Runaway Apprentice

August 15

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Boston Evening-Post (August 15, 1774).

“ONE PENNY Reward.”

Even though they offered a reward, Thomas Fleet and John Fleet, the printers of the Boston Evening-Post, did not really want anyone to return their runaway apprentice to them.  The reward, “ONE PENNY,” after all, was hardly an incentive but rather an insult to underscore how much contempt the printers had for James Hogan, their “ungrateful Apprentice.”  Contrary to standard language in runaway advertisements that advised ship captains against giving passage to runaway indentured servants and apprentices or enslaved people seeking freedom, the Fleets proclaimed that “Any Master of a Vessel is welcome to carry him off.”  They wished to be done with him, while also warning “All Printers on the Continent” against employing Hogan if he found his way to any of their printing offices.  Whatever skills he had gained, he was not worth the trouble.

Masters did not always treat apprentices well, yet the Fleets claimed that Hogan absconded “without any Cause (except his being treated with greater Lenity than his Behavior has merited for upwards of two years past).”  In addition to working in their shop, Hogan “has been employed as a Chief Musician in the Band of the Boston Regiment on Field Days.”  That was the only quality to his credit, “the only Science that he has made any great Proficiency in, except Profaneness, Lying, and some other ancient and modern Vices.”  Like too many young men seeking to express themselves and gain attention in a transatlantic consumer society, Hogan put too much emphasis on fashion, one of those vices.  According to the fleets, he had “long black Hair, which he is very often metamorphosing into the Macaroni Taste of the Day” and an extensive wardrobe.  In describing Hogan as a macaroni, the printers invoked eighteenth-century slang for a dandy or fop, referring in particular to elaborate hairstyles that rose far above the forehead.  A print produced in London in June 1774 depicted the dismayed reaction of an “honest FARMER” upon encountering his son, Tom, in all his macaroni trappings, including a wig with hair piled high above his head.

The Fleets suggested that Hogan focused more on this ridiculous fashion than his responsibilities in their printing office.  Even though he “has a very upright military Gait” and “affects the Appearance of a Person of Importance,” he was an apprentice who was “much more fond of Idle Company than of his proper Work.”  The Fleets did not seem disappointed by his departure.  Rather than seek his return, they used their advertisement to denigrate Hogan and warn others against trusting him.

February 5

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

Who were the subjects of advertisements in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Providence Gazette (February 5, 1774).

“RUN away … an Apprentice Lad, named John Bates.”

“Susannah Bartlett, the Wife of Sylvanus Bartlett, hath absented herself.”

“RUN away … a Servant Man, named Kimbal Ramsdill, a pretended Carpenter or Joiner.”

Colonizers used various kinds of “runaway” advertisements in their efforts to maintain social order.  Such was the case in the February 5, 1774, edition of the Providence Gazette.  Several colonizers published stories of subordinates who ran away, giving directions about how others should interact with them if they happened to encounter them.

In the first of those advertisements that readers saw if they perused the newspaper from the first page to the last, Stephen Sheldon of Cranston announced, “RUN away … an Apprentice Lad, named John Bates.”  The apprentice had departed on March 28, 1773, nearly a year earlier, but Sheldon hoped that his advertisement would result in recovering him.  He offered “Eight Dollars Reward” to “Whoever takes up said Apprentice, and returns him to his Master.”  He also provided a physical description to aid in identifying the runaway, including an especially distinctive feature.  The young man “has lost two or three Fingers on his right Hand.”

Providence Gazette (February 5, 1774).

The next advertisement revealed marital discord in the Bartlett household in Smithfield.  “Susannah Bartlett, the Wife of Sylvanus Bartlett,” the husband proclaimed, “hath absented herself from his Bed and Board, and run him considerably in Debt.”  Accordingly, he no longer assumed responsibility for her expenses.  Invoking language that appeared in such advertisements throughout the colonies, Sylvanus declared that he “hereby forbids all Persons to credit her further on his Account, being determined to pay no Debts of her contracting.”  As had been the case with Sheldon running an advertisement about Bates, Sylvanus had much greater access to the public prints than Susannah, so readers of the Providence Gazette knew only one side of the story.  The apprentice and the wife may have had good reasons to leave the Sheldon and Bartlett households.

Providence Gazette (February 5, 1774).

In another advertisement, Benjamin Cargill of Pomfret, Connecticut, described Kimbal Ramsdill, a “Servant Man” and a “Pretended Carpenter or Joiner” who had “RUN away” the previous December.  Cargill indicated that Ramsdill often misrepresented himself, not only in terms of his trade but also his origins.  “The above Fellow,” he stated in a nota bene, “pretends at Times he was born at Lynn, and at other Times at Newbury.”  Indeed, he was “much given to Lying, and apt to tell of his having Land in different Parts.”  In this instance, Cargill did not ask readers to accept his word alone that Ramsdill engaged in unsavory behavior.  He reported that the indentured servant “hath lately been convicted of Stealing, and publicly whipped seven Lashes, the Marks of which perhaps may yet be seen.”  Cargill promised “Ten Dollars Reward” to “Whoever will take up said Servant, and secure him in any of his Majesty’s Goals [Jails].”

The advertisements in the Providence Gazette and other colonial newspapers did not merely market goods and services to consumers.  Many of them instead delivered news about local events, including cases of runaway apprentices, wives, and indentured servants.  The colonizers who placed those advertisements did so for their own purposes, but also thought they did the community a service by warning about men and women who did not abide by behavior considered appropriate to their status or, sometimes, had even been convicted of crimes.  While there are many reasons not to lump John Bates, Susannah Bartlett, and Kimbal Ramsfill together, the men who placed advertisements about them belonged to a common category of colonizers who used the power of the press in their efforts to impose order on subordinates who they reported had misbehaved.

November 21

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

GUEST CURATOR:  Victoria Ostrowski

New-York Journal (November 21, 1771).

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

“An apprentice-lad … named Richard Sweetman.”

In the fall of 1771, Elijah Weed and Samuel Simpson placed an advertisement describing two runaways, Thomas Jones, an indentured servant, and Richard Sweetman, an apprentice.  The advertisement mentioned that Sweetman was sixteen years old and learning to be a shoemaker.  This stood out to me because it was so different from the experiences of teenagers today.  At sixteen, most teenagers go to high school before embarking on their jobs.  Some receive vocational training and others go to college.  They do not become apprentices at age sixteen or younger, bound to masters who teach them a trade until they turn twenty-one years old.  According to an article about “Colonial Teenagers,” children “grew into adulthood more quickly than they do today, and by the time a child entered their teen years, they were already on a path toward their life’s occupation.”  In addition, “young men usually learned their trade through some form of apprenticeship.”

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ADDITIONAL COMMENTARY:  Carl Robert Keyes

Although he had not yet completed his apprenticeship, Richard Sweetman acquired sufficient skill that Elijah Weed and Samuel Simpson described the runaway as “a stuff-shoe-maker by trade.”  Their advertisement did not elaborate on the reasons that Sweetman fled, but the “sour countenance” that they attributed to him may have been the result of dissatisfaction with the treatment that he received from the master who was supposed to provide training, lodging, food, and other necessities during the time of his apprenticeship.  If Weed or Simpson had been cruel or negligent, Sweetman might have decided to depart.

Weed and Simpson cataloged a variety of items that Sweetman took with him, many of them garments that almost certainly did not belong to him.  He may have taken them with the intention of disguising himself or selling or trading them.  He also carried “sundry cordwainers tools” that he likely stole.  Rather than sell or trade those items, he may have thought that he could support himself by making and repairing shoes once he arrived in a place that he believed that Weed and Simpson would not locate him.

For their part, however, Weed and Simpson cast their net widely.  They resided in Philadelphia, but placed an advertisement in the New-York Journal to alert readers there and throughout the region to keep to keep their eyes open for a runaway apprentice who may have been traveling with an indentured servant with a distinctive walk due to one leg being shorter than the other.  The power of the press worked to their advantage.  Their advertisement did not reveal any of Sweetman’s grievances that might have prompted him to run away, but it did enlist the assistance of readers who could engage in surveillance of strangers they encountered in hopes of detecting the apprentice and earning a reward for his capture.

 

August 28

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

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

Aug 28 - 8:28:1770 Essex Gazette
Essex Gazette (August 28, 1770).

“Still believing the former Piece to be more agreeable to Truth than the latter.”

When Joseph Symonds, Joseph Hobbs, and Joseph Hobbs, Jr., placed an advertisement in the August 28, 1770, edition of the Essex Gazette, they depended on readers being familiar with a series of advertisements that previously appeared in that newspaper.  In the first, Addison Richardson accused “an Apprentice Lad, named Samuel Hobbs” of running away and taking a box “containing sundry Articles of Cloathing.”  Richardson had already recovered the box.  He warned others “to be very cautious in having any Concern” with the apprentice.

In an unusual turn of events, Hobbs placed his own advertisement to respond.  Usually runaways either did not have the resources to respond in print or chose not to draw additional attention to themselves by doing so.  Hobbs, however, sought to set the record straight, declaring that he “was not bound” to Richardson or “under any Obligation to live with him any longer than we could agree,” that the box and most of its contents did not belong to Richardson, and that his purported master had not treated him well during “almost five Years Service.”  Symonds, Hobbs, and Hobbs, all relations of the alleged runaway, signed a short addendum stating that they believed the young man’s account to be “real Truth” and encouraged that “the Publick will take no Notice.”

In turn, Richardson published yet another advertisement, this time masquerading as “SA——EL H—BBS.”  That notice paralleled the format of the one placed by Hobbs, offering an alternate version of events that corrected what Richardson considered inaccuracies in the clarifications that Hobbs offered the public.  Richardson-as-H—BBS also pointed out that “two Uncles and a Brother” of the apprentice might not be the most reliable witnesses in the dispute.  In order to continue the parallel format, he concluded the advertisement with a short declaration about having “Reason to believe the Piece above to be real Truth” and signed it “A. RICHARDSON.”

Two weeks later, Symonds, Hobbs, and Hobbs placed an advertisement of their own accord.  Just in case any readers were confused about whether Samuel Hobbs was responsible for the notice signed by SA——EL H—BBS, they proclaimed that it “was not put in by him, for he did not know any Thing of it.”  They also reported that some accommodation had been reached:  Mr. Richardson hath returned the Box, with what was in it, and offered to cloath [Hobbs] honorably if he will come and live with him again.”  Seeing this as a satisfactory outcome, the uncles and brother decided to “forbear, and say no more,” though they opined that Richardson would “be very cautious how he advertises Runaways for the future.”  As a parting shot, they stated that the advertisement by the real Hobbs was “more agreeable to Truth” than the one by Richardson-as-H—BBS, “and not merely because the Boy told us so neither.”  Even after accommodation had been reached, these three men sought to clarify which version of events was more accurate.

Buying space in the local newspaper gave Richardson, Hobbs, and Hobbs’s relations opportunities to shape the narrative of what transpired between master and apprentice in the summer of 1770.  Rather than working out their disagreements among themselves, they put their dispute on display before the general public, each attempting to convince the community that they were in the right and someone else behaved poorly.  These advertisements amplified gossip and word-of-mouth reports of the discord between Hobbs and Richardson.

August 14

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Aug 14 - 8:14:1770 Essex Gazette
Essex Gazette (August 14, 1770).

“WHEREAS Addison Richardson has advertised me as a Runaway.”

When Addison Richardson advertised Samuel Hobbs as a runaway apprentice in the Essex Gazette in the summer of 1770, Hobbs took the extraordinary step of placing his own advertisement in response.  In most similar situations, “runaways,” whether apprentices, indentured servants, enslaved people, or wives, did not possess the resources to publish their own advertisements or did not wish to call attention to themselves by doing so.  As a result, masters, enslavers, and husbands controlled the narrative in the public prints.  Yet Hobbs did manage to insert an advertisement that contested Richardson’s version of events in the August 7, 1770, edition of the Essex Gazette.  His brother and two of his uncles attested to the “real Truth” of Hobbs’s depiction of what transpired with Richardson.

The aggrieved master was not amused by his apprentice’s advertisement.  In the next issue, he ran a new advertisement in which he masqueraded as “SA——EL H—BBS.”  He began by stating that “Addison Richardson has advertised me as a Runaway” and “I have told the Public one Story very contrary to Truth,” but “I now tell them another Story that is very agreeable to Truth.”  Richardson as H—BBS then repeated each detail from Hobbs’s advertisement along with a clarification he considered the actual truth.  For instance, “I told [the public] that I was not bound to him, but I was by the Rules of Justice, which the Public always looks upon as the strongest Obligation whatever.”  In the original advertisement, Richardson accused Hobbs of stealing a box “containing sundry Articles of Cloathing,” but noted that he had recovered it.  In his response, Hobbs stated that the box did not belong to Richardson, that the contents belonged to Hobbs except for “one Pair of Stockings full of Holes, and a Pair of Shirts which [Richardson] gave me,” and that Richardson did not provide him with adequate clothing during “almost five Years Service.”  Richardson as H—BBS contested that narrative, offering this alternative:  “I told the Public, that he had found me but one Shirt, which was very false, for I am very conscious he has found me five new Shirts since I lived with him, and a sufficient Quantity of all other Cloathing.”  Richardson provided for H—BBS even though “I served him but very poorly for almost five Years.”

Richardson was equally unimpressed with the character witnesses who had testified to the “real Truth” of Hobbs’s advertisement.  “As to the Conduct of the three that signed at the Bottom of my Piece,” Richardson as H—BBS opined, “ they say ‘We the Subsribers have Reason to believe the Piece above to be real Truth:’—What Reason? says the By-Stander: Why, say they, the Boy that run away from his Master told us so, and so it must be true; and that is all the Evidence they had.”  To cast further doubt on the motives of these witnesses, Richardson as H—BBS requested that “the Public judge for themselves” if that was “sufficient Reason for two Uncles and a Brother to sign such a story.”

This new advertisement ended with a short statement of support by “A. RICHARDSON” for the version of events presented by “SA——EL H—BBS,” replicating the structure of Hobbs’s advertisement and deploying some of the same language.  “I the Subscriber have Reason to believe the Piece above to be real Truth,” A. RICHARDSON declared before admonishing that he “still hope[s] the Public will hold Runaways in Contempt, and all their Abettors.”

The dispute between Richardson and his (alleged) apprentice played out in the public prints beyond a standard runaway advertisement.  Both parties placed lengthy notices that impugned the honesty and character of the other in their efforts to convince others in their community which of them had indeed been wronged by the other.  Most runaway apprentice advertisements went unanswered, but in this case both apprentice and master made further use of the press to present their version of events to the public.

August 7

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Aug 7 - 8:7:1770 Essex Gazette
Essex Gazette (August 7, 1770).

“Addison Richardson hath advertised me as a Runaway.”

Eighteenth-century newspapers carried advertisements for all sorts of “runaways.”  Those runaways included enslaved people who liberated themselves from enslavers who held them in bondage, wives who “eloped” from their husbands to remove themselves from patriarchal authority (and often mistreatment) in the household, and apprentices and indentured servants who broke the terms of their contracts.  Few of these advertisements garnered responses in the public prints.  Even if they possessed the resources to place advertisements, enslaved people who liberated themselves had no reason to call additional attention to themselves.  Aggrieved husbands usually declared that they would pay no debts on behalf of their absent wives, eliminating their ability to publish notices in response.  Occasionally, some wives did find the means to run their own advertisements.  Apprentices and indentured servants, like enslaved people who escaped, also avoided publishing responses to the advertisements that declared them runaways and requested aid in locating and returning them.

That made a pair of advertisements that ran in the Essex Gazette in the summer of 1770 especially notable.  Addison Richardson first advertised Samuel Hobbs as a runaway on July 24.  He claimed that the “Apprentice Lad” ran away and recommended that others “be very cautious in having any Concern with him.”  Richardson also noted that Hobbs had “carried off a Box, containing sundry Articles of Cloathing,” but Richardson had since recovered the box and the stolen items.  Richardson’s advertisement ran again on July 31.  When it appeared for a third time on August 7, a response from Hobbs accompanied it.  The compositor placed one notice after the other, making it easier for readers to follow the saga as it unfolded.

In an advertisement twice the length of the one that named him a runaway apprentice, Hobbs asserted that he “was not bound” to Richardson not was he “under any Obligation to live with him any longer than we could agree.”  Hobbs suggested that Richardson had not lived up to whatever terms they had set, but if he had “fulfilled his Promise” then Hobbs “should not have left.”  In response to the accusation of theft, Hobbs stated that neither the box nor the contents belonged to Richardson, except for “one Pair of Stockings full of Holes, and a Pair of Shirts, which he gave me.”  Everything else in the box belonged to Hobbs, yet Richardson refused to return any of it.  Hobbs also lamented that in “almost five Years Service” Richardson had not provided adequate clothing as was his responsibility.  In response to Richardson’s advice that others be cautious in their dealings with Hobbs, he turned the tables by warning others to “be very cautious where they put out Children, especially poor fatherless ones, such as I am.”

To strengthen his credibility, Hobbs also included a short note from three men who endorsed his version of events.  Joseph Symonds, Joseph Hobbs, and Joseph Hobbs, Jr., some or all of them probably relations to the alleged runaway apprentice, stated that they “have Reason to believe the Piece above to be the real Truth.”  They asked that “the Publick … take no Notice of the Advertisement.”  Quite possibly these supporters paid to insert Hobbs’s advertisement in the Essex Gazette.

Runaway apprentice advertisements rarely generated responses in print in eighteenth-century America, making this an extraordinary case of an alleged runaway defending his reputation, revealing mistreatment by his master, and marshalling the support of others who advocated on his behalf.  Yet this was not the end of the exchange in the Essex Gazette.  The following week Richardson published a response to Hobbs’s response.  That will be the featured advertisement on August 14.

March 18

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

Mar 18 - 3:15:1770 South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal Supplement
Supplement to the South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal (March 15, 1770).

“His past Offences will be forgiven.”

Charles Crouch, the printer of the South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal, generated significant revenue from publishing advertisements for “runaways.”  Most of those runaways were actually enslaved men and women who escaped from those who attempted to hold them in bondage.  These included “a negro fellow named LONDON, this country born” and “a negro man named ISAAC” who spoke “tolerable good English” even though he came from “the Guinea country” and survived the Middle Passage.  Both men were subjects of advertisement that ran in the supplement published on March 15, 1770.

Apprentices, indentured servants, convict servants, and even recalcitrant wives were sometimes the subjects of other runaway notices, though not nearly in the same numbers as enslaved people in the South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal and other newspapers published in Charleston.  In newspapers published in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, however, the number of runaway notices for apprentices and servants rivaled or often exceeded the advertisements for enslaved men and women who escaped.  Still, notices calling on colonists to help identify and return enslaved people to those who purported to be their masters appeared in every newspaper from Georgia to New England.

Crouch not only published advertisements concerning a variety of runaways but on occasion found himself in the position of placing them.  In the same supplement that carried notices about London and Isaac, Crouch ran a notice directed to his own apprentice, William Way, who “hath absented himself from my Service, for two Months past.”  Addressing Way or anyone who would pass along the message, Crouch pledged that if the wayward apprentice “will return of his own Accord, and behave himself well in future, his past Offences will be forgiven.”  Enslavers occasionally, though rarely, made similar proposals when they attempted to recover people they treated as property.

Crouch’s advertisement told a truncated story about his disobedient apprentice.  It told Crouch’s side of the story.  In the advertisement, Crouch blamed Way for “absent[ing] himself” and accused him of “past Offences” that the printer would generously forgive, but he did not comment on anything that he might have done to exacerbate the situation.  It did not indicate if the master had mistreated or abused the apprentice.  Every runaway notice told only a partial story, one constructed by someone who possessed significantly more power and authority than the subject of the advertisement. Such notices aimed to reassert order in the face of apprentices, servants, and enslaved people exercising agency and seizing power away from those who usually wielded it.  These skirmishes played out in advertisements that appeared in the public prints throughout the colonies.

January 5

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

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

Jan 5 1770 - 1:5:1770 New-Hampshire Gazette
New-Hampshire Gazette (January 5, 1770).

“Ran away last Wednesday … an Apprentice Boy.”

The format and placement of Benjamin Mackay’s advertisement suggests that it was a late addition to the new edition of the New-Hampshire Gazette. Mackay reported that his apprentice, John Bowler, “Ran away last Wednesday” on January 3, 1770. The aggrieved master scrambled to insert an advertisement in the next issue of the colony’s only newspaper, published just two days later on Friday, January 5. Failing to do so would have forced Mackay to wait another week to alert the community by disseminating information about the runaway apprentice in print since the New-Hampshire Gazette, like most other American newspapers published in the early 1770s, appeared only once a week.

Mackay apparently delivered his advertisement to the printing office too late for inclusion in any of the next issue’s twelve columns, three on each of four pages. The compositor had already set the type … but that did not mean that there was not any space for Mackay’s new and urgent advertisement. Compositors sometimes placed short advertisements and news items in the margins, an innovative strategy used only occasionally to include additional content. Mackay’s advertisement ran on the third page of the January 5 edition, running in the bottom margin across all three columns. The unique format possibly attracted the attention of some readers, but it also limited the number of details that Mackay could publish in that particular advertisement. Brevity allowed for speedy publication, but forced Mackay to carefully select which information to circulate to other colonists.

With more time to plan, he remedied that situation in the next edition of the New-Hampshire Gazette. He published another advertisement, nearly three times the length, that provided a much more extensive description of Bowler, including his approximate age, notable physical characteristics, and description of his clothing. In addition to offering a reward for apprehending and returning the apprentice, that second advertisement warned others against “entertaining or carrying off” Bowler.

That Mackay published a second advertisement at all suggests that the first was not successful, at least not in the short time between its publication and the compositor preparing the next edition of the New-Hampshire Gazette. Still, it had no chance of success if it had not appeared in the January 5 issue at all. By resorting to an innovative format for the advertisement, the compositor helped Mackay distribute time-sensitive information in the public prints as quickly as possible.

December 16

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Dec 16 - 12:16:1769 Providence Gazette
Providence Gazette (December 16, 1769).

“RUN away … an Apprentice Lad.”

In December 1769, David Smith turned to the Providence Gazette when his apprentice, Eliazer Peck, “a Shoemaker by Trade,” departed without his permission. After Peck had been away for a week and Smith determined that he was unlikely to return of his own accord, he placed an advertisement that described the apprentice and offered a reward to anyone who “takes up and secures the said Apprentice, so as his Master may have him again.” Smith also advised that “All masters of Vessels are forbid to carry him off.” He did not want the delinquent apprentice further removing himself from his authority by sailing to another colony or elsewhere in the Atlantic world.

To aid in identifying the apprentice, Smith described both is physical features and the clothes he wore. He asked readers of the Providence Gazette to keep their eyes open for “a short thick-set Lad, round-shouldered, … full-faced.” Readers might also recognize his “brownish Coat, a short double-breasted Jacket, [and] blue knit Breeches.” If he did not acquire different garments, Peck could alter his appearance slightly by changing shirts; he took with him “two striped and one white Shirt.” To further aid in recognizing the apprentice, Smith gave his approximate age, “about 19 Years,” and hinted at his personality, noting he “has a Humour in his Eyes.”

Smith’s advertisement followed the same pattern as so many others that appeared in eighteenth-century newspapers throughout the colonies. That genre of notices described unfree laborers of various sorts: apprentices, indentured servants, convict servants, and enslaved men, women, and children. Such advertisements used the public prints as a mechanism of surveillance, encouraging colonists to closely examine people they encountered to determine if they matched the descriptions published in the most recent newspapers. These advertisements allowed those who already possessed greater authority and resources to exercise even more power by recruiting an entire community to aid them in capturing and returning runaway servants and apprentices and enslaved people who seized their own liberty by escaping from those who held them in bondage.

When they purchased advertising space in newspapers, colonists deployed the power of the press for various purposes. Some promoted the expansion of consumer culture by encouraging readers to acquire goods and services. Others posted legal notices for settling accounts with the estates of deceased colonists. Some offered employment opportunities. A good many utilized newspapers, the most widely circulated form of media of the period, to engage in surveillance of others, appealing to readers to carefully scrutinize their fellow colonists to detect and return runaways.

August 11

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

Aug 11 - 8:11:1768 New-York Journal
New-York Journal (August 11, 1768).

“John Sloan, my Apprentice, has lately misbehaved.”

Advertisements for unfree laborers who ran away – indentured servants, slaves, apprentices – comprised one of the most common genres of paid notices inserted in eighteenth-century newspapers. Such advertisements appeared in newspapers printed and distributed throughout the colonies on August 11, 1768. Richard Draper’s Massachusetts Gazette, for instance, included two advertisements for runaway slaves, one concerning “a Negro Man partly Molatto named Primus” and the other “a Negro Man named Caesar.” Both advertisements offered rewards for the capture and return of the fugitive slaves. Fifteen advertisements for runaways – two for indentured servants, two for slaves, and eleven for indentured servants – appeared on the pages of the Pennsylvania Gazette, its supplement, and a one-page postscript. Purdie and Dixon’s Virginia Gazette carried four advertisements for runaway slaves. The main competitor, Rind’s Virginia Gazette, had twice as many advertisement, seven for slaves and another for am “English convict servant.” The New-York Journal continued publishing an advertisement for “a Welch servant man named William Walters” and another for “an Apprentice Lad, named Jacob Horsen, by Trade a Blacksmith.”

The New-York Journal carried another advertisement about an unruly apprentice, an advertisement preemptively placed in anticipation that he would attempt to run away from his master. James Sloan explained that his apprentice, John Sloan, “has lately misbehaved” and “threatened to leave.” Expecting that apprentice Sloan would attempt to make his escape imminently, master Sloan warned that “no Person will entertain, harbour, conceal, or carry off the said Apprentice, as they will answer it at their Peril.” Aggrieved masters frequently threatened legal action against anyone who aided runaways. The master also offered a reward for his apprentice’s capture and return even before he run away. James Sloan was sufficiently certain that his apprentice would make the attempt that he paid five shillings to have a notice inserted in the New-York Journal for four weeks. He may have considered this a less expensive option than waiting for apprentice Sloan to depart, especially if brought the advertisement to the apprentice’s attention. Knowledge of the advertisement and the increased surveillance directed at the apprentice may have been a preventative measure that forestalled flight from his master.

Throughout the colonies printers generated revenues by selling advertisements for unfree laborers who ran away from their masters. In this case, James Sloan adapted those familiar advertisements, devising a notice that warned of the possibility that his apprentice might attempt to flee. As the apprentice asserted his own agency by misbehaving and threatening to run away, the master sought to harness the power of the press in his efforts to manage and control a disorderly apprentice.