riding chairs “could travel country lanes and back roads more easily than bulkier four-wheeled chariots and coaches.”  Hart offered different kinds of wheeled vehicles to suit the needs, tastes, and budgets of her customers.

The widow did not merely seek to sell carriages previously produced by her late husband.  Instead, she announced that she “carries on the CHAIRMAKING BUSINESS.”  Eighteenth-century readers understood that she referred to making wheeled vehicles, not household furniture.  Her husband had cultivated a clientele for the family business, one that Hart wished to maintain and even expand.  She declared that she “will be greatly obliged to her Husband’s Customers to continue their Favours, and the Publick in general, who may depend upon having their Work done in as neat a Manner as any in the Province.”  Did Hart construct carriages herself?  Perhaps, though if that was the case it demonstrated what was possible rather than what was probable.  In a dissertation on “Women Shopkeepers, Tavernkeepers, and Artisans in Colonial Philadelphia,” Frances May Manges demonstrated that female entrepreneurs worked in a variety of trades.[1]  Hart may have worked alongside her husband before his death and then continued.  Rather than building carriages, she may have supervised employees in the workshop, running other aspects of the business both before and after her husband’s passing.  Either way, she confidently asserted that a workshop headed by a woman produced carriages equal in quality to any others made in the colony.  Out of necessity, Hart joined the ranks of widows who continued operating family businesses in colonial America.

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[1] Frances May Manges, “Women Shopkeepers, Tavernkeepers, and Artisans in Colonia Philadelphia” (Ph.D. diss., University of Pennsylvania, 1958).

April 6

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Essex Journal (April 6, 1774).

“The business will be carried on as usual by his sons.”

In the spring of 1774, Patrick Tracy of Newburyport, Massachusetts, ran an advertisement in the Essex Journal to request those he owed money to call on him to settle accounts because he had “quitted the business he has been in of late years.”  Only after that did the conscientious entrepreneur also instruct “all who are indebted to him … to make speedy payment, more especially those whose debts have been long standing.”  Tracy made what he owed his priority, signaling how he did business and suggesting to current and prospective customers that they could expect similar treatment from his sons who carried on the business.  Tracy considered that business well enough known that he did not indicate his occupation.

His sons, however, revealed that they “have taken the business lately carried on by their honoured father” and “carry on the distillery as usual” in an advertisement that conveniently appeared immediately below Tracy’s notice in the April 6 edition of the Essex Journal.  Their father deployed more subtle means in attempting to pass along his clientele to his sons, while they instead emphasized their desire for “the continuance of his good customers and the custom of all others.”  The elder Tracy established a reputation during his many years in business.  His sons hoped to benefit from the customer loyalty their father had cultivated, asserting a “mutual advantage” for all involved.

To that end, they also made clear that they put the interests of their customers and associates first.  In addition to operating the distillery “as usual,” they also stocked “an assortment of English Goods, which they will sell by wholesale upon reasonable terms, and so as to afford a profit to the purchaser.”  Though they intended to make money on those transactions, the distillers associated “profit” with their customers who purchased imported goods from them, reversing the usual relationship between sellers and buyers.  Shopkeepers and others who purchased those items to sell retail would acquire them at low enough prices that Jackson, Tracy, and Tracy practically guaranteed that they could in turn offer such bargains that retail customers would purchase their wares.

In their newspaper advertisements, Tracy and his sons carefully choreographed his departure from the family business and their role in continuing its operations.  They sought to maintain and even expand the existing clientele by emphasizing certain principles, including paying what they owed to associates and selling merchandise at such “reasonable terms” that everyone involved benefited from the transactions.

February 28

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Boston Evening-Post (February 28, 1774).

“I the Subscriber intend leaving off the Baking Business very soon.”

“The Baking Business will be carried on as usual by the Subscriber.”

Mary Surcomb and William Flagg worked together in placing advertisements in the February 28, 1774, edition of the Boston Evening-Post.  Surcomb took to the pages of that newspaper to advise the public that she “intend[s] leaving off the Baking Business very soon.”  She wished to express her “hearty Thanks to those Gentlemen and Ladies who have favoured me with the Custom since my late Husband’s decease.”  She had not previously advertised her services in any of Boston’s newspapers, though she had placed estate notices in both the Boston-Gazette and the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter following the death of her husband in the fall of 1773.[1]  Those notices indicated that Richard had been a baker as well.  As widows in early America often did, Surcomb continued operating the family business.  In Williamsburg, for instance, Clementina Rind printed the Virginia Gazette after her husband passed away in August 1773, about the same time that Surcomb’s husband died.  For Surcomb, assuming responsibility for the business may have been an extension of her previous responsibilities.  She likely assisted her husband in all kinds of ways, including baking and interacting with customers.

Surcomb appended a nota bene to her advertisement, informing readers that the “Business will be carried on as usual by Mr. William Flagg.  Perhaps Flagg had previously been affiliated with the business as an employee and continued working with the widow.  Whatever his history with the Surcombs, Flagg took over their business and aimed, with Mary’s blessing, to maintain their clientele.  In his own note, he declared that “the Baking Business will be carried on as usual by the Subscriber, who is determined to give universal Satisfaction.”  Rather than the full line that separated other paid notices from each other, a half line demarcated where Surcomb’s portion of the advertisement ended and Flagg’s portion began.  Visually, the format presented a narrative consistent with the copy.  Surcomb and Flagg carefully communicated the transition from one proprietor to the other, including an endorsement from Surcomb for her successor.

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[1] See Boston-Gazette (October 25, 1773) and Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter (October 7, 1773).

December 8

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

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

Pennsylvania Journal (December 8, 1773).

“Any gentlemen who shall employ him, will be freed from the unnecessary trouble of trying on the cloaths.”

Upon arriving in Philadelphia, “KIRK, TAYLOR, from London,” placed an advertisement in the Pennsylvania Journal to introduce himself to prospective clients.  Like so many other artisans who migrated across the Atlantic, Kirk did not have the benefit of his new community’s long familiarity with his work.  Instead, he had to establish his reputation by reporting on his prior experience serving customers in faraway places.  To that end, Kirk proclaimed that he “has been employed in cutting in the most eminent shops of London and Dublin.”  Prospective clients in the largest city in the colonies associated some level of cachet with such connections to even larger and more cosmopolitan cities.  Furthermore, his origins suggested that Kirk had special insight into the latest trends in those places, especially when he declared that he made garments “in the most genteel and newest fashion.”

When he set up shop in Philadelphia, Kirk took the house “where William Robinson lately lived” on Fourth Street.  Not only did he take over that residence, the tailor also hoped to acquire Robinson’s clientele, an efficient means of cultivating relationships in his new city.  The newcomer “begs the favour to be employed by Mr. Robinson’s customers, who may depend on his care and fidelity.”  Earning repeat business, generating word-of-mouth recommendations, and bolstering his reputation depended on attentive service and producing quality work for Robinson’s customers and anyone else who gave him a chance.  Kirk clearly communicated that he was confident in his abilities.  He was such a good tailor, he reported, that “gentlemen who shall employ him, will be freed from the unnecessary trouble of trying on the cloaths,” so precise were his measurements and sewing.  They did not need to tarry in his shop, spending unnecessary time better devoted to their own business or leisure.

Kirk aimed to capture some portion of the market for tailoring services in Philadelphia.  He devised an advertisement that gave prospective clients good reason to give him a chance and then decide for themselves if he merited more orders.  He hoped to gain some of the clients accustomed to visiting a tailoring shop at the same location, but did not entrust his fate to that circumstance alone.  Instead, he advised Robinson’s former customers and other prospective customers that he had experience in the best shops in London and Dublin, knowledge of the latest fashions, and the skills necessary “to give satisfaction to all his employers.”