North-Carolina Gazette

The North-Carolina Gazette was the first newspaper published in North Carolina, then the Province of North-Carolina. It originally published from 1751 to about 1759, and was revived as the name of subsequent papers both related and unrelated to original publisher through the end of the 18th century.

North-Carolina Gazette
NOth Carolina Gazette, Friday, April 15, 1757
TypeWeekly
PublisherJames Davis (1751-1783?), Robert Keith (1783?-84), Francois Xavier Martin (1786-98)
Founded1751
Ceased publicationAbout 1759, and revived multiple times through about 1798
HeadquartersNew Bern, North Carolina

History

The Gazette was published by James Davis (1721–85) in New Bern, North Carolina. Based on the earliest still existing copy, it is believed to have first been published on August 9, 1751, styled as the NOth Carolina Gazette. Davis came from Virginia in 1749 to start a printing press, as the colonial Assembly could not publish laws without a printer.[1][2] Previously, the lack of a paper for the colony meant residents had to rely on the Virginia Gazette (founded 1736) for news and advertising. It is believed likely that Davis trained under William Parks, who published the Virginia Gazette, but it is not certain.[3]

The Gazette ran mostly international news, and little local news. It was intended to be a weekly but its publication is believed to have been less regular, with occasional gaps in publishing, until the venture folded around 1759, or perhaps until 1761. The end date is not certain, as a very limited number of issues of the newspaper have been preserved. The latest issue that is still extant dates from October 18, 1759.[3][4][5]

Second Gazette

After working on publishing a newspaper for four years under another name in the 1760s, The North-Carolina Magazine; Or Universal Intelligencer, Davis restarted the North-Carolina Gazette on May 27, 1768, restarting at "volume 1". However, the Great Chesapeake Bay Hurricane in September 1769 wrecked his shop and stopped publication for some time. A letter to colonial governor William Tryon about the storm reported the damage: "Mr. Davis’s House [is] a mere Wreck, his printing Office broke to Pieces, his Papers destroyed and Types buried in the Sands." Davis and his family had to forage the beach to recover his type.[6][7]

Paper shortages, and Davis' son Thomas being drafted into army during the American Revolutionary War caused further stoppages, and the paper ceased publication altogether in 1778.

Later Gazettes

Davis once again revived the Gazette on August 28, 1783, in conjunction with his son Thomas, and Robert Keith of Pennsylvania. It did not last very long, but published for at least a year. Keith took control of the paper as the elder Davis' health failed, and expanded the paper's name to North Carolina Gazette; or Impartial Intellgencer and Weekly General Advertiser.

Francois Xavier Martin published a final iteration of the North Carolina Gazette (or Martin's North Carolina Gazette) which published from about 1786 to 1798.[8][9]

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References
  1. Thornton, Mary Linsday. Public Printing in North Carolina, 1749-1815, North Carolina Historial Review, Vol. 21, no. 3 (July 1944): 181-202, at 183.
  2. Graham, Nicholas (26 August 2004). August 1751: North Carolina’s First Newspaper, North Carolina Miscellany (UNC Chapel Hill libraries), Retrieved 1 February 2019
  3. Elliott, Robert N., Jr. James Davis and the Beginning of the Newspaper in North Carolina, North Carolina Historical Review, Vol. 42, no. 1 (Winter 1965): 1-20.
  4. Corbitt, D.L. Historial Notes: The North Carolina Gazette, North Carolina Historical Review, Vol. 2, No. 1 (January, 1925), pp. 83-86 (this brief 1925 article discusses recently found issues of the Gazette dating back to 1751, which advanced prior research suggesting the paper was not started until 1755. That conclusion had been based on the fact that April 15, 1757 issue is "Number 103", and if the paper had published weekly without gaps, 1755 would be when it had started)
  5. Reavis, Scott Aaron. James Davis: North Carolina's First Printer (Master's paper, UNC Chapel Hill, July 2000)
  6. Hand, Bill (31 July 2016). Awash in a hurricane’s wrath in 1769, New Bern Sun Journal
  7. Powell, William S., ed. The correspondence of William Tryon and other selected papers, Volume II, 1768-1818, pp. 362-63 (1981)
  8. Powell, William S. Encyclopedia of North Carolina (2006)
  9. (9 August 2014). State’s First Newspaper Issued in New Bern, 1751, NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources
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