The University of Maine DigitalCommons@UMaine Maine Bicentennial Special Collections 1932 A History of Newspapers in the District of Maine, 1785-1820 Frederick Gardiner Fassett rJ . Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mainebicentennial Part of the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Gardiner Fassett, Frederick Jr., "A History of Newspapers in the District of Maine, 1785-1820" (1932). Maine Bicentennial. 49. https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mainebicentennial/49 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in Maine Bicentennial by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A HISTORY OF NEWSPAPERS IN THE DISTRICT OF MAINE 1785—1820 B y FREDERICK GARDINER FASSETT, JR., M.A. THE LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF MAINE ORONO, MAINE A HISTORY OF NEWSPAPERS IN THE DISTRICT OF MAINE 1785-1820 By FREDERICK GARDINER FASSETT, JR., M.A. PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS ORONO, MAINE 1932 University of Maine Studies, Second Series, No. 25 COMMITTEE ON PUBLICATIONS o f the FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES Paul Cloke (Electrical Engineering), Chairman C. A. Brautlecht (Chemistry) G. D. Chase (Latin), ex Officio Milton Ellis (English) L. T. Ibbotson (Librarian), Secretary O. S. Lutes (Education) C. H. Merchant (Agricultural Economics) Board of E ditors for T his Issue Editor in Charge Milton Ellis Assisting Editors Louis T. Ibbotson Walter R. Whitney TREATY OF PEACE SIGNED AND ARRIVED ARGUS-OFFICE, Portland, Feb. 14— 2 o’clock in the morning. At eleven o’clock last evening, an express arrived in this town, in thirteen hours from B oston, with the following letter and handbill to C apt. W illiam W ebb, &c. containing the joyful tidings of PEACE. By the favor of an esteemed friend, w e are enabled thus early to lay them before the Public. Boston, Monday morning, 10 o’clock. I hasten to communicate to the citizens of portland, the tidings of PEACE, whic h we have this moment received by Express from New Y o rk . We have no further particulars than what arc contained in the enclosed handbill— the news may be relied on. Y our’s THOMAS MOTLEY. To Capt. Wm. Webb, Innholder Portland, to be delivered to Edward or Richard Motley. I have agreed to pay the bearer of this 50 dollars, who is to deliver it at 11 o’clock this, evening— you must make up a purse to this amount. CENTINEL OFFICE, (Boston,) February 13, Eight o’clock in the morning. W e have this instant received in Thirty-two hours from N ew-York , the following GREAT and HAPPY NEWS. FOR THE PUBLIC. To Be njam in R ussell Esq. Centinel-Office, Boston. New-Y ork, Feb. 11, 1815, Saturday Evening 10 o’clock. S ir— I hasten to acquaint you, for the information of the Pub­ lic, of the arrival here this afternoon of H. Br. M. sloop of war F avorite, in which has come passenger M r. C arrol, American Mes­ senger, having in his possession A TREATY OF PEACE Between this country and Great-Britain, signed on the 26th De­ cember last. Mr. Baker also is on board, as Agent for the British Govern­ ment, the same who was formerly Charge des Affairs here. M r. C arroll, reached town at eight o’clock this evening.— H e shewed to a friend o f mine, who is acquainted with him, the pac- quet containing the T R E A T Y , and a London newspaper o f the last date of December, announcing the signing of the Treaty. It depends, however, as m y friend observed, upon the act o f the President to suspend hostilities on this side. The gentleman left London 2d January. T h e T ransit, bad sailed previously from a port on the continent. This city is in a perfect uproar of joy, shouts, ilIumination, &c. & c. I have undertaken to fend you this by express— the rider engag­ ing to deliver it by eight o’clock on Monday morning. T he expence will be 225 dollars;— If you can collect so much to indemnify me, I will thank you to do so. I am with respect, sir, your obedient servant. JONATHAN GOODHUE. We most heartily felicilate our country on this auspicious news, which may be relied on as wholly authentic. Centinel. Reduced facsimile of an extra issue of the Eastern Argus, February 14, 1815, announcing the signing of the Treaty of Peace with Great Britain. FOREWORD Few, if any, of the institutions of a state reflect its political, literary, and social standards and ideas so faithfully as does its newspaper press. Especially is this true of a state so relatively iso­ lated and so strongly individualized as Maine. Mr. Fassett’s study, prepared as his thesis for the Master’s degree in English at the University of Maine, narrates more fully and accurately than has been done previously the history of news­ papers and their editors in the District of Maine during the thirty- five years prior to its separation from Massachusetts in 1820. Though this represents only the earliest stage in a more extended design, to include eventually the entire nineteenth century, it has a unity which no subsequent period will show; and accordingly, it has seemed fitting to publish it separately in the University of Maine Studies because of its particular interest to the people of Maine. Milton Ellis Orono, October 17, 1932 PAGE Chapter I. Conditions in Post-Revolutionary Maine 15 Chapter II. Thomas B. Wait, Benjamin Titcomb, and Their Papers 29 Chapter III. Papers Growing out of the Falmouth Gazette 45 Chapter IV . Peter Edes, the Kennebeck Intelligencer, and the Bangor Weekly Register 67 Chapter V. Other Papers of the Earlier Period 85 Chapter V I. Nathaniel Willis and the Eastern Argus 107 Chapter VII. The Bartlett-Willis Case 123 Chapter V III. Francis Douglas and the Argus 141 Chapter IX. Other Papers of the Argus Era 161 Chapter X. A Survey of Journalistic Expansion 185 Chapter XI. The Press and Politics, 1785-1820 195 Appendix I. Votes for Governor in the District of Maine, by Counties, from 1794 to 1819 201 Appendix II. Documents Relating to the Bartlett-Willis Case 202 Bibliography 225 Index 231 PAGE Extra Issue of the Eastern Argus, Portland, February 14, 1815, (facsimile) Frontispiece Map of the District of Maine, Showing Distribution of Newspapers before 1820 184 Graph Showing Relation between Growth of Population and Number of Papers, in Maine and Massachusetts 190 Graph Showing Lifetime of Maine Newspapers, 1785-1820 193 INTRODUCTION This study proposes to present a conspectus of the develop­ ment of journalism in Maine from January 1, 1785, when the Fal­ mouth Gazette, the first Maine newspaper, was established, to March 15, 1820, when Maine ceased to be a District under the gov­ ernment of Massachusetts, and became a state in its own right. Such utility as a study of this sort may have, derives from the peculiar isolation of the District of Maine, the consequent homo­ geneity of any developments within its territory, and the fact that the history of newspapers offers valuable commentary upon the history of states. If the publication of a newspaper be regarded as an indication of self-consciousness on the part of the community supporting the newspaper, the journalistic history of a state will be seen to have social and sociological implications of importance. To Professor Milton Ellis, head of the department of English at the University of Maine, I am indebted both for the original suggestion of this subject and for pleasant co-operation. Acknowl­ edgment also is due the staff of the Widener Library of Harvard University, especially the attendants in the Treasure Room and Mr. John Shea; the Maine State Library; the Portland Public Library; the Maine Historical Society; the Bangor Public Library; the Archives Division of the Department of State of the Com­ monwealth of Massachusetts; the Massachusetts Historical Soci­ ety; the American Antiquarian Society; and the Hubbard Free Library at Hallowed. Mr. Louis T. Ibbotson, librarian of the Uni­ versity of Maine, has been of much help. I am also indebted to Mr. O. L. Evans of the Piscataquis Ob­ server; Mr. Frederick G. Fassett of the Boston Evening Trans­ cript; Chief Justice William R. Pattangall of the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine; Mr. Clarence S. Brigham, librarian of the Ameri­ can Antiquarian Society and bibliographer of American newspa­ pers ; Miss Abbie Eveleth, librarian of the Hubbard Free Library; Mr. Arthur B. Conner, Mr. Francis C. Lindsay, and Mr. Joseph R. Stoddard, students at the University of Maine; Mr. Frank Fender- son, clerk of courts for York County; Miss Florence C. Hooper, assistant to the clerk of courts for Cumberland County; Mr. A. Edwin Smith, city clerk of Portland; Mr. F. W. Keene of the L u- bec Herald; Miss Phyllis E. Thompson of York; Mr. Walter R. Whitney of the department of English at the University of Maine; and Miss Lois Hayden of Augusta. POST-REVOLUTIONARY MAINE The history of newspapers in the District of Maine, from 1785 to 1820, falls into three divisions, centering respectively about the activities of Thomas Baker Wait, Peter Edes, and Nathaniel W il­ lis, Jr. These men and the newspapers with which they were identi­ fied are the dominant agents in a somewhat chaotic development; a host of lesser men and lesser papers support them. Wait, be­ cause he was prime mover in the first paper, because he trained several younger men, because he was an energetic and progressive publisher, and because in partnership with his protege John Kelse Baker he led the way from Portland into the interior at Hallowell, was the pioneer.