Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 56, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 March 1912 — HAD PAPER IN 1604 [ARTICLE]

HAD PAPER IN 1604

Was Published Earlier Than Boston News Letter. i . Periodical, In Manuscript Form, Called "Master William,” Issued 300 Years Ago by French St. Croix Island, Me. New York. —An Industrious digger into the depths of the past has brought to light the interesting fact that America’s first newspaper was published a full century earlier than the date commonly ascribed. If it was not a newspaper In the later acceptance of the term it was at least a periodical, prepared and published with more or less regularity for the eager perusal of the little community which It served. In short it was on St Croix Island, a few miles below the present city of Calais; that the Master William was published during the winter of 160405 by the members of the French expedition under DeMonts and Champlain, who were seeking to establish there the capital of the vast and vague empire claimed by France in America. They were the first Europeans to pass a winter on these northern shores of the new world Bince the days of the legendary Northmen centuries before; and at that time they were the only Europeans In America north of the Spaniards In Florida. Samuel Champlain himself, later the founder of Quebec and the father of New France, was the chronicler of the expedition, and In his vivid story of that winter on St. Croix Island he makes express mention of the Maater -WUliam. the significance, .of which appears to have been overlooked by historians generally. He relates that the paper was prepared from time to time “by the bright spirits of the party" to while away the tedium of the long and severe winter. It was passed around In written, not printed, form; but among a few score men, all deadhead subscribers, that was a wholly satisfactory method of publication.

Christmas day, 1604, was celebrated by tho colony with special zest —it was the first Christmas observance, by the way, in what is now New England—and after the religious exercises of the morning and before the feasting and drinking and general merrymaking became too boisterous a special Christmas issue of the Master William was read to the company by the editors. So early did the Idea of the “extra” and the "holiday number” take root In American Journalism? It is a great pity that tbe chronicler did not Include a copy of the Master William In his record, or something more about It than the bare mention of Its occasional appearance. It was not until 1704, a full century later, that the Boston News Letter was established, commonly spoken of as the first newspaper in America, and continuing for fifteen years to be the

only one. An attempt tyas made to publish a newspaper in Boston in 1690, but only one issue was put forth. It was called Public Occurrences, and the watchful authorities promptly snuffed It but “for uttering reflection of a very high order.” How successfully have most newspapers of later years steered clear of any such danger! But we are wandering far from the enterprising young adventurers of SL Croix Island and their newspaper of 1604. Their effort was a small one and tbe results - were transient; but there Is a certain sentiment which attaches to first things, and in historical matters A certain Importance also. The Master William deserves its rescue from oblivion, and should not again be neglected when the story of the feeble beginning of new world journalism Is told. But what an opportunity was missed by the publishers of the Calais Times or the Eastport Sentinel when they failed to take the name of the pioneer sheet and to put forth the claim of being its direct successor.