Some news cycles are lighter than others, and that was just as true 250 years ago as it is today. Of course, some 21st-century media work to a never-ending, 24/7 schedule, while the publishers of the 18th-century Maryland Gazette followed a more predictable weekly routine. Perusing the February 28, 1771 newspaper, I was happy to read that two of Governor Robert Eden’s three children had “passed through the Small-Pox by Inoculation” in a “most favourable Manner, and are now perfectly well.” That’s the sort of feel-good story we associate with a slow news cycle even now.
It’s also true that, then as now, newspaper advertisements often revel as much about a time and place as the articles themselves. So let’s look at a few colonial ads, presented with minimal commentary from yours truly.
Immediately following the inoculation story we find this ad placed by merchant Anthony Stewart, who was preparing to sell the ship Horatio at the Coffee-House on Church (now Main) Street in Annapolis.
Also for sale: an enslaved woman who “understands baking, brewing, cooking, washing, ironing, and is a good Sempstress…apply to the Printer” for details. Just below that notice: Isaac Harris makes, sells, and repairs anchors (which the purchaser of the Horatio might want to keep in mind).
Anyone in the market for a “Genteel and known good Pair of bright bay half blooded Horses” should contact Anne Catharine Green at her home and print shop on Charles Street. Walter Osburn, wheelmaker and turner, wanted his customers to know that he had moved his shop from Annapolis to Londontown, but he would be back every Tuesday and Friday at cabinetmaker William Slicer’s house.
Two plasterers and stucco-workers, John Rawlings and James Barnes, advertised their services. Gentlemen who wished to have work done on their “Cielings and Cornices” in a manner “as neat as in London” could find the two at shoemaker Charles Bryan’s house.
Michael Krips was another specialized worker in the building trades who promoted his services.A “Foreman for several Years at the Brick-making Business at Philadelphia,” Krips could be reached at James Maccubin’s plantation near Annapolis or through merchant William Coffin’s store in Annapolis. Coffin took the opportunity to append a list of items he had for sale at the bottom of Krips’s ad.
Six notices for runaway slaves or servants were published in this issue, providing descriptions of the following individuals:
“a Country born Negro Man named JACOB” who ran away from the Fort Frederick Furnace owned by Lancelot Jacques and Thomas Johnson
“a Mulatto Man Slave, who calls himself Stephen Butler,” and left Leonard Boarman’s property in Charles County
“a Negro Woman, named Kate…and a Negro Child about Three Months old” who escaped from John Tyding’s property in Anne Arundel County
“a Servant Man, named William Henry Bawden,” who ran away from Winlock Rupum and Jeremiah Carter in Dorchester County
“an indented Servant Man, passing for an Englishman, named ADAM STANTON,” who absconded from William Harbett’s place near Frederick
a Cecil County jailbreak “committed by the Name of William Johnson” but who has since “owned his Name to be Samuel Dale, and said he was a Servant to Mr. Mark [A]lexander, of Baltimore Town.”
You can read the entire February 28, 1771 issue of the Maryland Gazette starting here: https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc4800/sc4872/001281/html/m1281-1233.html
Glenn E. Campbell
HA Senior Historian
