On a Tuesday morning, the last week of August 1751, James Davis assembled freshly printed sheets of the inaugural edition of The North-Carolina Gazette in his print shop on Pollock Street. It was a significant moment for a colony already in its eighth decade. Broadly, however, the newspaper was relatively new in North America; the first, Boston’s Publick Occurrences Both Forreign and Domestick, was published in 1690. By the time the ink was drying on Davis’ first sheets, Benjamin Franklin’s The Pennsylvania Gazette was only twenty-some years old.
Davis had learned his trade under one of the best in the colonies: William Parks, printer of The Virginia Gazette at Williamsburg. At 28, Davis had been appointed North Carolina’s official printer, tasked with printing official documents and laws. Three years later, Davis launched his paper. It cost 4 shillings to subscribe; advertisements were 3 shillings for the first week, 2 every week thereafter.
The masthead announced, “the freshest Advices, Foreign and Domestic.” (By advices, Davis meant what we today call reports.) The fresh news was almost six months old in some cases. It relayed that the Methodist evangelist, George Whitefield, planned to visit the colonies in spring 1752. Whitefield had visited New Bern in 1739 and would not make a second visit until 1765. The Prince of Orange was reported dead, but Davis was skeptical of the word of two ships’ captains. Incoming vessels also carried news of a great storm lashing the Leeward Islands—it was, after all, what we recognize today as hurricane season!
Like many papers of the period, the Gazette featured an essay, likely written by the printer himself and modeled after London’s famous The Spectator. There was little local news. That would circulate among residents at taverns and other places of business. Advertisements announced newly imported goods, and rewards for the return of indentured or enslaved men and women. Samuel Johnston placed an ad for Frank, a well-spoken and intelligent man. Frank’s efforts to self-emancipate from enslavement must have been somewhat successful; seven months later, Johnston was still offering a reward for Frank’s return.
The Gazette faltered in1759. In 1764, Davis brought it back. For the most part, he had no serious competition. A paper was printed for a short time in Wilmington, but outside of New Bern, most of North Carolina’s early towns operated without print news.
by Lindy Cummings, Tryon Palace
Tryon Palace • 529 South Front Street • New Bern, NC 28562 • 252-639-3500 • www.tryonpalace.org