Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

chez, in the County of Adams, and | Territory aforesaid, upon the 22d Day of January, | Anno Domini 1799, and in the 23d Year of the Independance of the United States of America: and continued by | Adjournments to the 25th Day | of May, in the | same year. | By Authority |

Natchez: | Printed by A. Marschalk, | and Sold at the Store of Messrs. Hunts, & Co.1

Sm. 4° Pp. (2), ii, 2-63, 65-209.

HISTORY AND CHRONOLOGY OF NEWSPAPERS.

1800, August 1 (est.)—The Mississippi Gazette, at Natchez, by Benjamin M. Stokes.

The earliest number known is Vol. II., Numb. 5, September 10, 1801. If the paper was issued regularly from the beginning this would indicate that it first appeared in August, 1800, instead of in the summer of 1799, as stated by Col. Marschalk, writing from recollection in 1837. The number just cited consists of four pages, each 134x8 inches, three columns to a page, and has the following heading and announcement of a change of publishers:

The
Mississippi Gazette.

By Sackett & Wallace.

Natchez, Tuesday September 10th, 1801.

Num 5

Vol. II.

To The Public

Mr. Benjamin M. Stokes, the late editor and printer of the Mississippi Gazette, having declined business, we purpose continuing the publication on the same political plan that Mr. Stokes has heretofore printed, and will furnish all the subscribers of the gazette on the terms and manner hereinafter mentioned.

Those gentlemen who are subscribers, in the Town and vicinity of Natchez, shall receive their papers on each day of publication.

Those who reside on the post road leading to the states, will be supplied once a fortnight with two numbers, which shall be deposited at the most convenient places.

Those subscribers who reside in the lower part of the Territory, and below the line of the route to New-Orleans, shall be regularly furnished by post once in two weeks. We solicit the patronage of a generous public, and hope they will encourage the present undertaking.

We intend to make it our duty to render the gazette a vehicle of useful and pleasing information-It shall contain matter, of the most interesting nature, Foreign & Domestic intelligence, congressional and Legislative occurrences, particularly such as respect this Territory. Essays will be thankfully received and published, which do not contain immoral, indecent matter or personal reflections. Having made arrangements to procure a

1 In the Lenox Library; title and collation furnished by Wilberforce Eames.

large addition of Types to those we have on hand, will by the Month of April next, enable us to exhibit to the public as large a paper as any published in the Western country.

Terms of the Gazette.

Six Dollars per annum, one half at the expiration of six months, the remainder at the end of the year.

Advertisements not exceeding a square, will be inserted three times for one dollar and fifty cents, if above, in proportion; and for each continuation after, fifty cents.

Sackett & Wallace.

The new arrangement does not appear to have been satisfactory to the parties concerned, not more than two issues appearing under the names of Sackett & Wallace. Then there was an intermission of three or four weeks, when the paper again appeared under the original management, as follows:

Vol II.

The

Missisippi Gazette.

By B. M. Stokes.

Sacred to virtue, liberty, science and civilization.

Tuesday, October 13, 1801.

-No 7.

The latest issue known is Vol. II., Num. 10, Natchez, Tuesday, December 1st, 1801. It is not probable that the paper was continued long after that date.

1801, August 11 (est)—The Intelligencer, at Natchez, by D. Moffett and James Ferrell.

This was printed on a folio sheet 19x23 inches, four pages, four columns to a page. The appearance, imprint, etc., of the earliest number

known are shown herewith:

The Intelligencer.

By D. Moffett & Co.

Six Dollars Per Ann. |

Uninfluenced By Party- |. Half Paid In Advance.
We Aim To Be Just.

Vol. I.

Natchez, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 1801.

| No. IX.

The latest number known is Vol. I., No. XVII, Natchez, Tuesday, December 8, 1801. This paper was doubtless printed on the press brought from Baltimore by Mr. Green, as stated by Col. Marschalk. As in the case of the Gazette, he antedates the fact by about a year.

1802, July 26 (cir.)—Mississippi Herald, at Natchez, by Andrew Marschalk.

page.

Printed on a sheet 18x28 inches, four pages, three wide columns to a
The following is a fac simile of the title of the earliest known copy:

[ocr errors]

MISSISIPPI HERALD.

PRINTED AND PERLIGHED BY ANDREW MARICHALE, PRINTER OF THE LAWS OF THE TERRITORY.

Iben since things you relate, speak of them as they are. Nothing extenmote, nor set dræn aught
NATCHEZ, SATURDAY, MAP sẽ tăng.

Laws of the Missisippi Territory. | College that the buildings for the ufe or wed Col

FUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY.

Bu il opprinting and authorizing commisioners Went to the general afombly, upon the mot ed carros and convenient pofition for a permanent fear of juice for the county of Adame

Sec. T. Be it enacted by the irritative council and house of reprefentatives of the MFEppi territory in fractal effembly convened, and it is bereby ated by the authority of the feme, That Thomas Wilkes, Abyan Hanglar Gaillard, John Bowles, Adan Toairy, Benjamin Farrar and Ifrael Luce, be, and they are hereby appointed commiteers, which ford faid commiffioners, of a majority el. then ere bereby directed by all ways shad means within their power, to inform themselves relpecting the most advantageous and Cerent position for a permanent feat of justice for the county of Adams, and the fad rommation. ers are hereby required to report their option, Bauching the premises to the general affembly ar BENET 23 Mart, you

Sec. And be it further onald, That it fall be the duty of the faid commoners to fepible ther of the firit monday in June next, at the eure-houfs of the county of Adams, then and thorg to confer and confult with each other goa emit proper means carrying into effect the direiben of this aft

W GORDON FORMAN,
Specter of the House of Reprefentatymes
JOHN ELLIS,
Prefident of the Council

Approved, March 13th, 1803.

W. C. C. CLAIBORNE,
Orverar of the Alilijipps Territory.

PROCEEDINGS

"Resolved by the Board of Trus on 1 Materia
lege, fhall be erected in Jeffers couluty, near the
town of Greenville, on the lands proposed by
Mardrica Throgmorton, for that purgule."
Paffed in the affirmative.

On mation: Refolved by the board of Trues,
that the buildings for the Jefferson college ball be
made of brick; and that a comme of ther
members be appointed to prepare a pha of the faid
buildings, and report the fame in the board at
their ace wrung, together with an estimate of
the probable expence

Ordered, That Mes Brezical Weft and
Kirkland, be a committee for the move purpule.
Adjourned until the fecond May in April!
Next, to INCO At the town of Greenville,

Greenville, April 1116, 1892
A quorum of the board met, pactant to adigun-

[blocks in formation]

The probable expence of thefe buildings, from the most acurate effimate the conn.ittee have been able to make, will be ren thousand dollars for the principal bailuig, four thousand for each wing; and two thousand for the Steward's houfe, making in the whole, twenty thousand dollars.

"As this fam far exceeds the prefent fands of the College, or any prospect of immediate fupplies to that amat, he conraittee takes leave to recommend (fhould the propofed plan are the ap probation of the board) that they commence with a contra for the erection of one wing and the

Board of Trufices of Jefferson College Steward's hofe, which will probably stred ac

rabesdation for all

[blocks in formation]

of land for the fire of Jefferfon, college, and to report the line to the west for a fer it be ward to Ordered, That Moirs. Lattimore, West, Ellis, Teoly and Burnet, be a committee for the above purpose.

On motion. That the next meeting of the baard of truffers be on the fir Monday in June next, at Sulfer's town,

On motion-Ordered, That the tecretary of the board furnish a copy of the proceedings of the last and prefent messings, that the fame may be printed and published. (Auva)

FELIX HUGHES. Secretary of the Board

FOR THE MISSISIPPI HERALD.
Mir. Printer,

REASON and experience prove that virtue` conftitutes the fupreme happiness, not only of individuals but of nations,-and that vice and immorality operate not lefs certainly, the mlet, and deftaction of the one that the other. Virtue, therefore, at alt tims defervedly meets the higheft praife and patrorage of every-well wither of the human race,

hift vice and immorality are justly the cojects of the moralifts reiterated cenfure and invective. At a time when thele luft are universally acknowledged to abound-in the territory; every paufible attempt, whether by government or patriotic indi viduals to remely the evil, fhould excife our warmest gratitude, while he who could point out a rational and complete conce tive, would deferve to b confidered foremost among the patrons of mankind.We have little doubt bat not thin

This is a well-printed paper with an excellent variety of reading matter, and an advertising patronage filling six columns. Nowhere appears any statement of the terms.

With a spirit of friendly toleration not common in the journalism of those days, a whole column on the fourth page is devoted to the prospectus of an intended rival of the Herald, to be called the Mississippi Republican and Natchez Advertiser, which W. H. Beaumont announced his intention of publishing. He had "been long in the habit of editing newspapers," he stated, and "if a suitable support, adequate to the undertaking," of which he does not permit himself to doubt, "is promptly received, the materials will be immediately ordered, and it is presumable, the publication will commence in September next. No copy of this paper has been found, and probably the confident hopes of its projector were never realized.

[ocr errors]

With the issue of the Herald for Monday, Nov. 14, 1803, No. 16, Vol. 2, the line And Natchez City Gazette, was added under the first line of the title. We learn from No. 52, Vol. 2, Thursday, April 26, 1804, that Marschalk had attempted to issue it semi-weekly, and that it was "Published Wednesdays And Saturdays." As Marschalk was not an Irishman, of whom the perpetration of bulls could be expected, it is not easy to rec

oncile this announcement with the date. The semi-weekly was reduced in size, being on a sheet 13x16 inches, four pages, two columns to a page. It would seem that this ambitious effort crippled the printer, as No. 14, Vol. III., instead of coming out on August 2, as it would in natural sequence, bears date Oct. 5, indicating an occasional intermission, if not a temporary suspension. This number shows a slight change in the heading, thus:

[Vol. III.]

Missisippi Herald & Natchez Gazette.

Printed And Published By Andrew Marschalk,

At The Corner of Third, And South First Streets.

Natchez, Friday, October, 5, 1804.

[No. 14.]

It was now printed on a sheet 18x22 inches, four pages, four columns to a page, and, of course, only weekly. Vol. IV., No. 41, Tuesday, October 8, 1805, gives the place of publication as "North First, Near Second Street." No. 6, Vol. V., Whole No. 215, Tuesday, February 4, 1806, announces the following

Terms of the Mississippi Herald.

Six Dollars per annum, payable one half in advance, the remainder at the end of the year.

Advertisements not exceeding fifteen lines inserted once for one dollar :-and fifty cents for subsequent insertions.

Payments will be received in cotton, provisions and produce of all kind, at the market price.

Such of our mechanical brethren who wish the Herald-and would prefer making payment in work, may also be accommodated.

Advertising customers are particularly requested to note the number of insertions requested-otherwise they will be considered as intended for publication until counter

manded

No. 41, Vol. V., Tuesday, October 21, 1807, Whole No. 302, shows no change in heading or size, except that an “s” is lacking in the second group of sibilants in the title. The old files kept by Col. Marschalk are still in existence, and show that the Herald was continued by him under the following changes of title: Mississippi Herald and Natchez Gazette, 1806-7; Natchez Gazette, 1808; Washington Republican, 1813-16; Washington Republican & Natchez Intelligencer, 1816; State Gazette, 1818; Mississippi Republican, 1818–20; State Gazette, 1821-25; Mississippi Republican, 1822-23; Natchez Newspaper and Public Advertiser, 1826; Mississippi Statesman, 1827; Mississippi Statesman and Natchez Gazette, 1827; The Natchez Gazette, 1828.1

1 For this memorandum of Col. Marschalk's files the author is indebted to Thomas M. Owen, now of Washington, D. C., who made the same from a personal examination of the files in 1892. Mr. Owen adds: "In regard to Mr. Marschalk, you can say certainly that he was born in New York State, and that he died in 1839, and is buried in the city of Natchez. His wife was Susan McDonald, born in Scotland. The son to whom you refer as editing a paper in 1859 was Andrew Marschalk, Jr. The old original press of Col. Mar

1802, October 16 (est.)--The Constitutional Conservator,
at Natchez, by John Wade.

Printed on a folio sheet 193x23 inches, four pages, four columns to a
page. The arrangement of heading, etc., is shown herewith from the only
copy known:

The Constitutional Conservator.

: Vol. I.

By John Wade.

No. 27

"But yet I say, if imputation and strong circumstance which lead
directly to the door of truth, will give you satisfaction, you

Five Dollars

per Annum]

shall have it." Shakespeare.

Natchez, Saturday, April 16, 1803.

[Three Dollars
in Advance.

1804, September 1 (est.)—The Mississippi Messenger, at
Natchez, by John Shaw and Timothy Terrell.

"Dr. John Shaw succeeded Terrell and Moffet. His paper was the
Halcyon, afterwards the Messenger, in which he had as associates Timothy
and Samuel Terrell, men of some means from North Carolina. Dr. Shaw
was an educated, but eccentric man; a caustic writer, whose editorials
abounded in Italics and were often written in doggerel verse."-Claiborne.
The only copy of this paper known to the writer exhibits the title, im-
print and terms as follows:

The Mississippi Messenger.

Published every Tuesday Morning, by John Shaw and Timothy Terrell.
(Vol. III.)
Natchez, Tuesday, June 9, 1807. (Number 145.)

The Price of this Paper is Four Dollars a year, payable half yearly in advance by Sub-

schalk is now in Natchez, but in bad preservation." Mr. Owen is the only Southern gentle-
man from whom the author has been able to get any information regarding early printing
in Mississippi, and it is with peculiar pleasure that this indebtedness is here acknowledged.
He also called the author's attention to this sketch of Edward Turner, the young lawyer
who furnished copies of the laws in manuscript: "He was born in Fairfax County, Va.,
Nov. 25, 1778, and removing to Kentucky at the age of eight years, he was partly educated
at the Transylvania University. After reading law, in 1802 he went to Natchez, Miss.,
where he began the practice. Beginning his career with the post of private secretary to the
Governor, he became successively Clerk of the Territorial House of Representatives; Clerk
of the County Court of Jefferson County, Miss.; in 1803-5, he was Register of the Land Office;
in 1811 member of the Legislative House of Representatives from Warren County; and in
1815 from Adams County; in 1815-16, under Legislative appointment he prepared a Digest
of the Statutes of the Mississippi Territory; was a member of the Mississippi Constitu-
tional Convention, 1817; in 1820, Attorney General; in 1822 he was made Judge of the
Criminal Court at Natchez; in 1824 was elevated to the State Supreme Bench, and in 1829
he became Chief Justice; in 1834-39, he was State Chancellor; and again in 1840, he went on
the Supreme Bench. In all his career he was ever noble, and true to the trusts reposed
in him by the people."—Lynch's Bench and Bar of Mississippi, p. 84.

« AnteriorContinuar »