Ohio History Journal

ANTECEDENT EXPERIENCE OF WILLIAM

MAXWELL, OHIO'S FIRST PRINTER

BY DOUGLAS C. McMURTRIE

The facts regarding the first printing in Ohio are

well known and clearly established.    William   Maxwell

set up a printing office in Cincinnati and published the

first issue of the Centinel of the North-Western Terri-

tory on November 9, 1793.1     But where Maxwell came

from and what his previous experience was are points

of information which have never been dealt with in any

of the literature dealing with the beginnings of the press

in Ohio.

Nor am I able to give much information as to where

Maxwell originally came from, but I am able to throw

light on his printing experience immediately precedent

to the setting up of his press in Cincinnati. According

to the usual story he crossed the Alleghanies on his way

from his New Jersey home to Pittsburg, and from there

he conveyed his press down the river directly to Cincin-

nati.  Recent research for my forthcoming history of

early printing in Kentucky has revealed the fact that

1 This story has been told in the excellent article by C. B. Galbreath

in Newspapers and Periodicals in Ohio State Library, Columbus, Ohio,

1902, p. 3. See also:

Reuben Gold Thwaites, "The Ohio Valley Press before the War of

1812-1815," Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, vol. XIX,

1908-1909, p. 309, and

Douglas C. McMurtrie, "The Westward Migration of the Printing

Press in the United States, 1786-1836," Gutenberg Jahrbach, [Mainz, 1930],

p. 269-288.

(98)

100        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

Maxwell went from Pittsburgh to Lexington, Kentucky,

and set up his press there before going to Cincinnati.

Two volumes printed by Maxwell at Lexington in

1793 testify to his presence there in the early part of that

year. At least one of the two is dated January 1, 1793

and was advertised for sale in the Kentucky Gazette of

March 16, 1793. Internal evidence seems to place the

second volume at a slightly later date.

The earlier publication was A Process in the Tran-

silvania Presbytery, &c., by Adam Rankin, a prominent

and frequently dissenting Presbyterian clergyman of

Lexington. It carries the imprint: "Lexington: Printed

by Maxwell & Cooch. At the Sign of the Buffalo.

Main-Street." On the back of the title-page of this 96-

page book is the copyright date of January 1, 1793.2

The only other known product of Maxwell's press at

Lexington bears a slightly different imprint, and more

closely associates the Maxwell of Kentucky with William

Maxwell of Cincinnati. It is A Narrative of Mr. Adam

Rankin's Trial, and remarks on the same, with some ob-

servation on his vindication: and a concluding address,

to professors of the Presbyterian Denomination. Lex-

ington: Printed by W. Maxwell & Co. M,DCC,XCIII.³

There were 41 pages in this pamphlet or book. Like the

2 Copies of the Process are in the University of Chicago Library, the

Lexington Public Library, and the Library of Congress.

3 The only copy of the Narrative located is in the Presbyterian His-

torical Society in Philadelphia. The Narrative is probably the same as

number 27545 in Evans' American Bibligraphy. . This is a Narrative of

Mr. Adam Rankin's Trial, &c.  Published by order of the Transylvania

Presbytery. Lexington: Printed by J. Bradford, 1794." Evans seems to

have assumed this title from the Reply to a Narrative of Mr. Adam Ran-

kin's Trial, published at Lexington by John Bradford in 1794, ascribing

the Narrative to the same press that printed the Reply.

102     Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

earlier work, this one was concerned with the activities

and difficulties of the recalcitrant Reverend Rankin.

Of Cooch, whose name appeared with Maxwell's on

the Process, nothing is known. Even his first name is

lost. Sometime between the printing of the first and of

the second and last known products of this ephemeral

press Cooch apparently disappeared, although it is pos-

sible that he was represented by the "& Co." of the sec-

ond imprint.

Maxwell and Cooch came to Lexington as the second

printing firm in the state. In 1787 John Bradford had

established at Lexington his Kentucky Gazette, the sec-

ond paper and the second printing office west of the

Alleghanies. In 1786 John Scull and Joseph Hall had

established the first western press with the founding of

their Pittsburgh Gazette. Bradford had the Kentucky

field to himself until the arrival of Maxwell and Cooch,

and no other printer came to Kentucky until 1795 when

James H. Stewart began work in Lexington.

In Maxwell's Cincinnati salutatory he announced:

"The Printer of the Centinel of the North-Western Ter-

ritory, to the Public: Having arrived at Cincinnati, he

has applied himself to that which has been the principal

object of his removal to this country, the Publication of

a News-Paper."   From Maxwell's own statement it

seems probable that his original intention in going to

Lexington was the establishment of a newspaper. Lex-

ington in 1793 was a far more important center of activ-

ity than Cincinnati, and Maxwell doubtless believed that

he saw a splendid opportunity for establishing a paper

there. But when he arrived he found conditions none

too favorable. John Bradford had for five years been

Antecedent Experiences of William Maxwell  103

publishing the Kentucky Gazette, which he had begun

at the request of a convention working for Kentucky's

statehood. Bradford was the public printer, and he was

an influential and important man of some means. His

press was operated on property granted him free of

charge by the town of Lexington. To set up a news-

paper in competition with Bradford would have been a

hazardous business. James H. Stewart, the first to at-

tempt a rival paper, found out the dangers and even-

tually had to surrender his paper to Bradford.

Doubtless Maxwell surveyed the situation and de-

cided on discretion as the better part of valor. He pub-

lished a few minor controversial works on his press, two

of which we are able to identify today, and then decided

to retrace his steps towards the Ohio river. Cincinnati

was a new and untried town offering wide opportunities.

Maxwell went there and achieved the success he could

not find in Kentucky.