Newspapers

CULTURAL AND SOCIAL ADVERTISING IN EARLY NORTH CAROLINA NEWSPAPERS

BY WESLEY H. WALLACE

“On the whole,” observed a writer in the Edinburgh Review in 1843, “there is no denying Advertisements constitute a class of composition intimately connected with the arts and sciences, and peculiarly calculated to illustrate the domestic habits of a people.”¹ Certainly advertisements in early New Bern and Wilmington newspapers prove this point, for they are colorfully and unconsciously descriptive of the “domestic habits” of eastern North Carolinians. In striking contrast with the news columns containing impersonal accounts of remote events, the advertisements are local, personal, immediate— social history unrefined.

Though not as numerous as paid public notices dealing with various forms of real and personal property, advertisements on matters cultural and social nevertheless more than made up for the lack in numbers by varied and revealing subject matter.² There were a few advertisements reflecting literary tastes, educational, religious, and professional activities—some of the same subjects dealt with in modern newspaper advertising but frequently written in an informal, more “chatty” manner. In addition, there were advertisements on subjects treated nowadays in the news and editorial columns—the stories of robberies, kidnapping, piracy, and other crimes, accounts of disagreements between husbands and wives, lists of letters lying unclaimed at the post office with an occasional side comment by the postmaster, and many other notices detailing the trivia of life in North Carolina in the last half of the eighteenth century.

A notable characteristic of advertising in North Carolina newspapers, 1751-1778, is the relative scarcity of public notices about intellectual, cultural, and spiritual matters. It is difficult to escape the conclusion that North Carolinians of those earlier days were much more concerned with the material than with the aesthetic aspects of their existence. It also seems true, using advertising as a reflection of attitudes, tastes, and preoccupations, that life in North Carolina was more difficult and less varied than in—say—South Carolina.³

LITERARY ADVERTISING

Books imported for sale or listed in the effects of estates up for settlement were infrequently mentioned in early North Carolina newspaper advertising, and, even in these few notices, details were largely omitted. In New Bern, merchant Robert Williams, importing a stock of interesting goods, specified “a great variety of new and second hand books; among which are several concordances and small dictionaries, Martin’s philosophical Grammer... &c.” George and Thomas Hooper, whose Wilmington store was located on Market Street, “a few doors above the sign of the Harp and Crown,” included only general references to “prayer books, [and] the newest novels,” in a lengthy list of goods imported at the end of 1773. Early in 1775, Edward Batchelor and Company of New Bern concluded an itemized list of importations with the note: “A few Setts of Leland’s much esteemed History of Ireland to be sold.”⁴ The word “books” without further elaboration was included in Edmund Wrenford’s executor’s notice that the personal effects of Mary Conway were offered for sale.⁵ A description of a plantation and accompanying articles for sale listed a “Variety of Books in Law, History, &c.”⁶ A similar mention was made by Frederick Gibble as he prepared to sell his land and personal property prior to moving to South Carolina.⁷

Advertisements relating to newspaper subscriptions are useful in revealing the extent to which newspapers were available to North Carolina readers and in revealing the reluctance on the part of some readers to pay for their subscriptions.

The circulation of the Cape-Fear Mercury was certainly not restricted to the town of Wilmington or its immediate environs. Printer and publisher Adam Boyd used the columns of his own in paper 1773 to insert a notice asking that subscriptions be paid. To make this easier, Boyd said, he was listing the names and localities of persons who would collect for him. Names of well-known North Carolinians were included. Payments could be made, so the notice ran,

in Anson County to Mr. Kershaw or his Agent;—at the Court-House in Mecklenburg to Mr. William Patterson, or Mr. Jeremiah McCafferty;—in Charlotte to Mr. John M’Knit Alexander;— in Rowan to Mr. Maxwell Chambers, or Mr. William Steel in Salisbury;— in Surry to Mr. Lanier, or Col. Armstrong;—in the upper part of Guilford to Major John Campbell, or the Revd David Caldwell;—in the lower part of Guilford, to Col. John M’Gee.

Boyd hoped his delinquent subscribers would pay attention to his notice, because in the following month someone would be “at these different Places to Receive the Money.”⁸

James Davis had subscription troubles with his New Bern newspaper. In March, 1778, Davis called his readers’ attention to the fact that the following April 3rd would round out a “year of the publication of this gazette since it was last resumed,” and he hoped his “good customers” would pay up what they owed. Those who wanted to continue to receive the paper were asked to pay half the subscription in advance. Davis warned: “These are the terms on which this gazette can be continued; and those who fail complying with them will be struck off the list without any further notice.” Apparently collections were slow, for the next week Davis changed the tone of his notice and at the same time announced an increase in the price of the newspaper. The increase was necessitated, so Davis noted, by the “great rise in every article of life, or rather fall of our money,” a familiar manifestation of wartime inflation. The subscription rate in the future would be “thirty shillings” a year, half to be paid in advance, the remainder at the end of the year. In conclusion, Davis stated flatly, “Those that fail complying with these terms cannot be served, as I am determined to keep no books. Our old customers long in arrear [sic] are once more called upon to make payment.”⁹

Some North Carolinians subscribed to Virginia newspapers, and perhaps to The South-Carolina Gazette.¹⁰ In New Bern, Richard Cogdell was apparently an agent for the two Williamsburg papers, the Virginia Gazette published by the firm of Dixon and Hunter, and the paper of the same name issued by Alexander Purdie. Both publishers wanted Cogdell to collect various unpaid balances on subscriptions already expired, and at the same time, asked “that 12 s. 6 d. Virginia Money, be paid down by those who choose to continue the same another Year;...” This request Cogdell passed along to the delinquent subscribers in an advertisement in the New Bern paper. He continued: “I am advised by the Printers, that the Scarcity and Dearness of Paper is such, that unless the Money is punctually paid at the Time of subscribing, and old Arrears paid up, it will not be in their Power to serve their Customers.” Cogdell, as agent, had recommended some subscribers to the Virginia publishers. For this reason, and because these readers had paid only a dollar down, Cogdell felt he was “in some measure bound to request the speedy Payment of the Sums due.”¹¹

Just a year later, in 1778, Cogdell returned to the advertising columns of the New Bern paper to advise Virginia Gazette subscribers living in New Bern, or in Craven, Dobbs, or Onslow counties, to pay their subscriptions up through December 31st. He was tired, Cogdell said, of having to keep detailed accounts “for every man, of his time of entry, what and when he pays, and what he is indebted,...” The new method would permit everyone to start off with a year’s subscription beginning January 1, 1779, and for Cogdell would “be but little trouble, and easier remembered by each subscriber.” This notice, Cogdell pointed out, applied only to “Dixon and Hunter’s gazette” and did not affect the arrangements of those who subscribed to the paper published by Alexander Purdie.¹²

North Carolina printers used their own advertising columns to offer pamphlets and various blank forms, to announce the importation of new type, and to call attention to the fact that bookbinding could be done and that “HANDBILLS, and every Thing else in the Printing Way, may be had on the shortest notice.”¹³ These, however, were but mere sidelines to the main businesses of publishing the newspaper and printing and selling compilations of provincial and state laws.

As public printer, James Davis was naturally active in the business of printing collections of laws.¹⁴ Soon after he was established in New Bern and had begun to publish the North-Carolina Gazette, Davis offered for sale “THE Whole Body of LAWS of the Province of North-Carolina: Revised by Commissioners appointed for that Purpose, and Confirm’d in full Assembly.” Davis then capped the climax by reminding his readers the acts were “Publish’d by Authority.”¹⁵ Thereafter, the pages of Davis’s paper seldom lacked one or more such notice.

Even in intellectual or informational matters there is likely to be competition for the attention of the consumer. Such competition was hinted at in an issue of the North-Carolina Magazine early in 1765. Davis, styling himself in his own advertisement as “Provincial PRINTER, appointed by the Lower House of Assembly,” told his readers the laws from the previous meeting of the General Assembly in Wilmington were then in the press and would be published soon. Just below Davis’s own advertisement was one which seems to have been inserted either by or on behalf of Andrew Steuart, then printing the Wilmington version of The North-Carolina Gazette. Perhaps because of proximity to the recently-adjourned Assembly, Steuart appears to have gotten ahead of Davis with the announcement that “THE LAWS, PASSED the last Session of Assembly, at Wilmington, are printed, by Andrew Stuart [sic], and ready to be delivered to the Clerks of the respective Counties.” It was announced that Peter Conway would deliver the ones for the “District of Newbern,” and further that “A few Copies are left for Sale, Price 3 s. which may be had of Mr. Richard Ellis, Merchant, in NEWBERN.”¹⁶

One of the ways to get useful reading material published was to print it by subscription. James Davis resorted to that method in a variety of publications. In using the scheme with “A Collection of all the Acts of Assembly... in Force and Use since the Revisal of the Laws in the Year 1751,” Davis noted that he had prefaced the work with a “List of Names of those Gentlemen who subscribed for the BOOK.”¹⁷ It was not enough, however, for the public just to promise to buy one of Davis’s publications. An advance in the form of a partial payment was also requested. In 1777, in proposing to publish “by SUBSCRIPTION, AN exact ABRIDGMENT of all the ACTS of ASSEMBLY of this State,” Davis announced the price for the volume of “about 500 pages” would be “three Dollars each, one of which Dollars to be paid at the Time of subscribing.” Davis, with perhaps a hint of bitterness, went on to say: “As he is now detached from the Service of the Public as Printer to the State, in which honourable Service he has laboured Twenty Eight Years, he is quite at Leisure, and if properly encouraged, will publish the Book with all imaginable Expedition.”¹⁸

Not all of Davis’s publishing activities were compilations of laws. He also published two school books, which were duly advertised in the pages of the North-Carolina Gazette. The first was “THE Rudiments of the LATIN TONGUE: Or a plain and easy Introduction to Latin Grammar ... By THO. RUDDIMAN, M.A.”; and the second was “DYCHE’s SPELLING BOOK; OR A GUIDE TO THE ENGLISH TONGUE. In Two Parts.” The price for the Latin grammar was two dollars, while that for the speller was half a dollar more. Davis went into considerable detail about the merits of the spelling book. The value of the first part, he noted, was that it was “proper for Beginners, shewing a natural and easy method, to pronounce and express both common words, and proper names; in which particular care is had to shew the accent, for preventing vicious pronunciation.” The second part, designed “for such as are advanced to some ripeness of judgment,” contained definitions of words, the method of hyphenation, and the rules for capitalization and punctuation. In addition, there was “An APPENDIX, containing many additional lessons, in prose and verse: First, in words of one syllable only; and then mixed with words of two, three, four, five, six, and seven syllables.”¹⁹

ADVERTISEMENTS RELATING TO EDUCATION

Both the Latin grammar and the spelling book, had they been available, undoubtedly would have proven useful to small scholars who earlier attended such schools as were being conducted in North Carolina. Using advertisements as criteria, the schools, however, must have been few in number, irregular in session, short-lived, and somewhat strange in curricula when compared with twentieth century public schools. Again, the use of advertisements as sources of information would leave the distinct impression that most, if not all, educational activity in North Carolina between 1751 and 1778 was concentrated in New Bern. There is not a single piece of advertising evidence extant that a school existed in Wilmington or in any other place in North Carolina in the period.

The financing and erection of a school building in New Bern were the concerns of the earliest advertisements dealing with the subject of education. Richard Cogdell, as sheriff of Craven County, ran an advertisement directing freeholders to be present at a meeting at the courthouse to attend to certain religious and educational business. Especially did Cogdell want “the several Subscribers to the School-House” to attend, so that they might “elect Two Commissioners, and One Treasurer” to supervise the school construction.²⁰

Six months later, scarcely any progress could be noted in New Bern’s attempt to provide itself with a schoolhouse. Apparently the two commissioners and the treasurer had been elected, and there must have been some promises to provide funds, but that was about where matters stood when there appeared an advertisement worded somewhat like an invitation to a ball. The building commissioners, ran the notice,

... request the Favour of the Gentlemen who so generously and largely subscribed to that useful Edifice, to pay their several Subscriptions to the Rev Mr. James Reed, agreeable to the Tenor thereof; as [so] the Work may go on with all Expedition.²¹

The schoolhouse did get built, though just when the advertisements do not disclose. Ten years later, Elias Hoell was using the building to conduct a school. He offered two courses of study, with the more advanced naturally costing the parents of the pupils a little more. For “Sixteen Shillings per Quarter,” Hoell announced he would teach “Reading, Writing, Cyphering, Navigation, and Surveying,” all practical subjects for a people engrossed in the acquisition of real estate and other property, and so largely dependent upon water transportation. The second course, Hoell indicated, would include “Algebra, Euclid’s Elements, Latin and Greek, at Eighteen Shillings.”²²

Hoell’s offering may not have appealed to the residents of New Bern and Craven County, for early in the next year, a schoolmaster named Florence McCarthy announced he had “opened School in the Academy,” and was advertising for students. If McCarthy taught well all the subjects he advertised, eastern North Carolina youth had an opportunity to imbibe large doses of practical and general education, including “Grammatic English, with due Attention to Emphasis, Pause, Cadence, and puerile Declamation.”

Headed by English and writing, McCarthy’s proffered curriculum stressed subjects useful and scientific rather than literary and classical. The scope of study is clearly shown in the advertisement, which listed:

... consise [sic] Arithmetic, vulgar and decimal, with many practic [sic] and inspectional Contractions, Italian Bookkeeping; Mensuration in all its Parts; Navigation in all its Kinds [;] Gauging in all its Varieties; likewise by one general Method, not regarding the Casks Form. Practic and theoric Geometry; Surveying in Theory and Practice; plane and spheric Trigonometry; simple and quadric Algebra; together with the occasional Application of the Whole, to whatever else shall be found, either recreative or useful, in practical, pure, or mixed Mathematics.

The charges for the course were either four pounds or eight dollars annually, with one dollar to be paid in advance. In addition to the low price and the wealth of subject material, McCarthy went further and assured the parents that he would attend with “Viligance and Assiduity” any pupils they might send him. And then, seemingly almost as an afterthought, McCarthy’s advertisement concluded: “He likewise intends opening a Night School, from 6 to 9 o’Clock.”²³

It seems probable that McCarthy had no more success in educating North Carolina’s youth than had his predecessor. At any rate, six months later the New Bern newspaper contained a notice that the trustees had granted permission with the result that “the Public School House of this Town is again opened.” The course of study was similar to that offered by McCarthy, but added such subjects as Latin and French, geography and “the use of the Globes.” The terms were the “established Price of the said School,” and if this amount were not known by the reader, it could be learned from James Davis, “Printer of this Paper, and one of the Trustees.”²⁴

Nothing further in relation to education appeared in the advertising columns until 1778, when the interest of North Carolinians in things French showed a marked and natural increase during America’s struggle with Britain.²⁵ In that year, Gaspar Beaufort, “from Philadelphia,” must have thought New Bern a good location for a school devoted to the teaching of French. In any case, Beaufort gave notice that he planned to start such a school, not in the schoolhouse, but at the “house of Widow Wosley.” Addressing his appeal mainly to the genteel adults, Beaufort proposed to teach those who wanted to study French “to read, right [sic], and speak it grammatically.” Those who objected to attending school at the widow’s house could also learn French, for Beaufort was willing to visit “at their own houses in the evening” where, presumably, private lessons would be given.²⁶

The ladies and gentlemen of New Bern must not have realized what a rare opporttmity was theirs, for the following week Beaufort returned to the columns of the press with a complaint that he “has not met with such encouragement as he deserves,...” Beaufort said he planned to stay just a month more and invited those who wished to learn French to take advantage of his presence. He made it plain that New Bern needed Beaufort more than Beaufort needed New Bern, concluding his advertisement with the statement that he, Beaufort, “is wanted where he may have encouragement suitable to his merit.”²⁷

Gaspar Beaufort’s lack of success did not seem to deter other schoolmasters who, in the following months, advertised the opening of schools. Joseph Blyth and George Harrison made the usual appeals to parents to have their children educated. Blyth, who had the advantage of conducting his school in the “public school-house,” offered standard subjects. Harrison, whose announcement appeared in the same issue with Blyth’s, said only that he proposed to open a school “on Monday next, opposite to Mrs. Dewey”; and since the same announcement appeared in each of the two succeeding issues, it seems doubtful that Harrison actually carried through his project.²⁸

RELIGIOUS AND PROFESSIONAL ADVERTISING

Extant advertisements relating to religious and professional matters are indeed few in North Carolina newspapers in the period, 1751-1778. The three insertions on church affairs all occurred in 1764, while the professional ones were grouped largely in 1778. Each advertisement, however, is instructive in the unconscious commentary which it makes on the life of the times.

In the same advertisement in which Sheriff Richard Cogdell directed the election of school commissioners, he notified the freeholders of Christ Church Parish to come to the courthouse for the purpose of “electing a Vestry for said Parish, and take the Suffrages of the Vesters, as the Law Directs.” If the freeholder himself could not come, he must be represented by “his Deputy.” Cogdell, in a nota bene, reminded his readers: “There is a Fine of Twenty Shillings on every Freeholder in the Parish who fails to attend, and give his Vote.”²⁹

Two months after this notice, John Smith, the clerk of the vestry of the same church, advertised that those who had any claims against the parish should present them on October 4th. On the same day, all those who had formerly been wardens of Christ Church, and any others who were holding money belonging to the church, were urged to have their accounts put in order. When this was done, Smith stated, “the VESTRY will then sit to transact the Parochial Business.”³⁰

The last of the religious notices was inserted by the two Christ Church wardens, Jacob Blount and James Davis. In pursuance of their official duties, they were informing the members of the parish that, on January 3, 1765, there would “be rented, to the highest Bidder, for one Year, the PEWS of the Church in Newbern;...”³¹

There was no ethical disapproval of medical or legal advertising in eighteenth-century North Carolina but there were fewer of these notices than might be supposed. Perhaps the most spectacular of them all is the full column advertisement on page one of the Wilmington Cape-Fear Mercury for December 29, 1773. Though most of it is devoted to extolling the virtues of Ward’s “Anodyne Pearls,” the advertiser, one “Doctor Ward,” seemed also to be a specialist in the “curing” of “hair-lips.” He had treated successfully ten harelips “at one and the same time,” and he had “cut and cured” two cases in North Carolina. Anyone who needed references as to his work in North Carolina could consult “Robert Dixon, Esq. of Duplin ... and Andrew Fullard of the Sound” for the facts in the cases.

Shorter than Ward’s advertisement and more restrained in language was an announcement by a Frenchman named Pambruse. Styling himself “Doctor in Physick, and one of the first surgeons in the King of France’s armies,” Pambruse proposed to set up a practice in Edenton where he might be of “service to the ladies and gentlemen that will employ me,...” Of himself Pambmuse advertised: “I possess the art of man-midwife, I also undertake to cure all sorts of venereal distempers, ulcers, and ring worms.” To show that his heart was warm, Pambruse said that he would make no charge in treating the poor of the community.³²

In addition to treating patients for such illnesses as occurred, physicians also seemed to perform some of the functions of modern wholesale and retail drug houses by offering medicines for sale. Pambruse would sell “by small or large quantity” a limited list of drugs, while Alexander Gaston offered a considerable quantity and variety of medicines. Gaston advertised that he had just imported a “large assortment” of items, adding that because “there is a greater quantity of almost all the ... articles, than I could consume in my own practice in many years, therefore [I] would be glad to supply others,...”³³

Attorney Hamilton Ballantine, “late of the island of Jamaica,” announced that he planned to settle in North Carolina and expected to establish a legal practice in the state. Ballantine advertised that, the “laws being now opened in their full latitude,” he would travel around to the various superior court sessions. His desires were quite modest and reasonable, for he wished only “such encouragement, as his integrity to his clients and the justness of their cause merits.”³⁴

Sometime toward the end of September, 1778, New Bern was honored by the arrival of Boyle Aldworth, a “Limbner.” Aldworth established himself at Oliver’s Tavern ready to ply his profession as an artist, his advertisement in the North-Carolina Gazette announcing to the public that he “paints LIKENESSES.” In relation to other and perhaps more practical commodities, his prices for portraiture may have seemed a little high to the town residents. Aldworth charged $130 for “Portraits for rings,” $100 for the same for “bracelets,” but only $75 for portraits for “house ornaments from 1 to 2 feet.” Of course, Aldworth seemed to sneer, the last-named was only done in crayons.³⁵ Either the public was slow in responding to his appeals, or Aldworth quickly gathered in more commissions than he could handle, for after three insertions the notices stopped and Aldworth dropped from sight. He had the distinction however, of being the only artist whose advertisements in North Carolina newspapers between 1751 and 1778 are a matter of present record.

FROM APOLOGIES TO POST OFFICES

In many instances advertisements in early North Carolina newspapers took the place of local news items, either in reports about or comments on the local scene. Sometimes the details of the event were discussed in full; upon other occasions, the advertiser seemed to feel his readers knew the basic story and all he was required to do was to supply a mention of recent developments. The variety in these advertisements is as great as the variety in the news columns of today’s press and part of the value for the modern reader lies in learning what the earlier advertiser judged was interesting or important enough to warrant publication.

The lack of detail is tantalizing in an apology made late in 1773 by Burrel Lanier. Apparently Lanier had said or written something serious about one John Hill, and Hill’s friends took exception to the report. It seems probable that the residents of Wilmington knew more of the details than are brought down to the present day, so that the public apology was all that was required to set the matter straight. Be that as it may, it seems that on November 30, 1773, Burrel Lanier appeared before Andrew Thompson, Isaac Hill, Richard Clinton, James Kenan, Richard Brocas, and Michael Kenan to acknowledge that what he had reported “in Respect to John Hill’s Character” was not true. In fact, the report was, according to Lanier’s advertisement, “entirely False and Groundless and without Foundation,...” In conclusion, said Lanier: “...I am heartily sorry for it, and humbly ask his Pardon, as that what I said was through Passion.”³⁶

James Hobbs got Waightstill Avery and Rokert Daly to witness his apology to Captain William Randel, whom Hobbs had accused “of getting his living by stealing hogs and cattle.” Hobbs indicated the accusation was made in May, 1778, “at a general muster.” Upon later—and perhaps soberer—reflection, Hobbs admitted the charge against Randel was “false and groundless,” and he took to newspaper advertising to make “amends for the injury.”³⁷

On the other hand, Willarn Bryan, resenting vociferously what he thought were false statements, took to the advertising columns to hurl some charges of his own. According to the public notice, “some busy body” had circulated a report that he, Bryan, had said William Blount was going to be a candidate for election to the state legislature. So angry was Bryan the words of his denial seemed almost to tumble over themselves, as he stormed: “I was not at the election, and therefore had it not in my power to refute the falsity, but do now, in this public manner, declare that, whoever says he heard me say, or even intimate, that I thought Mr. Blount intended, or would offer himself, is a lyar;....”³⁸

Not all the news items in advertisements were as spectacular as those of the public apologies. More commonplace was a notice that an election of “overseers of the poor” would be held at the courthouse in New Bern. Advertised for “Easter monday the 20th of this instant [April, 1778],” the election was for the purpose of choosing “seven proper persons” to perform the functions of the office.³⁹ Equally prosaic but useful was the notice given by Nathaniel Rochester and William Courtney, Orange County commissioners to supervise the building of the courthouse in Hillsboro. Pursuant to an enabling act passed by the General Assembly in 1778, the commissioners were ready to entertain bids or inquiries from persons interested in building the edifice. There may have been a wealth of local controversy concealed in the simple statement that the commissioners had “determined to build the same with brick,...”⁴⁰

It is hard to imagine a more unlikely place to report a storm than in an advertisement proposing to print a revisal of laws; yet just such a mention occurs in a notice in the New Bern North-Carolina Gazette for November 10, 1769. In a column-long advertisement, printer James Davis proposed to print, “by SUBSCRIPTION,” an up-to-date revisal of the North Carolina provincial laws. After going thoroughly into the matter of the value of the work and the conditions under which he expected to issue it, Davis noted that he had published these proposals “some time ago, and the books were to have been delivered this fall;...” Davis had prepared the “work” as promised, “but unfortunately for the Printer, every sheet of it was lost in the ruins of the Printing-Office, which was totally swept away in the late storm;...” The storm caused the loss not only of the book sheets which had been done “in great forwardness,” but also the lists of those who had earlier subscribed to the publication. The advertisement, Davis indicated, thus served the dual purpose of informing the public of his misfortune and of asking those who were in the first lists to submit their names again.

A curious mixture of the modern “want ad” technique and the polite and wordy usage of earlier days is displayed in an advertisement by an overseer. Addressing himself “To the LANDED GENTLEMEN,” the unidentified advertiser then described himself as being “A Steady, sedate Man, regularly bred to the farming Business, who understands the Management and Improvement of Farms, and every necessary Branch to Agriculture,...” The overseer was hoping to make an arrangement to manage some gentleman’s farms, or to improve the land, whether it be in fields or merely pasturage, for he knew how to raise cattle, was “thoroughly versed in the Method of grazing,” and was expert at “breaking young Horses to their proper Paces fit for the Saddle, having had a sufficient Experience in England.” In addition to these abilities, the applicant also noted that he could “write a legible Hand,” and knew how to keep books. Though the advertiser did not give his name, his readers were told that, if any interested party wrote “a Line direct to J.A.B. to be left with the Printer hereof,” the advertiser would be glad to come for an interview, “and give every Satisfaction requisite.”⁴¹

The position-seeking overseer, like others of his contemporaries, understood the importance of good horseflesh in a time when overland transportation in North Carolina could best be accomplished on horseback.⁴² Good horseflesh also meant the possibility of horse racing.⁴³ The stock of good horses could only be maintained, however, if there was proper breeding. Thus, advertisements announcing the availability of stud horses were neither lacking nor out of place in early North Carolina newspapers. The advertisements were fairly standard in form, usually including the name of the horse and part of his bloodline, followed by a description of the horse and some of his accomplishments on the race track. The stud fee was stated, as was the extra amount to be paid the groom; and the advertisement might then conclude with the statement that pasturage for the mares was available and that the mares, though well cared for, must be left at the owner’s risk.

Advertisements of two such stud horses were placed in adjacent columns of the North-Carolina Gazette in March, 1775, by Richard Ellis and Abner Nash. In extolling the favorable points of his horse, Bajazett, Ellis struck rather closely to the accepted pattern; Nash, on the other hand, had more to say in his piece about Telemachus. The advertisement, Nash indicated, was written with the hope that the “Gentleman Farmers of this Part of the Province” could be induced to follow the lead of “their Neighbours of Halifax, Virginia, and other Places” in entering “spiritedly on this very profitable and public spirited Business of breeding good Horses,...” Nash obviously thought Telemachus a very fine horse, but honesty prevented him from exaggerating. Nash said he “hoped” his horse’s “Pretensions (next to Bajazett, which he does not pretend to rival) will be thought to stand very fair in the Calendar of Fame.”⁴⁴

Prior to May, 1774, there was no postal service between Cross Creek and Wilmington, though the desirability of such a service was apparent to residents of both communities, and must have been so to an investigator for the British postal authorities.⁴⁵ Following the investigation, readers of the Cape-Fear Mercury were informed that, the “post master general having established a post between Wilmington and Cross-Creek,” the service was about to begin on a fortnightly basis. Those who wished to make use of this official method had to present their letters the “day preceding” the departure of the post rider.⁴⁶

Late in 1777, Richard Cogdell, in his capacity as postmaster, inserted several advertisements in the North-Carolina Gazette to publicize the fact that there were quite a few letters lying unclaimed in the New Bern post office. Usually Cogdell gave the name of the person to whom the letter was addressed, the number of letters for that person, and the date or dates the letters were received. In his first advertisement, Cogdell stated that the addressees or their agents could get the letters by paying the postage. The postmaster was something of a salesman for the postal system, as he pointed out the desirability of persons’ receiving letters addressed to them. Some of these letters “may be of consequence,” ran the notice, “and require to be answered by post again, which shall be punctually sent to any post-office in the united states, by Their humble servant,...”⁴⁷ One of the names in this first notice was that of Captain Francis Hodgson, for whom a letter had arrived on the 8th of September. A year later, Captain Hodgson, now identified as “of the sloop Sea Flower,” had not yet picked up his mail.⁴⁸

ADVERTISEMENTS OF “ELOPMENT” AND SEPARATION

Human nature being what it is, it is not surprising to find in the columns of the various North Carolina newspaper announcements that wives had parted company with their husbands who then proceeded to disclaim any future responsibility for debts incurred by the wives. Fairly typical of such notices is that of William Hales, who advertised: “Whereas my wife Betty has eloped from me. I hereby forewarn any person or persons trusting her on my account; as I shall not pay any debts she may, after this date contract.”⁴⁹ William Jones did not accuse his wife Margaret of “eloping,” but he did complain that she was extravagant. Jones said she had “made a Practice of dealing with Merchants and others, and running him largely in Debt;” as a result, he warned the public not to trust her and gave notice he would not pay her debts in the future.⁵⁰

It would seem that most of the “elopement” notices were fairly routine matters, perhaps causing only a moderate amount of comment in the community. James Flett’s situation started off that way, with an unexceptional notice that his wife, Katy, had departed and that he would no longer be responsible for her debts. The advertisement appeared in the New Bern North-Carolina Gazette on August 14, 1778. If Flett thought that was all there was to it, he was rudely enlightened when the next issue of the newspaper appeared a week later. Flett’s notice was there again—a standard procedure—but in an adjoining column a contradictory item appeared, and Katy Flett found herself with a champion. How the issue’s readers must have chuckled over the defense and challenge issued by a New Bern merchant, John Horner Hill, whose advertisement ran:

THE subscriber takes this method of acquainting the public that James Flett, (taylor of this town) hath unjustly traduced the character of his lawful, prudent, and virtuous wife—And he further adds, that he will be accountable for any transgression said Flett can make evident against his wife.—Therefore he expects the public will consider said Flett an unjust and cruel man, if he cannot prove any reason for acting in so vile a manner.

Methinks I hear If from truths sacred paths I’ve stray’d,
Mrs. Flett Convince the world I do,
express herself If not the world with justice may,
thus, Transfer the same on you.⁵¹

There is much room for speculation concerning a most peculiar advertisement which occupies half a column of fine print in the New Bern North-Carolina Gazette for April 7, 1775. In spite of the fact that legal divorce was not characteristic of the times, the word “divorce” is used in the notice, the purpose of which was to declare a legal separation. In the second place, the notice bears an internal date of August 29, 1769, though the date of this publication is 1775. In the third place, no reference has so far been found elsewhere to any Joseph or Mary McGehe or to either of the two witnesses, Robert Goodloe and Thomas Jackson. Finally, James Davis provided no explanation in this issue of his New Bern paper as to the reasons for the wide separation in dates, so that perhaps his own readers might have been as mystified as are later ones.

Among the few positive statements which can be made about the advertisement is that it exists in print and that its language is somewhat blunt. The whole notice, couched in legal phraseology, gives details of the property settlement which is the main part of the separation agreement. After the necessary “whereases” and “know ye’s” Mary McGehe got down to the business at hand, with a statement that, having been “dissatisfied” with Joseph, she had “eloped from his Bed for upwards of eight Months past; in which Time I have been gotten with Child by another Man... with which I acknowledge to be now pregnant,...” Mary went on to say that she did not intend to live with Joseph again, and in consideration for his having given her a portion of his property, she now held herself “as divorced from him, ...” The settlement amounted to “one Hundred and Twenty Pounds Value in Effects,” and Mary expressed her satisfaction with the settlement. Joseph McGehe, in turn, acknowledged the separation and agreed to let Mary go wherever she pleased, with neither having any further claim on the other.⁵²

CRIME REFLECTED IN ADVERTISING

Because advertisements frequently represented the only local information in early North Carolina newspapers, it is reasonable to expect there might have been paid public notices from time to time in connection with crimes and acts of violence. This was indeed the case and there were advertisements of jail breaks, an offer of a reward for apprehension of a murderer, a notice of piracy, accounts of kidnappings, and reports of armed robberies. Frequently these advertisements, interesting in themselves for the stories they tell, are also sources of collateral and equally interesting evidence on a variety of subjects.

On September 8, 1777, three white men broke out of the Craven County jail, and Joseph Leech, a justice of the peace, advertised for their apprehension. Two of the men, Michael Kelly and Matthias Farnan, were in jail for robbery; the third James Rawlins, was convicted—or accused, the record not being clear on this point—of “high treason.” Rawlins was a “noted villain, and was one of the principals in the late conspiracy against the state, has lived for two years past in Martin county, and is very famous in the art of legerdemain;...” The notice went on to say that Kelly and Farnan had gotten “a pass from Mr. Tisdale a few days before their commitment, which it is probable they will now make use of.”⁵³

A much less spectacular escape was that of William Alcock, who, in some unmentioned manner, got away from a Craven County deputy. Alcock’s entanglement with the law was less spectacular, also, but was indicative of the times. He had been “taken on a writ at the suit of Edward Boucher Hodges.” It may well have been debt which got Alcock into trouble; but whatever it was, John Kennedy, the advertiser, thought only enough of the matter to offer a reward of twenty shillings for Alcock’s capture and return.⁵⁴

Before North Carolina severed her ties with England, the murder of two Cherokee Indians, “in the back part of the province of Georgia,” caused Governor Josiah Martin to have an official proclamation published as an advertisement in the New Bern North-Carolina Gazette. The murderer was alleged to be one Hezekiah Collins, a youth of under twenty years of age, “tolerably well sett” and having “a very down cast look, and of a tawny complexion.” According to the account, Collins had “absconded” from the scene of his crime and the authorities desired his capture enough to offer a substantial reward. Governor Martin said he was authorized by Major General Frederick Haldimand, commander of English forces in America, to offer in the general’s name a reward of “One Hundred Pounds sterling,” an unusually large sum in hard cash; while Martin himself offered nominally the same sum, but in proclamation money.

This high-placed and somewhat remote attention to the murder of two Indians was accounted for by the possible consequences of the act. Martin, Haldimand, and other officials seemed to agree that the murder had “Highly exasperated” the Cherokees and might “tend to interrupt the good harmony subsisting between his Majesty’s subjects, and that and other tribes of Indians, unless satisfaction be made for the said violence;...” All of this was, however, not necessarily news to North Carolinians. The real reason for the publication of the proclamation was a case of false accusation. Earlier, Governor Martin had advertised the same information, but offered the reward for a man named John Collins; and it was only on the receipt of later information from Georgia that the alleged murderer was thought to be Hezekiah. Martin’s notice concluded by saying that the proclamation was thus to be “published again, and the Reward offered for the right Person.”⁵⁵

Also from Georgia came an advertisement concerning an act of piracy. Patrick Mackay of that province composed a long notice which not only gave the details of the crime, but also provided a very complete description of the vessel which was stolen, along with other useful and interesting information. First of all, Mackay said he was publishing the account of this “most daring and flagitious robbery and piracy” in the hope that it would be “for the public good of all commercial counties, as well as for the recovery of his own property.”

The act of piracy occurred during the night of October 31, 1775, when “nine armed men came on board a schooner, then lying moored off the point of Sappello ... cut both her cables (which were all that were on board) and proceeded immediately to sea.” Two of the pirates were known to Mackay, who named and described them. The others were unknown to him. When the schooner was attacked there were three Negroes and a white man on board. As the pirates worked the vessel “near the bar,” the white man and two of the Negroes were put off into the schooner’s small boat and permitted to return. The third Negro, however, was kept on board. Since the only provisions on the vessel were a few potatoes and a little water, Mackay thought it likely the pirates might try to sell the Negro, “that they may, with the purchase money, procure accessaries.”

The schooner herself was square-sterned and “painted light blue,” with “bright sides, and six port holes and two quarter lights on each side.” Designed to “carry about 300 barrels of rice,” the vessel was “quite new, built in South Carolina,” and was fifty-three feet long, twenty-two feet wide, with nine-foot hatches. Some of the painting had not yet been done, nor had the cabinet work been completed, “being just out of the builders hands.” As for rigging, the topmasts were up but there were no crossyards; part of the canvas was new, though some of it was “half worn.” New though she was, the “hook over her boltsprit” was gone and a hawser was used instead. Mackay then threw in the information that he had gotten the vessel at a “marshal’s sale” at Savannah.

At the end of the column-long advertisement, Mackay offered appropriate rewards for the capture and conviction of the pirates and for the return of the slave. In addition, he promised he would allow a “reasonable and generous salvage for recovering and delivering the said schooner ... to be awarded and determined upon by any three merchants or indifferent persons, or otherwise according to law or custom.”⁵⁶

Though the word kidnapping was not used, that particularly heinous crime was chronicled by John Caruthers in the New Bern North-Carolina Gazette in the spring of 1778. Inserted ostensibly to offer a reward for the capture of the abductors, the advertisement nevertheless is an excellent news story as well, providing many details of the crime. On a Saturday night early in April, two men, “in disguise... with masks on their faces, and clubs in their hands,” broke into the house of Caruthers’s caretaker, a free Negro woman named Ann Driggus. The attackers “beat” the woman and “wounded her terribly and [then] carried away four of her children, three girls and a boy,...” One of the girls, presumably the eldest, “got off in the dark and made her escape,” though the captors still held the others. Caruthers said that Ann Driggus had identified the two men, one being a “sailor lately from Newbern,” and that both men “were on board of a boat belonging to Kelly Cason, and was with him about the middle of the day.” Caruthers would give fifty dollars to anyone who would recover the children and seize the kidnappers so the law could take its course.⁵⁷

From the standpoint of newspaper space occupied, wealth of details published, and the side issues involved, the case conveniently labelled “The John Foy Robbery” is easily the most interesting of crimes reported in the advertising columns. The robbery occurred on the morning of February 4, 1775, and it is reasonable to suppose that before nightfall all New Bern was discussing the event. In the course of the next few days, the victim, John Foy, had drawn up an advertisement describing the crime, had enlisted the aid of Governor Josiah Martin in the matter, and had made a public apology for having made a false accusation in attempting to identify the robbers.

On Friday, February 3rd, two men stopped by John Foy’s house to spend the night. The next morning, having eaten breakfast, they gave Foy “a Thirty Shilling Bill to change, in Order to pay their Reckoning.” When he went into the next room to get the change, Foy recounted, “they rushed in upon me, presenting their Rifles at me, and ordered me to deliver up my keys; ...” When he insisted he did not have the keys, Foy continued, “they made my Negro Wench bring them a Hammer, and compelled me to break open the Chest,...” Once this was done, the robbers stole about 375 pounds, proclamation money; and then, forcing Foy to unlock yet another chest, “plundered it of near the like Sum.” To add insult to injury, the thieves also made off with a coat, leather bags and breeches, and some other articles.

John Foy’s powers of observation seemed to be in full operation that day, for he gave a very thorough description of the men, their appearance, what they wore, and their horses—one of which had been stolen from Foy himself. One of the men was rather undistinguished except for a “down Look,” while the other, who had “curled Locks,” was described as “full mouthed, talks very pertly, and is lame in his right Knee and Leg; ...”⁵⁸

Taking cognizance of this “most daring Robbery,” Governor Josiah Martin issued a proclamation directing law enforcement officers to assist in capturing the criminals. The proclamation repeated a few of the details of the crime, though it placed the date erroneously as February 3rd. The Governor’s statement charged that the robbers, who were thought to be Virginians, had placed John Foy “in Fear of instant Death,...” The proclamation did not offer a monetary reward—John Foy had already offered a hundred pounds—but it did invoke the majesty of the law in Foy’s behalf so that the robbers might more quickly be brought to justice.⁵⁹

Sometime within a few days after the robbery, John Foy must have accused two men of having committed the crime but upon further investigation had discovered the accusation to be false. To make amends, Foy drew up a certificate in the form of an advertisement which he acknowledged before Lewis Williams and Edmund Hatch and then had published in the newspaper. In the item, Foy admitted “that I have seen and conversed with Mr. James Ran and Mr. Joel Mavery, and they are not the Men which I suspected to have robbed me, as described in the Papers of the 10th Instant.”⁶⁰

Foy’s description of the robbery continued to appear for some time; but he apparently felt that the recovery of the £750 was not likely, for on April 7, 1775, he announced that the reward would be “in Proportion to the Money they [the captors] shall find with them [the robbers].”⁶¹

Upon at least one occasion, a North Carolina newspaper printed a denial that a crime had been committed, a refutation of rumors which seemed to have gained wide acceptance and to have created a stir in the community. The advertisement itself provides an excellent description of some of the diversions enjoyed by those who were not of the elite. Accepting the advertisement as a candid statement of fact, it is not difficult to believe that the social activities of the lesser folk were boisterous and even dangerous—anything except relaxing.

Roughly a century before Samuel Clemens branded reports of his death as “grossly exaggerated,” a North Carolinian named John Banks, apparently a carpenter, appeared before justices of the Peace James Davis and Thomas Haslen in New Bern to make a somewhat similar, though more legalistic, denial. The preamble to the deposition explains why the deposition was necessary. It seems that a story “was raised and spread about,” sometime around November 12th to 15th, 1774, that John Banks was “most inhumanly murdered” in the vicinity of Peacock’s bridge in Dobbs County. This story, which “spread.., to every Quarter of this and the neighbouring Provinces with surprising Rapidity and Credulity,” was doing damage to the reputations of “innocent Persons, said to be concerned therein,...” In order to set the record straight and to prove that the “innocent Persons” were really innocent, John Banks appeared in the flesh and told, to the best of his remembrance, the events which led up to the creation of the rumors. The deposition ran thus:

THAT he John Banks, sometime near the 15th of November past, borrowed a Horse of Jesse Accock (for whom he was at that Time engaged to build a House) to ride to Peacock’s Bridge, at which place Mr. Zachariah Mason had advertised the Public he would take a Boat out of his Pocket in which a Man should cross Contentny Creek, to see which, many People beside himself met: That some Time after he ... got there, he sat in to drinking, continued to do so at Intervals that Day out, the ensuing Night, and the next Day until about 2 o’Clock, P. M. that then he went up Stairs (at Coopers, the Person who then lived at the Bridge) and went to sleep upon a Bed, and slept until about 3 o’Clock in the Morning, at which Time some Persons came up Stairs, and bound a Cord round one of his Legs, and drew him and the Bed to the Head of the Stairs, then slacked the Rope, and he walked down Stairs, where he found he supposes, about 20 People, mostly (to Appearance) drunk: That upon his entering the Room below Stairs, his Heels were knocked up, and some Person thrown upon him, then was permitted to rise, and the same was twice or thrice repeated, after which the Company began to exercise the same Kind of Treatment upon each other: That he then went up Stairs for his Coat and Shoes, after obtaining which, he left the House and County in as secret a Manner as he possibly could: And that he received no Wound whatever at that Time, or at any other Time, at that Place, that endangered the Loss either of Life or Member, and he believes no other Person did at the Time before mentioned.⁶²

Footnotes