Post Rider

June 10

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

Providence Gazette (May 10, 1775).

“A regular Intercourse between the Colonies, at this critical Juncture, is of the utmost Importance.”

As the imperial crisis intensified in the spring of 1775, Isaiah Thomas, the printer of the Massachusetts Spy, left Boston just before the battles at Lexington and Concord.  He had previously planned to establish a printing office in Worcester, setting up a junior partner to publish the town’s first newspaper.  When he left Boston because his political principles and advocacy put him in jeopardy with royal officials, however, he also decided to transfer his newspaper to Worcester and become the local printer.  After revising his plans, he set about expanding the infrastructure for collecting and distributing news in central Massachusetts.

Worcester, previously lacking a printer and a newspaper, became a much more important hub for disseminating information.  Tarent Putnam aimed to be part of that transformation, announcing in the Providence Gazette that he “has began to ride Post from Providence to Worcester, and proposes, on receiving proper Encouragement, to continue his Ride weekly.”  He departed Providence on Saturdays, “immediately after the Publication of the Providence Gazette,” and returned on the following Thursday.  Thomas published the Massachusetts Spy (now branded the Massachusetts Spy, Or, American Oracle of Liberty) on Wednesdays, which meant that Putnam carried newspapers hot off the presses in both directions.  In addition to carrying letters, the postrider accepted subscriptions “for the Providence or Worcester Papers” and promised that he would “faithfully execute any other Business that may be entrusted to him.”

Yet he did not offer these services merely to earn his own livelihood.  Instead, he asked colonizers to consider the impact they could have on current events if they supported his undertaking.  Putnam asserted that “a regular Intercourse between the Colonies, at this critical Juncture, is of the utmost Importance.”  Accordingly, he “flatters himself that the Friends of Liberty and the Rights of Mankind will afford him every Encouragement.”  Putnam did more than move letters and newspapers from one town to another; he made important contributions to the flow of information that kept citizens informed as the siege of Boston continued and the imperial crisis became a war for independence.  The stakes were high … and readers had an opportunity to play their part by supporting Putnam’s “POST from Providence to Worcester.”  In hiring his services, they simultaneously became better informed themselves and aided the American cause by keeping communities in New England and beyond better connected and aware of the latest information regarding current events.

May 31

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

Massachusetts Spy (May 31, 1775).

“The Publisher of this paper will be supplied with the most early and authentic Intelligence from all parts of the continent.”

Four weeks after commencing publication of the Massachusetts Spy in Worcester at the beginning of May 1775, Isaiah Thomas continued building the infrastructure necessary to operate a successful newspaper.  The Massachusetts Spy had been published in Boston since July 1770, but Thomas removed his press from the city and sent it to Worcester shortly before the battles at Lexington and Concord.  He had previously intended to install a junior partner in a printing office in Worcester and oversee publication of a new newspaper from afar, but he became increasingly nervous about remaining in Boston since his ardent advocacy for the patriot cause drew the attention of British officials and Loyalist colonizers. Fearing for his safety, he revised his plans, removing the Massachusetts Spy to Worcester and giving it a new secondary title, American Oracle of Liberty.

In the May 31 edition, Thomas continued to run subscription proposals that gave information about the newspaper, including its size (“large folio”), day of publication (“every WEDNESDAY Morning, as early as possible), and price (“Six Shillings and Eight Pence per annum”).  He also solicited advertisements and listed about two dozen local agents who accepted subscriptions in various towns in Worcester County.  In addition to the subscription proposals, Thomas inserted a new notice that announced, “In a few days a rider will be established to go from this town to Cambridge,” where the Massachusetts Provincial Congress met during the siege of Boston, “and on suitable encouragement another appointed to go to Providence, exclusive of the public Post-riders.”  Why did Thomas hire his own riders?  He explained that “the publisher of this paper will be supplied with the most early and authentic Intelligence from all parts of the continent,” the latest news “which he will ever furnish his readers, as soon as possible after it comes to his hands.”  Although Worcester is the second largest city in New England today, it was a small town in 1775.  It was not a hub for collecting information about current events, but Thomas aimed to change that.  He devised a plan for getting letters from Cambridge and newspaper from throughout the colonies via Providence.  Moving the Massachusetts Spy to Worcester meant establishing new means of gathering the news to collate into the newspaper to keep readers well informed.  Thomas was so committed to that endeavor that he employed his own riders rather than depending solely on those who already had routes that connected Worcester to Cambridge or Providence.

May 25

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

New-England Chronicle (May 25, 1775).

“CONSTITUTIONAL POST … to the CAMPS at ROXBURY and CAMBRIDGE.”

During the siege of Boston that followed the battles at Lexington and Concord in the spring of 1775, Nathan Bushnell, Jr., advertised his services as a post rider along a route that connected Boston and New London.  He placed advertisements simultaneously in the New-England Chronicle, published in Cambridge, and the Connecticut Gazette, published in New London.  With militia unites from throughout New England converging on Boston, the demand for his services significantly increased.

Bushnell asserted that he was affiliated with the Constitutional Post, a network operated independently of the British postal system.  William Goddard, formerly the printer of the Maryland Journal and the Pennsylvania Chronicle, founded the Constitutional Post in 1774.  As an alternative to the British postal system, it allowed colonizers to send letters and to disseminate newspapers without interference from British officials.  The first route connected Philadelphia and Baltimore, but the Constitutional Post extended to New England by the time the Revolutionary War began.  Bushnell mentioned several associates, each with established routes between towns in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.

Although Bushnell accepted correspondence of all sorts, he emphasized letters sent to soldiers away from home now that the imperial crisis had taken a new turn.  He rode to “the CAMPS at ROXBURY and CAMBRIDGE, and as often as practicable, to BOSTON.”  On the return trip, he carried “Letters from the Camps.”  In a nota bene, he advised that “when Letters are directed to private Soldiers, the Regiment they belong to may be mentioned” to aid in efficient delivery.

This was such an important service, especially considering the events unfolding in New England, that Bushnell did not expect those who sent letters to fund it by themselves.  Instead, he placed subscription papers “in the Hands of Gentlemen in several Towns … to encourage this expensive Undertaking — and the smallest Favours will be acknowledged.”  The post rider anticipated that subscribers would make pledges to fund the enterprise, recognizing its value and affirming their support of an alternative to the Parliamentary Post.  As the Smithsonian Institution’s National Postal Museum notes, the Constitutional Post “proved quite popular as a way of rejecting British rule.”

February 15

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Essex Journal (February 15, 1775).

“We have enlarged our Paper to such a Size, that no one of our Customers can find fault.”

An advertisement in the February 15, 1775, edition of the Essex Journal, printed in Newburyport, Massachusetts, revealed important details about its production and circulation.  Ezra Lunt and Henry-Walter Tinges, the publishers, inserted an address “To the Public” to celebrate that they recently “enlarged our Paper to such a Size, that no one of our Customers can find fault unless it be that it is too lengthy.”  Lunt and Tinges coyly declared that they would “apologize” for the length by “making a collection of the most material pieces contained the Portsmouth, Salem, Boston, Connecticut, Rhode-Island, New York, Philadelphia, Maryland, South Carolina, and Quebec news-papers.”  They asserted that they “are now regularly supplied with” newspapers from all those places.  Like other colonial printers, Lunt and Tinges participated in exchange networks with their counterparts in other cities and towns.  Upon receiving newspapers, they scoured them for content to include in their own publication, usually reprinting articles, editorials, essays, and letters word for word.  One header in the February 15 edition, for instance, stated, “From the Massachusetts Spy.”  They supplemented news from far and wide with “Original pieces our good Town and Country Correspondents are pleased to favour us with.”

Lunt and Tinges’s also gave details about the circulation of the Essex Journal, both where to subscribe and logistics for delivery.  They informed readers that subscriptions “are taken in by Dr. John Wingate, and Mr. Grenough, in Haverhill; Mr. John Pearson, in Kingstown; Col. Samuel Folsom, in Exeter; Mr. Enoch Sawyer, in Hampstead.”  That list of local agents resembled the one that appeared in the colophon of each issue of the Massachusetts Spy, printed by Isaiah Thomas in Boston.  At the bottom of the last page, readers glimpsed an announcement that “J. Larkin, Chairmaker, and Mr. W. Calder, Painter, in Charlestown; Mr. J. Hiller, Watch maker, in Salem; Mr. B. Emerson, Bookseller, in Newbury-Port; Mr. M. Belcher, in Bridgewater; and [] Dr. Elijah Hewins, in Stoughtonham” collected subscriptions for the Massachusetts Spy.  Tinges likely learned about recruiting local agents from Thomas, a founding partner of the Essex Journal.  When it came to delivering the newspaper to subscribers, Lunt and Tinges promoted the services of both a post rider whose route included Exeter, New Hampshire, and the carriage that Lunt operated between Newburyport and Boston.  This network “facilitate[ed] business between Boston, Salem, and the country” in addition to disseminating newspapers.

Intended to increase the number of subscribers (and, in turn, advertisers), this advertisement in the Essex Journal testified to several business practices followed by printers throughout the colonies.  Lunt and Tinges described the various kinds of networks that played a role in gathering subscriptions, collecting news and other content, and delivering newspapers to readers.  Each played a role in making information more widely available to the public during the era of the American Revolution.

December 21

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Essex Journal (December 21, 1774).

“Intend to enlarge the paper equal to any in the province the year ensuing.”

The Essex Journal and Merimack Packet: Or The Massachusetts and New-Hampshire General Advertiser completed its first year of publication with its December 21, 1774, edition.  For the last time, the masthead stated, “VOL. I.”  The compositor updated that to “VOL. II” the following week.  Isaiah Thomas and Henry-Walter Tinges launched the newspaper, published in Newburyport, with a free preview issue on December 4, 1773, then commenced weekly publication on December 29.  Thomas withdrew from the partnership in August 1774, about the same time that he transferred proprietorship of the Royal American Magazine to Joseph Greenleaf.  Ezra Lunt joined Tinges in publishing the Essex Journal without a disruption in distributing the newspaper to subscribers.  Despite those disruptions and the “many disadvantages and great expence that unavoidably attend the establishing a Printing Office in a new place,” the Essex Journal made it through its first year and continued into a second.

In a notice in the final issue of Volume I, Lunt and Tinges announced their plans to improve and expand the newspaper.  They proclaimed that they “are ambitious to give our customers as much, or more, for their money, as any of our Brother Types” who published the Essex Gazette in Salem, the New-Hampshire Gazette in Portsmouth, or any of the five newspapers printed in Boston at the time.  To that end, Lunt and Tinges confided, “we have been at an additional expence, and intend to enlarge the paper equal to any in the province the year ensuing.”  Furthermore, they sought to improve the newspaper for subscribers in other ways.  In order that “those of our customers who live in the country may be better and more regularly served, we have engaged a person to ride from this town every Wednesday, through Haverhill, Exeter,” and other towns.  Lunt and Tinges published the Essex Journal on Wednesdays.  As soon as the ink dried, they gave copies to a postrider to deliver to subscribers throughout the countryside, improving on the services provided throughout the previous year.

Printers often noted when their newspapers completed another year of publication, often marking the occasion with calls for subscribers and others to settle overdue accounts.  Lunt and Tinges did not make any mention of subscribers who were delinquent in making payment.  Instead, they expressed their appreciation and sketched their plans for the next year, hoping to increase support and enthusiasm for the newest newspaper published in Massachusetts.

November 11

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

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

Connecticut Journal (November 11, 1774).

“To be sold by the Printers hereof, And by Nathan Hicok, Post-Rider.”

Throughout the colonies, printers provided updates from the First Continental Congress during its meeting in September and October 1774.  After the delegates adjourned and traveled home, printers quickly set about publishing, advertising, distributing, and selling a pamphlet that included an overview of the “Votes & Proceedings” as well as “the Bill of Rights, a List of Grievances, occasional Resolves, the Association, an Address to the People of Great Britain, a Memorial to the Inhabitants of the British American Colonies, and an Address to the Inhabitants of the Province of Quebec.”  William Bradford and Thomas Bradford, printers of the Pennsylvania Journal, first made the pamphlet available in Philadelphia just a week after the meeting ended.  Other printers soon joined them, producing their own local editions.

That included Thomas Green and Samuel Green, the printers of the Connecticut Journal and New-Haven Post-Boy.  On November 4, they alerted readers that the “Proceedings of the Continental Congress will shortly be ready for sale at the Printing Office.”  A week later, they ran a new advertisement, this time announcing that they sold the pamphlet.  Yet customers did not have to visit the printing office or send an order to acquire copies because the Greens enlisted Nathan Hicok, a post rider, in selling as well as delivering the “Votes & Proceedings” to colonizers seeking to keep informed beyond the coverage in newspapers.  It was not the first time that the Greens designated Hicok as one of their agents for disseminating printed items that supported the patriot cause.  On September 30, 1774, they advertised “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.”  Advertisements in several newspapers demonstrate that several post riders became partners with printers in marketing and selling political pamphlets as the imperial crisis intensified.  Even more post riders, though not named in newspaper advertisements, may have assumed similar responsibilities, actively promoting sales of such items rather than merely delivering them at the behest of printers and their customers.

July 1

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Connecticut Gazette (July 1, 1774).

“To be sold by … CONSTITUTIONAL Post-Riders.”

The front page of the July 1, 1774, edition of the Connecticut Gazette featured an open letter “TO THE KING” from “AMERICA” followed immediately by an advertisement for a book, The Judgment of Whole Kingdoms and Nations, Concerning the Rights, Power, and Prerogative of Kings, and the Rights, Privileges, and Properties of the People.  The petition requested a redress of grievances that took into account the “rights and privileges … solemnly given, granted, confirmed, ratified and recognized … by your royal predecessors and their parliaments.”  The book, a constitutional history of Great Britain, echoed that theme in much greater detail, making it hardly a coincidence that advertisement just happened to follow the letter.

American printers in three cities had recently produced American editions of The Judgment of Whole Kingdoms and Nations.  In 1773, John Dunlap printed it in Philadelphia and Isaiah Thomas printed it for John Langdon, a bookseller, in Boston.  The advertisement promoted a 1774 edition “JUST PUBLISH’D and to be sold by SOLOMON SOUTHWICH, in NEWPORT.”  Timothy Green, the printer of the Connecticut Gazette, also sold the book in New London.  In addition, readers could acquire it from “CONSTITUTIONAL Post-Riders” who operated out of Norwich, Lebanon, Tolland, East Haddam, and Enfield.  The National Postal Museum explains that the Constitutional Post was “an alternative to the British run Parliamentary Post.”  William Goddard originally established a “new constitutional Post … between [Philadelphia] and Baltimore” and quickly expanded it.  According to the National Postal Museum, Goddard considered the Parliamentary Post “unacceptable because it was not private – postmasters were allowed to intercept and open letters – and because he saw it as another form of taxation without the colonists’ consent.”  Many shared this view; the number of riders in Connecticut affiliated with the Constitutional Post just a few months after its founding demonstrates that was the case.  In July 1775, the Second Continental Congress assumed responsibility for the Constitutional Post, appointing Benjamin Franklin as postmaster.  Goddard desired the position, but he settled for Riding Surveyor of the Post.  By then, the Constitutional Post had demonstrated its capacity for delivering letters, newspapers, and books.  In the summer of 1774, for instance, the Constitutional Post served as a distribution network for The Judgment of Whole Kingdoms and Nations, consistent with Goddard’s vision for maintaining English rights and liberties in the colonies.

April 29

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

New-Hampshire Gazette (April 29, 1774).

“WATCHES sent … by Post Riders, will be mended, cleaned and sent back with great Care.”

In the spring of 1774, Nathaniel Sheaff Griffith once again advertised that he “Cleaned and Repaired” clocks and watches “in the cheapest and best Manner,” making appeals to both price and skill.  He regularly ran notices in the New-Hampshire Gazette, but this one included an update about an employee who worked in his shop in Portsmouth.  Griffith advised prospective customers that he “has a Workman from London, which Work shall be done with Fidelity and Dispatch.”  In other words, Griffith vouched for his employee.  Other artisans in New England sometimes promoted the work undertaken by their employees.  For instance, Charles Stevens, a goldsmith and silversmith in Providence, informed the public that he “employs an excellent Workman from London” who did “all Kinds of Jewellers Work.”  Similarly, Enos Doolittle advised readers of the Connecticut Courant that he “employed a journeyman who has serv’d a regular Apprenticeship to the Watchmaking business in London.”  Griffith, Stevens, and Doolittle all signaled that they could effectively serve an even more extensive clientele thanks to the workmen from London who labored in their shops.

That may have been a factor in another marketing strategy that Griffith deployed for the first time.  He concluded his advertisement with a note that “WATCHES sent from East, West, North or South by Post Riders, will be mended, cleaned and sent back with great Care.”  While he may have done business that way in the past, he had not previously mentioned this option in his newspaper advertisements.  Perhaps now that he had an assistant Griffith felt more secure in advertising this service widely.  Once again, other artisans in New England also marketed similar arrangements.  Thomas Hilldrup, a watchmaker from London who settled in New London, declared that clients could “forward their Watches to me … by applying to Mr. JOSEPH KNIGHT, Post-Rider.”  He promised the same sort of “Dispatch” or quick service that Griffith did, stating that any watches he received would be “returned regularly the next Week.”  Post riders provided an infrastructure for watchmakers like Griffith and Hilldrup to serve clients who lived at a distance, expanding their business to rural towns rather than working solely for local customers in port cities.

April 18

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy (April 18, 1774).

“He will carry Papers and deliver them to such Gentlemen as are pleased to encourage him.”

When Moses Cleveland set about establishing “a Post to ride weekly between Norwich and Boston” in 1774, he initially advertised in the Norwich Packet.  He pledged that he “will carry this Paper, and deliver it to such Gentlemen as are pleased to encourage it, with the utmost Regularity.”  Soon after, he ran a nearly identical advertisement in the Massachusetts Spy, the newspaper that Isaiah Thomas printed in Boston.  Cleveland realized that the success of the venture depended on attracting as many customers as possible at both ends of his route and places on the way.

His notice in the Massachusetts Spy featured a small, but important, variation.  It stated that he “will carry this and other papers,” acknowledging that five newspapers were published in Boston at the time, “and the Royal American MAGAZINE.”  When I first examined that advertisement, I conjectured that Cleveland had not written that last bit of copy but instead Thomas seized an opportunity to market the new magazine he launched a couple of months earlier.  Cleveland’s advertisement gave the magazine more visibility, while the post rider’s service made the magazine accessible to prospective subscribers in Norwich, “WINDHAM, POMFRET, MENDON,” and other towns in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Cleveland did not advertise in all the Boston newspapers.  Perhaps that would have been prohibitively expensive as he sought to raise funds for his venture.  Yet he did not confine his advertising to the Massachusetts Spy.  Instead, he placed a notice in the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy, again nearly identical.  In that one, he declared that he “will carry Papers and deliver them to such Gentlemen as are pleased to encourage him,” making no mention of the Royal American Magazine.  This strongly suggests that Thomas did indeed make an editorial intervention in Cleveland’s advertisement, grafting his own marketing efforts onto the newspaper notice purchased by the post rider.