Settling Accounts

September 24

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

New-Hampshire Gazette (September 24, 1773).

“Send or bring the Receipts they have received, that a final Settlement may be made.”

Daniel Fowle, printer of the New-Hampshire Gazette, marked the seventeenth anniversary of the newspaper with a note running across the bottom margin of the first page of the September 23, 1774, edition.  A manicure directed readers to an announcement that “This Paper completes the seventeenth Year since its first Publication.”  In addition, Fowle inserted an advertisement calling on “Customers who are in Arrears for one Year or more” to pay their bills.  Colonial printers often inserted notices in their own newspapers for the purpose of encouraging their customers to pay, especially those who had not done so for several years.  Printers typically extended credit to subscribers, anticipating that increasing their circulation numbers would yield more advertisements and more advertising revenue.  (Some of the notices placed by printers, however, also called on advertisers to settle accounts, though not nearly as often as they singled out subscribers.  Apparently, not all printers required payment for advertisements in advance.)  Like merchants, shopkeepers, and other entrepreneurs who allowed credit for consumers, printers regularly resorted to advertisements requesting payment.  For many newspaper printers, this became part of an annual ritual upon completing another year of publication.

In addition to dealing with him directly, Fowle instructed customers who lived at a distance and “have sent by, or paid any Money to Post-Riders, or others,” to inform him that was the case and submit “the Receipts they have received” in order “that a final Settlement may be made, and the proper Persons charg’d.”  Fowle would consult his ledgers to confirm that post riders who carried the New-Hampshire Gazette to distant towns and received payment for both their services and the newspapers made the proper remittances to the printing office.  To that end, he expressed his desire that “there may be no Misunderstanding.”  That phrase, however, did not apply solely to reconciling accounts with post riders.  Regular readers likely would have recognized the implicit threat of legal action in that phrase.  Fowle was not as assertive as he and his nephew, Robert, had sometimes been when they ran similar advertisements during their partnership.  They explicitly threatened to sue and once even suggested that they would publish the names of subscribers who were delinquent in paying their bills.  Fowle did not resort to those measures this time, but he did make it clear that “Attendance will be given at the Printing-Office” with the expectation that customers would make overdue payments.

September 23

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

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

Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly Mercury (September 23, 1773).

“Those who may defer purchasing any of the above GOODS in Expectation of their being put up at Public Auction will be disappointed.”

Ward Nicholas Boylston planned to leave the colonies in the fall of 1773.  Before his departure, he attempted to the liquidate the merchandise at his store on King Street in Boston.  His advertisement in September 23 edition of the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter incorporated several strategies to entice customers to purchase his wares.

The notice commenced with a headline: “At first Cost, for Cash only.”  Like an advertisement that Boylston ran in February, a decorative border enclosed the headline to draw attention to it.  The merchant offered the best prices available, even the prices he paid to acquire his inventory.  Earning profits on the goods mattered less than getting them out of his store, but taking advantage of those bargains required paying in cash.  With his departure quickly approaching, Boylston was not in a position to extend credit.  That also explains why the merchant “repeatedly desires all Persons who have any Demands against him to bring in their Accounts & receive their Ballances, & those who are indebted to him to make immediate Payment.”  Boylston did not want any leftovers in his ledgers when he departed.

He also trumpeted that he provided “an Abatement to those who take large Quantities.”  Merchants who planned to wholesale the goods as well as retailers in town and country looking to supplement their inventories would receive discounts for purchasing in volume.  Boylston cautioned that these deals were the best that buyers should anticipate, warning that “[t]hose who may defer purchasing any of the above GOODS in Expectation of their being put up at Public Auction will be disappointed.”  He declared that “what may remain unsold when he leaves the Country … will be disposed of another Way,” but did not give details.  Once again, this advertisement echoed one that Boylston placed in February.  He addressed “[t]hose who have witheld buying hitherto, on a dependence that the above Goods will be finally exposed to Public Sale” and acknowledged that purchasing at auction often resulted in “better Pennyworths” or bargains. That would not be the case in this instance, the merchant promised, because he would dispose of unsold merchandise “otherwise than at Auction.”  The current sale, “The last Chance” promised in the headline, was “the present and last Opportunity” for the best deals possible for purchasing Boylston’s goods.

With only “Fifteen or Twenty Days” remaining before Boylston left town, those who previously did business with him and those who considered doing business with him had a limited time to settle accounts and to buy an “Assortment of English and India Goods … at the neat Sterling Cost, free of any Charges,” from the merchant.  Realizing that some prospective customers might attempt to wait him out in hopes of purchasing his wares at auction for even lower prices than “the first Cost” and discounts for volume that he already offered, Boylston cautioned them, as he had a habit of doing, not to depend on that strategy because he had other plans for disposing of his merchandise.

June 1

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal (June 1, 1773).

“ALL Persons who may favour the Printer of this Gazette with their Advertisements, are requested to send the CASH with them.”

Charles Crouch, the printer of the South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal, seemed to do good business when it came to advertising.  Dozens of advertisements, including sixteen about enslaved people, filled seven of the twelve columns in the June 1, 1773, edition of his newspaper.  Yet the advertising revenues may not have been as robust as they appeared from merely looking at the contents on the page.

The printer commenced the portion of the issue devoted to advertising with his own notice.  “ALL Persons who may favour the Printer of this Gazette with their Advertisements,” he declared, “are requested to send the CASH with them, except where he owes Money, or has a running Account.”  Crouch suggested that this arrangement “will prevent disagreeable Circumstances, as well as Trouble.”  He apparently experienced some “disagreeable Circumstances” a few months earlier when he ran a notice that called on “ALL Persons indebted to the Printer hereof, for News-Papers, Advertisements, &c. … to make immediate Payment, as he is in REAL Want of his Money.”

Historians have often asserted that colonial printers maintained a balance in their accounts by extending credit to subscribers while requiring advertisers to pay in advance.  Accordingly, advertising became the more important revenue stream.  Notices like those placed by Crouch, however, suggest more complex arrangements, at least in some printing offices.  Both of the notices that Crouch placed in 1773 indicate that he sometimes published advertisements submitted to his office without payment, though he revised that practice as a result of some advertisers becoming as notoriously delinquent in settling accounts as many subscribers.

Crouch and other printers sometimes described such situations in the notices they placed in their own newspapers, though not as frequently as printers placed notices calling on subscribers to make payments.  These instances refine our understanding of the significance of advertising revenue to colonial printers without upending the common narrative.  It appears that some printers exercised a degree of flexibility, even if they eventually adjusted their practices, when it came to submitting the fees along with the advertising copy.

May 15

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Providence Gazette (May 15, 1773).

“Once more!”

The headline expressed some exasperation.  The partnership of Stewart and Taylor sought to settle their “Company Accounts, which was to have taken Place in November last,” but six months later they were placing an advertisement in the Providence Gazette to “Once more!” call on “all that are indebted to them to make immediate Payment.”  Merchants, shopkeepers, and others regularly ran newspaper notices for the same purpose.  John Carter, the printer of the Providence Gazette, inserted his own notice in the same issue that carried Stewart and Taylor’s advertisement, though it was brief in comparison.  Carter declared, “ALL Persons indebted for this Gazette one Year, or more, are requested to make immediate Payment.”

Along with the headline intended to attract attention, Stewart and Taylor provided details about the consequences for not complying with their final notice.  They wished to settle accounts quickly, “otherwise they will be necessitated to sue [at the] June Court.”  The partners hoped that such threats would prompt “all Delinquents [to] come and make Payment, to prevent a Method being taken that will be very disagreeable.”  Although not all advertisements placed for the purpose of settling accounts included allusions to legal action, enough did so that readers recognized the tactic for leveraging the “Delinquents.”  Relatively few, however, included such a headline.  The “Once more!” likely communicated to those “Delinquents” that Stewart and Taylor meant business.

Among those who devised headlines, most advertisers used their names, including Jabez Bowen, Nicholas Brown and Company, Polly Chace, Nathaniel Green, Jonathan Russell, Thurber and Cahoon, John Updike, Joseph West, and Samuel Young.  Joseph Russell and William Russell deployed their names as a secondary headline that followed the primary headline that promoted “WEST-INDIA RUM.”  In his advertisement about an indentured servant who absconded, Samuel Jefferys used “Eight Dollars Reward” as the headline.  That made “Once more!” unique among the headlines featured in advertisements in the May 15, 1773, edition of the Providence Gazette.  Stewart and Taylor shrewdly invoked a phrase intended to arouse curiosity and capture the attention of the “Delinquents” who had not yet settled accounts.

April 17

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Providence Gazette (April 17, 1773).

“He informs those Gentlemen whom he has supplied with the PROVIDENCE GAZETTE, that their Year expired.”

It was a common refrain among newspaper printers.  “ALL Persons indebted for this Gazette one Year, or more,” John Carter, printer of the Providence Gazette, declared in the April 17, 1773, edition, “are requested to make immediate Payment.”  Throughout the colonies, subscribers, advertisers, and others fell behind on their bills, prompting printers to regularly insert notices calling on them to settle accounts.  Many were much more elaborate than Carter’s brief notice, underscoring the expenses incurred by printers, extolling the benefits of timely circulation of the news, setting deadlines for payments, or threatening legal action against those who refused to comply.

Yet Carter was not alone in calling on subscribers to make payments in that issue of the Providence Gazette.  Joseph Rickard, Jr., “POST-RIDER from PROVIDENCE to CONNECTICUT,” placed his own notice.  He began by extending “his Thanks to his Employers the Year past” and then moved beyond the pleasantries to inform “those Gentlemen whom he has supplied with the PROVIDENCE GAZETTE, that their Year expired the Third of April,” two weeks earlier.  The being the case, Rickard “requests an immediate Settlement with every one.”  He offered two reasons for customers to abide his request.  First, he owed his own debt to the Carter.  Rickard hoped that customers would feel some sort of obligation to assist him in maintaining his financial standing with the printer who supplied the newspapers.  Suspecting that would not be sufficient motivation for many of his customers, Rickard issued a threat, though he did so in the most pleasant way possible.  He needed customers to pay their bills in order that he “may be enabled to … serve them with Punctuality in future.”  In other words, he would no longer deliver newspapers to customers who did not pay.

Rickard’s advertisement testifies to the role that credit played in printing and disseminating newspapers in eighteenth-century America.  In addition, it also attests to the circulation of newspapers beyond their places of publication.  Rickard served subscribers to the Providence Gazette who not only resided in other towns but also in other colonies.  At the time, printers published three newspapers in Connecticut, the Connecticut Courant in Hartford, the Connecticut Journal and New-Haven Post-Boy, and the New-London Gazette.  For many colonizers in eastern Connecticut (and central Massachusetts), the Providence Gazette served as their local newspaper, despite the distance that Rickard covered to deliver it to them.  Considered together, notices placed by printers and post riders tell a more complete story about the business of producing and disseminating the news in early America.

April 10

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Providence Gazette (April 10, 1773).

“An Assortment of choice Medicines.”

Nearly four months had passed since Thomas Truman first placed a notice in the Providence Gazette to request that “all Persons who have Accounts unsettled with Doctor SAMUEL CAREW, late of Providence, deceased,” visit Truman at the “House and Shop lately occupied by Doctor CAREW” to make or receive payment.  He also informed the public that he “proposes to tarry in Providence, and continue the Practice of Physic and Surgery,” reminding “all those Gentlemen and Ladies who have kindly favoured him in the Way of his Business” that he served an apprenticeship under Carew’s supervision.  Truman positioned himself as Carew’s successor, hoping to inherit the physician’s patients.

On April 10, Truman inserted a new notice in which he “once more” directed “those who have hitherto neglected to bring in their Accounts against the Estate of Doctor SAMUEL CAREW” to so do “directly, that they may be settled.”  Similarly, he asked that those “indebted to said Estate … make Payment immediately … that the Books may be closed, and the Debts paid off with Honour.”  In a nota bene, Truman stated that he no longer occupied Carew’s former house and shop.  He had “removed … two Doors further down Street,” where he sold “an Assortment of choice Medicines.”  He offered the lowest prices for the quality of the medicines he peddled.

The timing of Truman’s new advertisement may have been a coincidence, but it happened to appear a week after Ebenezer Richmond placed his own notice that he “proposes to attend to the Practice of Physic and Surgery in this Town” and boasted of his extraordinary record of success caring for patients over several years.  Truman no doubt wished to close the books on Carew’s estate, but he may have also noticed the presence of a rival in the public prints.  Given that advertisements usually ran for three weeks or more, Truman may not have wanted Richmond to enjoy the benefits of being the sole physician to advertise in the city’s only newspaper.  That competition may have played as much of a role in convincing Truman to place a new notice as his desire to bring a conclusion to Carew’s estate.

April 2

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

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

Connecticut Journal (April 2, 1773).

“They shall be under the necessity of reducing it to its original size and price, unless the Subscribers for it, are more punctual in their payments.”

On April 17, 1772, Thomas Green and Samuel Green began printing the Connecticut Journal on larger sheets.  That allowed them to deliver more content to their subscribers, meeting the demand of “many of our Customers, and others, … desirous of having [the newspaper] enlarged.”  When they did so, they also noted that the previous edition “completed Four Years and an Half since the first Publication” of the newspaper, yet many of the subscribers “paid not a single Farthing” during that time and others were “indebted for Two or Three Year’s Papers.”  The printers called on anyone who owed for newspapers, advertisements, printed blanks, or anything else “to make speedy Payment.”

Almost a year later, the Greens made similar pleas.  On April 2, 1773, they declared, “The Printers are sorry, they can with truth inform the Public, That they have not for this year past, received from all the Customers for this Journal, so much money as they have expended for the blank paper, on which it has been printed.”  Colonial printers often lamented that subscribers and others did not pay their bills, but few did so in such stark terms.  The Greens noted that the “next week’s paper … completes one year since its enlargement,” a benefit to subscribers that accrued even greater expenses for the printers.  That benefit would not continue, the Greens warned, if subscribers did not settle accounts.  They proclaimed that “they shall be under the necessity of reducing it to its original size and price, unless the Subscribers for it, are more punctual in their payments.”  Other printers often threatened to take legal action against recalcitrant subscribers to force them to pay what they owed.  The Greens, on the other hand, threatened other consequences that would have an impact on all readers, not just those taken to court.

Whether it involved suing subscribers or publishing the names of those who refused to pay, printers usually did not follow through on their threats.  Whether or not the Greens’ notice prompted some subscribers to submit payment, the printers did not opt to revert to the original size of the newspaper.  Through experience, many readers likely believed that they could ignore such notices from the printers without suffering any consequences.  Printers wished to maintain robust circulations so they could sell advertising, a factor that played a role in their decisions about how to handle difficult subscribers.

February 12

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

New-Hampshire Gazette (February 12, 1773).

“This LAST Notice is given to the delinquents for this Gazette or Advertisements.”

Daniel Fowle and Robert Fowle, printers of the New-Hampshire Gazette, were among the colonial newspaper printers who most frequently ran notices calling on subscribers and others to settle accounts.  On one occasion, they threatened to publish a list of delinquent subscribers, though nothing ever came of that.  More often, they pledged to place the matter into the hands of an attorney.  In most instances, they likely did not follow through on that.

In February 1773, however, circumstances prompted Robert Fowle to take action.  He inserted a notice in the February 12 edition of the New-Hampshire Gazette to inform readers that he “lodged a large Number of Accounts in the Hands of OLIVER WHIPPLE, Attorney at Law.”  Those who owed “for this Gazette or Advertisements” had one last chance to make payment.  Robert instructed them to do so at Whipple’s office rather than visit the printing office.  Fowle had warned them seven weeks earlier in an advertisement that announced “the Co-partnership of Daniel and Robert Fowle, will be dissolved.”  That being the case, the printers needed to settle accounts, so Fowle requested that “all Persons who have Accounts open” make payment “as soon as possible.”  He cautioned that those “who neglect, & are Indebted, must expect … the Accounts will be lodged with such Gentlemen as will create Trouble and needless Charges.”  Fowle’s plans to “leave this Province” apparently prompted him to get an attorney involved when “delinquents” ignored that notice.

Robert alone signed both advertisements, perhaps because Daniel intended to remain in Portsmouth and continue publishing the New-Hampshire Gazette.  Robert resorting to legal action allowed Daniel to remain neutral in his dealings with subscribers, advertisers, and others with overdue accounts, frustrated as he may have been with them.  The printer also advised that customers who “owe for less than a Year … are desired to take no Notice of this Advertisement” because their accounts would be settled at the printing office in the usual manner.  He apparently did not see a need to create trouble with customers who kept relatively current with their accounts.  Similarly, he aimed to avoid trouble with associates who “have any Thing due to them from the Printers,” inviting them to visit the printing office for payment rather than get an attorney involved.

Colonial newspaper printers often vowed to take legal action against subscribers who did not take their bills, but those were often empty threats.  However, when Robert Fowle ended his partnership with his uncle and prepared to leave the colony, those circumstances made it necessary to enlist the aid of an attorney.  Some of the “delinquents” who had ignored similar notices for years may have been quite surprised by that turn of events.

February 9

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

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

South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal (February 9, 1773).

“ALL Persons indebted … for News-Papers, Advertisements, &c. are requested to make immediate Payment.”

Charles Crouch, the printer of the South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal, inserted a notice in the February 9, 1773, edition that called on his customers to pay their bills.  “ALL Persons indebted to the Printer hereof,” Crouch stated, “for News-Papers, Advertisements, &c. are requested to make immediate Payment, as he is in REAL Want of his Money.”  Throughout the colonies, printers frequently ran similar advertisements in their newspapers, often going into much greater detail.  Some printers invoked significant dates when they asked subscribers and others to settle accounts, especially the anniversary of the founding of their publication.  When they commenced a new year of printing and distributing their newspapers, they considered it a good time for customers to catch up on their payments.  Many threatened to sue, giving recalcitrant customers a deadline for paying their bills before handing the matter over to an attorney.  Some outlined the significant expenses they incurred in publishing newspapers.  Others underscored the value that the entire community derived from access to the news, those “freshest Advices, both Foreign and Domestic” promoted in so many mastheads.

Crouch was not nearly as elaborate as other printers. Beyond stating that he “is in REAL Want of his Money,” he did not offer other details.  His notice differed from many, but not all, others in another significant way.  He called on those who owed money “for News-Papers, Advertisements, &c.” rather than addressing subscribers.  Historians have often asserted that eighteenth-century printers extended generous credit to subscribers (which explains the frequency that similar notices appeared) while requiring advertisers to pay in advance.  Advertising thus represented an important revenue stream that allowed printers to continue publication, even when they did not follow through on threats of legal action against subscribers who neglected to pay.  As I have examined newspapers from the late 1760s and early 1770s for daily entries for the Adverts 250 Project, however, I have encountered notices in which various printers have named advertisers alongside subscribers when they called on customers to pay what they owed.  In some similar instances, they seemed to establish new policies, indicating that they previously allowed credit for advertising but planned to discontinue doing so.  Advertisers needed to submit payment along with their advertising copy.

In this instance, Crouch apparently allowed credit for newspapers, advertisements, and goods and services available at his printing office.  The “&c.” (an abbreviation for et cetera) likely included “all Manner of Printing Work” mentioned in the newspaper’s colophon.  That could range from handbills and broadsides to printed blanks and circular letters to other sorts of job printing.  It may have also included books, prints, and patent medicines since printers often created supplement revenue streams by peddling those items.  According to Crouch’s notice, he did not make some sort of exception when it came to advertisements and credit.  Instead, he allowed advertisers access to the public prints with promises to pay later.

December 25

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

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

New-Hampshire Gazette (December 25, 1772).

“Those who neglect, & are Indebted, must expect … the Accounts will be lodged with such Gentlemen as will create Trouble.”

As 1772 drew to a close, Daniel Fowle and Robert L. Fowle, printers of the New-Hampshire Gazette, announced their intention to dissolve their partnership.  Robert planned to leave the colony “in a short Time.”  Daniel founded the New-Hampshire Gazette in October 1756.  Nearly eight years later, according to Clarence S. Brigham, “Daniel admitted his nephew … to a share in the management” in September 1764.[1]  The Fowles worked together for more than eight years, distributing their last issue as partners in April 1773.  Daniel then became sole proprietor of the newspaper once again.

As Robert prepared to set out on his own, he inserted a notice in the December 25 edition, the final issue of the year, to alert readers that he “earnestly desires all Persons who have Accounts open, in which he has any Connections,” including accounts with the New-Hampshire Gazette, “to settle the same, as soon as possible.”  As the Fowles often did when they placed notices calling on subscribers and others to pay their bills, Robert threatened legal action against those who ignored this notice.  “Those who neglect, & are Indebted,” he warned, “must expect, that without respect to Persons, the Accounts will be lodged with such Gentlemen as will create Trouble and needless Charges.”  In other words, it did not matter if those who owed the Fowles happened to be the most influential colonial officials and the most affluent merchants; Robert intended to hold them accountable no matter their status.  To that end, he would hire attorneys, those “Gentlemen as will create Trouble and needless Charges.”  He hoped to avoid that “very disagreeable” action if “all Persons who have Accounts open” settled them, but he did not consider it “ungenerous” to sue them “after the repeated Solicitations for a Settlement” published in the newspaper and likely communicated to them in other ways.

As many colonial printers did, the Fowles gave this notice a privileged place in their newspaper.  It appeared at the top of the first column on the first page, immediately below the masthead.  That made it difficult for readers, including those indebted to the Fowles, to overlook the notice.  Perhaps as a means of reminding some of those readers of his other contributions to the community and their mutual obligations to each other, another notice signed by Robert L. Fowle appeared immediately below the one calling on colonizers to settle accounts.  In his capacity as “Pro. Sec.” of the New Hampshire lodge of the “Brethren of the Ancient and Honorable Society of Free and Accepted MASONS,” Robert extended an invitation on behalf of the master of that lodge to gather “to celebrate the Festival of St. JOHN the Evangelist” on December 28.  Robert may have intended for that notice to alleviate some of the sting of the blunt language in the other notice, having the one follow after the other.

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[1] Clarence S. Brigham, History and Bibliography of American Newspapers, 1690-1820 (Worcester, Massachusetts:  American Antiquarian Society, 1947), 471.