Wake Wednesday 250 - Getting the News in pre-Revolutionary Times

Imagine living in a time when it took months to know what was happening in your own "little corner of the world" as well as the Colonies at large. North Carolina did not have a dedicated newspaper until 1751. The first local newspaper, the North Carolina Gazette, was published in New Bern roughly weekly. 

Imagine going through the chaotic times leading up to the Revolution with no timely account of the world, local or global. Colonists of NC had to wait weeks and sometimes months for updates from England and other colonies. Not knowing the events was difficult, but not seening the rising tide of dissent had to be disconcerting as well. 

Events such as the French and Indian War and the Native raids against the western NC settlements that we talked about earlier took a toll on the general morale of the colonists. The punative decrees and regulations yet to come against the colonists as a result of their resistance to the King and his agents added a further layer of divisiveness. 

I imagine some folks were content to be far removed from the news cycle, slow as it may have been. Others went to great pains to keep up with current events.

So, how was a colonist to stay informed in a time without 24 hour news channels and friends feeding them news via social media? 

In the earliest days of the colonies, news dissemination consisted of mail, newspapers and broadsides carried by travellers along colonial roads and dispersed and discussed at taverns, churches and courthouses, the local gathering spots of their day. This was exactly how the colonists got their news at this time. North Carolina colonists relied most heavily on papers from Virginia and South Carolina. They also were keen to hear news from merchants and travelers, and letters from other regions.

Here are two articles from the Virginia Gazette during this early colonial period, dated 1755. This is the era of Fort Dobbs and early attempts to make a lasting treaty between the British colonies and the Cherokee. This predates the later Cherokee raids in the area near Fort Dobbs and the Proclamation of 1763 that limited the western boundary of the British colony to the crest of the Appalachian mountains.


Both articles are available to read in their entireity online. The first, dated September 5, 1755, summarized the British and French attempted claims of the Indian territory. The second describes an treaty struck between the British and the Cherokee. It is dated September 19, 1755, just two weeks later. 

Excerpts are here. The full articles are available at the links below.

excerpt from Virginia Gazette, 5 Sept, 1755
news of treaty talks between British and Cherokee Indians
Read full article via this link

Here is a  transcript of the text in the September 5 article that has been updated to remove the "long s" for easier reading:

"The Cherokees have not, like some other Indian Nations or Tribes, wandered and moved from Place to Place, but inhabited the Lands where they still dwell long before the Discovery of America. They have no Tradition, that they came originally from any other Country, but affirm, that their Ancestors came out of the Ground where they now live. It is a Tract about 150 Miles in length, extremely mountainous, but abounding with rich and fertile Valleys. These Mountains render the interior Parts of the Country, called the Middle Settlements, secure from Enemies, being naturally impregnable; but the out Towns, and all the over Hills Towns, lie open and exposed to the French and their Indians, against whom the Cherokees are the best Barrier of this Province; for which Reason, and because they are of themselves a numerous and powerful People, and very near our back Settlements, it has always been the Policy of this Government, to cultivate a good Understanding and Friendship with them; perhaps we have done it the more assiduously, as the French have been incredibly eager of late Years to get some Footing and secure an Interest amongst them.

But though the Tract inhabited by them be no more than 150 Miles in Length, yet the Lands that are their undoubted Property, are of a prodigious Extent; they reach from our back Settlements quite to the Mississippi, on both Sides of Tennessee River, that is, from East to West 800 Miles: Tennessee River, called by Pere Charlevoix Riviere des Cheraquis, has its Source amongst their Mountains, and most of the over Hills Towns are built upon its Banks, after it leaves Toquo, the westernmost of the Cherokee Towns, it directs its Course to the Mississippi, running all the Way, for 600 Miles, through one of the finest Countries in America, which is their hunting Ground, and to no Part of which any other Nation ever pretended any Right or Claim..."

- AI transcription by Google Gemini 3

excerpt from Virginia Gazette, 19 Sept, 1755
Summarizes boundary dispute between British and French over India lands
Read full article via this link

Here is a  transcript of the text in the September 19 article that has been updated to remove the "long s" for easier reading:

"May 22. While the Nation is in Doubt whether we are to have Peace or War, and uncertain how the Differences about Limits in North-America may be settled, we are glad to find the Amsterdam Gazette giving us a glimmering Light into this Affair, in a Paragraph of News dated from Paris, April 28, which runs thus,

'It is judged here that the Pretensions of the English are too vast. To say nothing of the Extent they would give to the Limits of Acadia or Nova-Scotia, they maintain that the Ohio, or the fine River, belongs to them, because the Source of it is in the Lands of their Allies, the Iroquois. The French might likewise say it belongs to them, because it falls into the Mississippi, which runs through their Dominion. But one Reason which they (the French) take to be decisive in their Favor, is, that they discovered that River, and were the first that settled on it. This Discovery and Priority of Settlement are the Titles of their Possession; and no other Titles have the Europeans in America. Moreover, the Appalachian Mountains are, and must always be, the natural Boundaries of the English Possessions. But the Virginians have passed those Boundaries in erecting Forts towards the Ohio; and we do not see that our Canadians have gone beyond them in building Duquesne Fort, in Order to hinder their Rivals from proceeding further.' "

The article continues beyond shown here:

"— In the Utrecht Gazette of the same Date, we find a Paragraph to the same Purpose, only with some immaterial Variation in the Style; from whence we presume they have been inserted by Order or Desire of the French Ministry, to prepossess the World in Favor of their Claims...

Now, in Answer to this French State of the Case, we are to observe, That the six Indian Nations, named Iroquois by the French, are Subjects and Allies of Great-Britain, and have been so declared in the Treaty of Utrecht.

The five original confederated Nations are the Senekas, Cayugas, Onondagas, Oneedas, and Mohocks. The Tuscaroras, Missasagos, and other Tribes, are since incorporated with them. Therefore as all the Land South of St. Lawrence River is the original Property of the five Nations, with their Allies and Tributaries, the French can have no Shadow of Pretence to any Part of this Country; and their Settlement about Champlain Lake is mere Depredation, contrary to our Title, which is entirely derived from Agreement and Purchase.

By public Indian Treaties our Right is far beyond the great Lakes (i.e. the Lakes called Superior, Huron, and Michigan) and South-West to the Chikasas Nation by the Branches of the Mississippi..."

- AI transcription by Google Gemini 3

Do click though to read the articles. They are fascinating. 



Visit Wake County Genealogical Society's Website - Homepage | WCGS Events | Join WCGS | Publications | Wake Cemetery Survey Images | Society Surnames | Digital Resources | History Resources | More Links and Resources |  Donate | Contact - info(at)wakecogen(dot)org