Ferry

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.

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.

April 7

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

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

Pennsylvania Gazette (April 7, 1773).

“The Royal-Oak INN is removed to Trenton Ferry.”

“The FLYING MACHINE … SETS out on Mondays and Thursdays.”

Several kinds of documents testify to the transportation infrastructure in the colonies during the era of the American Revolution.  Almanacs often included information about roads and ferries that connected cities and towns.  Newspaper advertisements gave details about the stagecoaches that transported passengers and packages from town to town as well as the inns and taverns that provided services along the way.

Such was the case in the April 7, 1773, edition of the Pennsylvania Gazette.  In one advertisement, Rensselaer Williams promoted the “Royal-Oak INN” near the Trenton Ferry that connected the New Jersey and Pennsylvania sides of the Delaware River.  Williams previously operated the inn at another location, but recently “removed” to a new location for the convenience of his guests.  He hoped that “the public in general, and his friends in particular” would express their appreciation for this new arrangement by continuing their patronage.  He pledged his “care and diligence” in operating both the inn (“with a stock of liquors”) and the ferry.  Williams asked prospective customers to consider the “many advantages of baiting at a Ferry.”  Modern readers may not be familiar with the term that Williams used, but eighteenth-century readers would have known that “to bait” referred to travelers, as the Oxford English Dictionary indicates, “to stop at an inn, originally to feed the horses, but later also to rest and refresh themselves; hence, to make a brief stay or sojourn.”  By “baiting at a Ferry,” Williams declared, travelers saved time compared to making additional stops to refresh themselves and take care of horses and carriages elsewhere.

In another advertisement, Charles Bessonett similarly emphasized efficiency in marketing the stage service he operated for passengers and goods.  He named his stage the “FLYING MACHINE” to suggest how quickly it covered the distance between Philadelphia and Princeton.  Bessonnett also provided a schedule to demonstrate the speed of the journey to prospective customers.  The stage departed from Philadelphia on Mondays and Thursdays and returned from Princeton on Tuesdays and Fridays.  In Princeton, the Flying Machine met a stagecoach from New York and exchanged passengers.  Bessonnett collaborated with another operator in connecting the two cities.

Colonial printers did not usually organize or classify newspaper advertisements.  That an advertisement for the Royal Oak Inn and Trenton appeared in close proximity to an advertisement for the Flying Machine, separated only by a notice offering hempseed for sale, happened more by coincidence than by design.  Still, the two advertisements gave readers of the Pennsylvania Gazette information about some of the options available to them if they wished to travel to New Jersey or New York or even continue on to New England.

February 7

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Feb 7 - 2:1:1768 Boston Post-Boy
Boston Post-Boy (February 1, 1768).

“Joshua Hacker … has two swift sailing small Sloops, which ply constantly between Providence and Newport.”

In the late 1760s Joshua Hacker provided ferry and freight service between Providence and Newport. His “two swift sailing small Sloops” competed with the “Stage-Boats” operated by Thomas and Benjamin Lindsey. That competition took place on the waterways but also on the pages of colonial newspapers. Hacker and the Lindseys both placed advertisements in the Providence Gazette, the terminus of their route. The Lindseys even updated their advertising to promote expanded services in order to compete with Hacker. In turn, Hacker countered by publishing his advertisement in an additional newspaper, widening the market of potential clients.

When it appeared in the February 1, 1768, edition of the Boston Post-Boy, Hacker’s advertisement included the same copy that ran in the Providence Gazette, from comments about the “exceeding good Accomodations for Passengers” to promoting his “ten Years” of experience” to listing prices for shipping all sorts of freight down to “A Box of Candles.” The version in the Boston Post-Boy did introduce the alternate spelling of “Accomodations,” but Hacker did not revise or abbreviate his lengthy advertisement before submitting it to Green and Russell for publication in their newspaper.

Providence and Newport were busy ports in the late 1760s, but Boston was an even larger and busier port. Hacker realized that many merchants and others who did business in Boston might also have cause to travel between Providence and Newport or transport goods between the two locations. Having established himself in Rhode Island and facing an increasingly aggressive rivalry with the Lindseys for local clients, he attempted to drum up new business from prospective customers in a nearby market that had not been recently exposed to his advertisements. The notice in the Boston Post-Boy may have been an attempt to gauge whether such efforts were worth the investment. If Hacker experienced increased business from residents of Boston he could consider placing advertisements in other newspapers, including the Boston Chronicle, the Boston Evening-Post, the Boston-Gazette, and the Massachusetts Gazette. On the other hand, if the advertisements in the Boston Post-Boy did not seem to yield additional clients Hacker could decide that advertising in other newspapers would not result in a sufficient return on the investment.

July 3

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Jul 3 - 7:3:1767 New-London Gazette
New-London Gazette (July 3, 1767).

“A Passage-Boat fitted in the best Manner for the Reception of Passengers.”

Samuel Beebe and Ebenezer Webb were competitors. Both operated a ferry service, or “Passage-Boat,” between New London, Connecticut, and Long Island, New York, but they did not follow the same route. In his advertisement, which appeared immediately above Beebe’s notice, Webb allowed that “Passengers may be landed on any Part of the East End of the Island,” but then claimed that “Sterling is preferable for a Landing Place.” Beebe, who delivered passengers to Oyster Point Pond at the easternmost tip of Long Island, disagreed. “Passengers, by being landed on the East End,” he argued, “saves more Time than the Distance between there and Sterling.” Beebe admitted that his passengers disembarked at a location farther from New York than if they sailed to Sterling with Webb, but there were other factors that they needed to take into account. “[F]or while a Boat is beating Seven Miles to windward,” Beebe explained, “a Traveler may go Twenty Miles on Shore.” Travelers needed to be well-informed and discerning about the relative advantages of transport via land versus over sea. Webb pointed out that by taking his ferry passengers “must save 50 Miles” compared to traveling only by land around Long Island Sound, but Beebe countered that sometimes traveling by land might be the faster option, especially since “a level plain Road” ran the 120 miles between Oyster Point Pond and New York.

Although Beebe and Webb focused primarily the advantages of their route, both enhanced their advertisements by mentioning other amenities to attract potential clients. In so doing, they marketed transportation services as a travel experience. They invited customers to consider the overall package, not just the route. Webb, for example, delivered copies of the New-London Gazette to subscribers on Long Island. When Beebe began advertising that “he keeps a House of Entertainment for Man and Horse” at Oyster Point Pond, an establishment where “Gentleman Travellers may be well used,” Webb updated his advertisement with a final note that “Good Entertainment for Travellers may be had at the Subscriber’s House.” Both indicated that their ferries operated “Wind and Weather permitting.” Should acts of nature delay departures, passengers could depend on comfortable lodgings while they waited. Time, distance, and comfort all played a role in convincing travelers which “Passage-Boat” to sail.

October 5

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update, Guest Contribution , , , , ,

GUEST CURATOR: Elizabeth Curley

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

oct-5-1041766-new-london-gazette
New-London Gazette (October 3, 1766).

“A Passage Boat … is now Established between Long-Island and New-London.”

A “Passage Boat” between New London, Connecticut, and Long Island, New York, was a quicker way of travelling than by over land. Ebenezer Webb pointed out that passengers would save fifty miles when they traveled to New York. Webb also developed a schedule and a system of rates, which allowed passengers to be able to plan their passage. Printing the schedule in an advertisement allowed prospective customers to save it if needed for future reference. Webb also made sure to include where he could be found at both locations; he gave the locations of the taverns and which days he would be in what area.   He also let potential customers know that if they would like to become customers of the New-London Gazette, he would drop them off on any of the islands off the coast of Long Island. Those islands included Shelter Island, Plum Island, and Gardiners Island. Another courtesy that passengers in Sterling could enjoy was a “Ferry-Boat” for carrying them to Shelter Island. Webb listed three different rates, which needed to be paid in New York currency. The different rates included “Man and Horse” for eight shillings, a “single Passenger” for three shillings, and for “Packs or Bundles” of goods it depended on their weight.

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ADDITIONAL COMMENTARY: Carl Robert Keyes

Today’s advertisement provides important information about ferry service between Connecticut and Long Island during the colonial period, reminding us that the most efficient forms of travel in the eighteenth century differed from modern conveniences made possible by a much more complex transportation infrastructure. As Elizabeth notes, colonists who needed to travel from New London to New York could shave fifty miles off their journey, plus benefit from “the excellent Road on the Island,” if they opted for Webb’s “Passage Boat” service rather than traveling via a land route. In comparison, ferry service today does not seem to offer the same advantages, given the conveniences of travel by car, bus, and train.

I found the final portion of this advertisement to be especially interesting for what it suggests about the business practices and distribution of the New-London Gazette. Webb noted that he would deliver the newspaper to “Those Person on any of the Islands that encline to become Customers.” Despite the distance between New London and those islands (and their separation by Long Island Sound), the New-London Gazette would have been a local newspaper for residents of the islands, at least as much of a local newspaper as those printed in New York. The printer of the New-London Gazette certainly welcomed opportunities to increase distribution to paying subscribers and would have approved of Webb’s efforts to deliver newspapers to Shelter Island and other locales. Given that they were associates in that regard, might the printer have given Webb a discount on advertisements for the ferry service? After all, Webb’s success could also drum up additional business for the New-London Gazette, a mutually beneficial relationship.