 | RHODE ISLAND. The history of printing in America, with a biography of printers, and an account of newspapers ... |  |
RHODE ISLAND.
Printing was introduced into Connecticut about twenty-two
years before a press was established in Rhode Island.
There were but three printing houses in the colony before
1775, and only two newspapers.
Gregory Dexter, a printer in London, was a correspondent
of the celebrated Roger Williams the founder of
Providence. Dexter printed, in England, in 1643, Williams's
Key into the Language of America, and the first Almanack
for Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in New England.
Soon after, Dexter quitted printing, left his native
country, and joined Williams in Providence, where he became
a distinguished character in the colony. He was one
of the parties named in the charter, and for a number of
years one of the assistants under the authority granted by
that charter. He was one of the first town clerks, and
wrote an uncommonly good hand. He possessed handsome
talents, and had been well educated. From him descended
the respectable family of the Dexters in Rhode
Island.
It is said that after Samuel Green began printing at
Cambridge, Dexter went there, annually, for several years,
to assist him in printing an Almanac.[1]
Newport.
The press was first established in this town in the year
1732; and was the only one in the colony till 1762.
James Franklin. It has been stated that Franklin was
the publisher of The New-England Courant. Soon after
his printing materials to Newport, and there set up his
press in a room "under the Town School-House." He did
some printing for government, published a newspaper a
few months, and an Almanac annually.
He was the first who printed in Rhode Island; but only
published a few pamphlets, and other small articles, beside
those mentioned above. He died in February, 1735.
[See Boston.]
Anne Franklin, the widow of James Franklin, succeeded
her husband. She printed for the colony, supplied
blanks for the public offices, and published pamphlets, &c.
In 1745, she printed for government an edition of the laws,
containing three hundred and forty pages folio. She was
aided in her printing by her two daughters, and afterward
by her son when he attained to a competent age. Her
daughters were correct and quick compositors at case; and
were instructed by their father whom they assisted. A
gentleman who was acquainted with Anne Franklin and
her family, informed me that he had often seen her daughters
at work in the printing house, and that they were
sensible and amiable women.
James Franklin Junior, the son of James and Anne
Franklin, was born in Newport: and, as soon as he was of
age, became the partner of his mother, and conducted their
concerns in his own name. He began printing about the
year 1754, published The Mercury in 1758, and died August
22, 1762. He possessed integrity and handsome talents,
which endeared him to very respectable associates.
After his death, his mother resumed the business; but
soon resigned the management of it to Samuel Hall, with
whom she formed a partnership under the firm name of
was dissolved by the death of Anne Franklin, April 19,
1763, at the age of sixty-eight. They printed an edition
of the laws in folio, which was completed about the time
that Anne Franklin died.
Samuel Hall. After the death of his partner, Hall
printed in his own name. An account of him has already
been given among the printers of Massachusetts. He remained
at Newport five years, continued the publication of
the Mercury, and found considerable employment for his
press.
In March, 1768, he resigned the printing house in Newport
to Solomon Southwick, and removed to Salem, Massachusetts.
[See Salem.]
Solomon Southwick was born in Newport, but not brought
up to the business of printing. He was the son of a fisherman;
and, when a lad, assisted his father in selling fish in
the market place. The attention he paid to that employment,
the comeliness of his person, and the evidences he
gave of a sprightly genius, attracted the notice of the
worthy Henry Collins, who at that time was said to be the
most wealthy citizen in Newport, one of the first mercantile
characters in New England, and greatly distinguished
in the colony of Rhode Island for philanthropy and benevolence.
Mr. Collins took a number of illiterate boys, whose
parents were poor, under his patronage, and gave each an
education suited to his capacity; several of whom became
men distinguished in the learned professions. Among the
objects of his care and liberality was young Southwick,
who was placed at the academy in Philadelphia, and there
then established him as a merchant, with a partner by the
name of Clarke.
Southwick and Clarke did business on an extensive scale.
They built several vessels and were engaged in trade to
London and elsewhere; but eventually they became bankrupts,
and their partnership was dissolved.
After this misfortune, Southwick married a daughter of
Colonel John Gardner, who for several years had been
governor of the colony, and by this marriage he became
possessed of a handsome estate.
About this time Samuel Hall, who had a desire to leave
Newport and remove to Salem, offered his printing establishment
for sale. Southwick became the purchaser in
March, 1768, and succeeded to the business of Hall. He
continued the publication of The New York Mercury, and
made some attempts at book printing. He published for
his own sales several small volumes; but the turbulence
of the times checked his progress in this branch of printing.
Southwick discovered a sincere and warm attachment
to the interests of the country. He was a firm whig, a
sensible and spirited writer, and in other respects was
qualified to be the editor of a newspaper, and the conductor
of a press in times of revolutionary commotion.
The severity of the British government, to the province
of Massachusetts particularly, was manifested by several
acts of parliament which were passed in 1774. By one of
these acts the people were deprived of many of their
chartered rights and privileges. By another the port of
Boston was shut, and the transaction of every kind of commercial
business on the waters of this harbor was interdicted.
These arbitrary edicts aroused the indignation
of the people in all the colonies. They loudly expressed
their resentment in various ways, and the press became
the organ through which their sentiments were energetically
announced.
Southwick was among the number of printers who were
not backward to blow the trumpet in our Zion, and to sound
an alarm in the holy mountain of our liberties. He wrote
and printed an address, to the people of Rhode Island,
which was headed with the motto, "Join or die!" This
motto had appeared in several of the newspapers, as will
be mentioned hereafter. In this appeal, Boston was represented
as in a state of siege; which was actually true;
for the harbor was completely blockaded by ships of war,
and a large number of troops were quartered in the town.
It was also further stated that these measures of the British
government were a "direct hostile invasion of all the colonies."
The address was concluded by observing, that "the
generals of despotism are now drawing the lines of circumvallation
around our bulwarks of liberty, and nothing but
unity, resolution and perseverance, can save ourselves and
posterity from what is worse than death, slavery."
Southwick, by his publications and exertions in the
cause of the country, became very obnoxious to those who
were of the opposite party; and he, with other zealous
whigs, were marked as objects for punishment. When
the British fleet and army took possession of Newport, in
1776, he barely eluded the threatened evil. As soon as a
part of the army had landed, detachments of both horse
and foot were sent into all parts of the town to arrest the
patriots, who were endeavoring to effect an escape.
Southwick, his wife, with a child in her arms, and some
other persons, had got on board an open boat, and were
just putting off from the shore into a very rough sea,
occasioned by a high wind, when a party of soldiers who
were in pursuit of them came in sight. Southwick's
wife had a brother who was a royalist, and as such was
known to the British officers; who however, wished to
secure the retreat of his sister and her husband. Aware
of their danger, this brother put himself in the way of
attention, by giving them information of the several parts
of the town whence the proscribed whigs would probably
attempt to make their retreat, &c. This friendly interference
gave Southwick and his friends time to get a few
rods from the shore before the party arrived at the spot
they had just quitted. The boat was yet within reach of
their shot. The soldiers fired at them but without effect.
The passengers fortunately received no injury, and were
soon wafted to a place of safety.[3]
Southwick was, at this time, a member of the general
assembly of Rhode Island. He owned two new houses in
Newport, that, with other property which he left at that
place, were destroyed. He sought an asylum in Attleborough,
on the frontier of Massachusetts, and there
erected a press; but being soon after appointed commissary-general
of issues for the state of Rhode Island, he removed
to Providence.
As soon as the British troops evacuated Newport he
returned to that town and resumed the publication of his
newspaper, which he continued till the year 1787, when, by
ill health, and embarrassed circumstances, he was obliged
to relinquish business, and to place the Mercury in other
hands.[4]
His pecuniary concerns were greatly impaired by the
rapid depreciation of the paper currency, before the establishment
belief that the nominal sum specified in the bills would
eventually be made good in specie. The impracticability
of the thing was not considered, even when one hundred
dollars in paper would purchase but one of silver. The
delusion was not discovered by some till they found themselves
involved in ruin. The government of the union
were indebted to Southwick both for his services and for
money loaned. This debt, like others of the kind, was
liquidated by notes known by the name of final settlement.
In the course of some months after they were issued, they
were sold in the market for one-eighth part of their nominal
value. To this depreciated state was national paper
reduced before the assumption of the public debt by the
new government; and, when it was in that state, Southwick
was compelled to sell his final settlement notes for
the support of himself and family. He was engaged in the
cause of his country in the times of her adversity and danger,
but he had no portion of the benefits resulting from
her prosperity. Assailed by poverty, and borne down by
time of his death; and, being unable to provide for his
children, he left them to make their own way in the world.
He lost his wife, who was an excellent woman, in 1783;
and he died himself December 23, 1797, aged sixty-six
years.
His son who bore his name, settled at Albany, and was
for many years the publisher of The Albany Register.[5]
Anne Franklin's brother-in-law, the celebrated Benjamin Franklin,
who then printed in Philadelphia, had, at that time, a partner by the
name of Hall; and the firm in Philadelphia was likewise Franklin & Hall.
Mr. Southwick escaped with his wife and eldest son Solomon, but a
younger child and its nurse were captured.—M.
In a historical sketch of the Mercury, published in that paper when it
had completed a century of its existence, June 12, 1858, it is asserted that
Southwick did not return to resume his paper, but that Henry Barber revived
its publication in 1780. As yet no copies of the Mercury have been
found that were published from 1776 to 1780, when Barber's name appears;
but it is mentioned by Mr. Thomas in the second volume of this work, that
Southwick resumed its publication at Attleborough, Mass. Copies of the
Mercury are preserved in the library of the American Antiquarian Society
at Worcester, which show that Southwick was associated with Barber in
May, 1785; that he was printing it alone in 1787; and that Barber was
again printing it in his own name in 1788. Soulhwick's monument is
still seen in the cemetery at Newport. A copy of the inscription has been
furnished by Mr. Fred. A. Pratt, the present editor of the Mercury, as
follows:
"In memory of | Solomon Southwick, Esq., | a gentleman of liberal |
education and expansive mind, | for many years | editor and proprietor
of the | Newport Mercury | and commissary general for the | state of
Rhode Island | in the Revolutionary war. | He died Dec. 23, 1797, | in
the 66th year of his age.
Was he whose hallowed dust reposes here;
If e'er a partial prayer he breathed to heaven,
That prayer was for his country's glory given."
The house which Mr. Southwick occupied on his return to Newport,
with his printing office, is that in which the Newport Bank is now located.
Children of his son, Henry C., reside in Albany, and preserve
volumes of the Mercury and other mementos of their ancestor, among
which is a diploma from the College and Academy of Philadelphia for
proficiency in Philosophy and Mathematics, 1757, conferring upon him
the degree of B.A.—M.
Mr. Southwick left five children: Solomon, Henry C., Wilmarth,
Eliza, and John. Solomon became editor of The Albany Register, which
was began in 1788 as a democratic paper, and with which he was connected
for a period of nearly thirty years. He was successively clerk
of the house of assembly at Albany; clerk of the senate; sheriff of the
county; manager of the state literature lottery; state printer; regent of
the university; postmaster of the city; and president of the Mechanics
and Farmers' bank. For a considerable time he was at the head of the
democratic party, wielding almost unlimited influence upon the political
destinies of the state. Besides the Register, which he published in his own
name from 1808 to 1817, he also published The Christian Visitant, in 1815,
and The Plough Boy, an agricultural paper, in 1819. He edited the National
Democrat, in 1817; the National Observer, in 1826; the Family Newspaper, in
1838. He was twice nominated for governor, but his party was at the time
in the minority. He was a voluminous writer, and left several published
volumes. He died suddenly Nov. 18, 1839, aged 66. His brother
Henry C., was a practical printer, and was sometime associated with him
in the business. He married Jane, a sister of John Barber who established
the Register, and whom he succeeded as its proprietor. She survived him
several years. Of six sons but one left posterity. The Albany Barbers
were of a different family from those of Newport.—M.
Providence.
For many years the principal part of the trade of the
colony was carried on at Newport. At length Providence
rose to eminence and became the successful rival of Newport.
Printing was introduced there in 1762.
William Goddard, the son of Doctor Giles Goddard,
postmaster at New London, in Connecticut, was the first
who established a printing press in Providence, and was
soon after appointed deputy post-master.
Goddard served his apprenticeship with James Parker,
printer in New York. He opened a printing house in
Providence in 1762, and soon after published a newspaper.
There was at that time but one other paper printed in the
colony, viz. at Newport; yet after a trial of several years,
Goddard did not meet with such encouragement as to induce
him to continue his Gazette. He left his printing
house, &c., in the care of his mother, and sought for himself
a more favorable place of residence.
On leaving Providence he was for a short time concerned
with Holt, in New York, in publishing Parker's Gazette and
Post Boy; and as a silent partner drew a share of the profits.
After the repeal of the stamp act, in 1766, he closed
his concerns with his friends Parker and Holt, and went
to Philadelphia, and there printed a newspaper, &c.
I shall have occasion again to mention Goddard, who
was in business several years in Philadelphia; and afterwards
at Baltimore, where he finished his professional
labors.
As a printer he was ingenious and enterprising. He
made several strong efforts to acquire property, as well as
reputation; but by some means his plans of business frequently
failed of success. He was most fortunate in his
concerns for a few years after the termination of the war.
At length he supposed that he had become possessed of a
competency to carry him through life "without hard rubbing."
In this apprehension he quitted business, returned
to New England, and resided several years on a large farm
near Providence, of which he was the proprietor, and died
Dec. 23, 1817, aged 77.
Major General Charles Lee, an officer in the American
army during the revolutionary war, owned a landed estate
in Berkeley county, Virginia, and left by will one-third
part of this estate to Goddard and Eleazar Oswald, to whom
he professed himself to have been under obligations.
Few could conduct a newspaper better than Goddard.
He was a capable editor, and his talents were often drawn
into requisition. He, like many others, was a laborious
agent in the cause of his country, and in many instances
where he had neither honor nor profit for his reward.
When the loaves and fishes were to be divided, aspiring,
interested, nominal patriots, crowded him into the back
ground, and his services were in a great measure forgotten.
Goddard, however, received from the postmaster general
the appointment of surveyor general of post roads; and,
in this instance, fared better than many others, whose public
services were never rewarded by any office whatever, either
of profit or honor. [See Philadelphia—Baltimore—Newspaper.]
Sarah Goddard, the mother of William Goddard, was
the daughter of Lodowick Updike, whose ancestors were
among the first settlers of Rhode Island, and her brother
was for some years attorney general of the colony. She
received a good education, acquired an acquaintance with
several branches of useful and polite learning, and married
Dr. Giles Goddard, of New London, who left her a widow.
After her son had been a few years in business, she became
his partner. He left the management of the printing house
and newspaper to her, and she conducted them with much
ability for about two years, when John Carter supplied the
place of her son; the firm was then Sarah Goddard & Company.
She resigned the business to Carter in 1769, removed
to Philadelphia the same year, and died there in January,
1770. [See, Newspapers in vol. ii.]
John Carter was born in Philadelphia, and served his
apprenticeship with Franklin & Hall, in that city. He
was the partner of Sarah Goddard from 1766 to 1768 inclusive;
and, in 1769, he became the successor of William
Gazette.
For more than twenty years his printing house was
"at Shakespear's Head, opposite to the Court House;"
after which it was near the bridge, and opposite to the
market.
He was postmaster before the revolution, and for many
years subsequent to it. He was well acquainted with the
art which he practised, and the productions of his press
exhibit evidence of a good and correct workman.
He was a staunch supporter of the cause of our country,
before its independence; and after that important event
took place, he did not lose sight of her best interests. He
prosecuted printing in an accurate manner for forty-six
years. His character as a man of honor and integrity was
well established: he died in August, 1814, aged sixty-nine
years.
John Waterman was bred a seaman, and became the
master of a vessel. Preferring the mechanic arts, he left
the pursuits of commerce, and built a paper mill two miles
from Providence, which probably was the first erected in
the colony. In 1769, he purchased the press and types
which were, for many years, owned and used by Samuel
Kneeland of Boston; with these he opened a printing house
near his paper mill, but made little use of them.
| RHODE ISLAND. The history of printing in America, with a biography of printers, and an account of newspapers ... | |