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1915
Newspapermen's Dinner: In Observance of the
One Hundredth Anniversary of the Publication of
the Initial Issue of Bangor's First Newspaper, The
Bangor Weekly Register
Peter Edes
Follow this and additional works at: http://digicom.bpl.lib.me.us/books_pubs
Recommended Citation
Edes, Peter, "Newspapermen's Dinner: In Observance of the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Publication of the Initial Issue of
Bangor's First Newspaper, The Bangor Weekly Register" (1915). Books and Publications. Book 96.
http://digicom.bpl.lib.me.us/books_pubs/96
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Newspapermen's Dinner
·'
In Observance of the One Hundredth Anniversary
of the Publication of the Initial Issue of
Bangor's First Newspaper, The
Bangor Weekly Register
by Peter Edes
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Bangor House, · Saturday, November Twenty-seventh
Nineteen hundred and fifteen
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Peter Edes and The Bangor Weekly Register
Peter Edes was born in Boston in 1756, the son of Benjamin Edes, a Uevolutionary
printer, who~e newspaper office was a resort of famous leaders of those times. His
first venture in the printing bu~iness was in the year 1789, in Hoston, when he opened
a shop. ln March 1787, be began the publication of a newspaper in Newport, U. l., the
Newport Herald. The paper, which was from the start financially unsuccessful, was
suspended i11 1791. Theu he removed to Hallowell, and published the first number of
the Kennebec lntelligeucer on November 14, 1795. The name was thrice changed, once
to the Keu nebec Gazette. aud later to .Edes' Kennebec Gazette. Finaliy it was the
Herald of Liberty. ln 1815 .Edes issued a prospectus for publishing a newspaper in
Bangor, "at tile solicitation uf several gentlemen in the county uf Hancock," and soon
after came to Baugor.
The first number of the Bangor Weekly Register iR dated Saturday, November 25,
1815. The size uf the printed page was 16%' by 10 inches, four columns to the page.
The 1rnnouncemen t by the editor was:
"The Register gives nu predilection to either political party; its columns equally
invite the well written productions and creditable statements of both. The object of
this paper is to be a faithful chronicle of the passing events and current news and not a
receptaclP of party obloquy and personal abuse. No pains will be spared to select the
mu,;t important official publication; the ablest essays or national economy, agricultural
enterprise aud mechanical ingenuity and the most judicious remarks on political
events. Its columns also will be interspersed with specimens of eloquence and of taste,
with biographical sketches, occasional memoirs, and such other compositions, moral
and literary as may subserve the cause of liberty, virtue and religion."
Two dollars was the subscription price of the Register but the editor goes on to say
that "payment will be made easy in any produce of the country."
In a letter written tu a friend later, he confessed disappointment at not receiving a
lar.ger number of subscribers, "Owing to jealousy and rivalship," he remarks, "we get
no assistance from Buckstown , Belfast or Castine, from which places we expected two
or three hundred subscribers, but have not more than seven or eight single ones. But
they say if J will remove to Buckstown they will procure six or seven hundred subscribers for me."
In tl\e issue of March 1, 1817. appears this notice: "As it is now good sleighing, it is
hoped that our country readers wil I not be unmindful of the Printer-Wheat, cheese, butter, eggs or cash will be received."
Agaiu in the number for May 27, 1817, this appeal for payment appears: "The
Printer respectfully informs his patrons that 18 months have elapsed sin~e the commencement of the Register, and agreeable to his proposals another payment has become
due. He therefore requests those who are in arrears to settle immediately as the continuance of the Register depends solely upou punctuality of payments."
'l'hese requests were apparently of no avail, and on August 2. 1817, he announced
that the plant was for sale. He later resided in Baltimore. Md. He came to Bangor
again in 1832. and died here on March 31, 1840, then 83 years of age, and probably the
oldest printer in the United States. His remains lie in Mount Hope cemetery.
~
P et er Edes: A Bi ograph•1 Wi th His Diary While a Prisoner by The British
at Boston in 17·75 ; Edited b.u Samuel Lane B oardman ani Published by
'l'h e DeBurian q. Bangor, 1901.
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THE MENU
Grapefruit
Maraschino
Chicken a l'Turque
Celery
Breads ticks
Young Turkey-Chestnut Stuffing
Whipped Potatoes
Squash
Hot Rolls
Cranberry Jelly
'Pineapple and Nut Salad
Cheese Balls
Toasted Crackers
Vanilla Ice Cream-Claret Sauce
Cake
Coffee
Mints
Cigarettes
Cigars
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THE PROGRAM
A Quarter of Century in Newspaper Work
ROBERT LINCOLN O'BRIEN, Boston Herald
1\
Reminiscences
OLIVER L. HALL, Bangor Commercial
The Paper from the Old Home Town
ARTHUR G. STAPLES, Lewiston Journal
Journalism 's Useful Yesterdays
FREDERICK G. FASSETT, Waterville Sentinel
Fellowship in the Newspaper Craft
GEORGE W. NORTON, Portland Express
Maine's School of Journalism
ROLAND P. Gray, Professor of English
University of Maine
Bangor Newspapers and Periodicals
Bangor Weekly Register
Nov. 25, 1815-Dec. 25, 1817
Bangor Un.Hy Journal
1854-1857
Bangor Register
1817-August 2, 1831
Bangor Evening Thnes
June 19, 1858-Sept. 10, 1867
Penobscot Gall:ette
1824-1827
Bangor Daily Union
1859 ( ?)
Eastern
The S1>irit Guardian
(Spiritualistic)
Republican
1827-1838
The Clarion (Literary)
1828
Jeffersonhlll Daily El·ening News
June 28, 1862-August 2, 1862
Penobscot Journal
1831-1833
Burr's Fifty Cent l\Ionthly
A 1>ril 1870 ( ?)
Bangor Courier
1833-1834
Bangor UaiJy Com111erciaI
Jan. 1 .. 1872
Ba.ngor Daily \Vhig ancl Courier
July 1, 1834-l\Iarch 2, 1900
Northern Border
1873-1877
Penobscot }'reeina.n
The Dirigo Rural
18i4
(Anti-~Iasonic)
1834-1835
Daily Con11nerciaI AclYertiser
1835-1S36
l\leclu:lnic and Far111er
Feb. 1835-Feb. 21, 1838
Eastern l\Iagazine (l\Ionthly)
1835
l\laine .i\lonthly 11\lagazine
1835 ( ?)
Peo1>Ie's Press
1836-1838
The Bangorean
1836
Bangor Journal
1837
Bangor Den1ocrnt
18'38Bangor Gazette
1842 ( ?)
The Platform
Greenback
1878 ( ?)
Greenbacker
1879 ( ?)
Record
1879 (?)
Industrial Journal
Jan. 188'0
Freeholder
1881
( ?)
l\Iessenger
1881 ( ?)
The Parlor Table
Literary, 1881-1882
Bangor Historical l\Iagazine
1881-1889
Ten1)>era.nce Advocate
1883 ( ?)
Bangor Daily Ne,vs
June 18, 1889
The
'Mascot
Bangor Daily l\lercury
1844-1854
Bangor Life (Society)
The Expositor (l\lonthly)
l\Ia.ine S1>orts1nan
18fl4-1908
Bangor Post
1849 ( ?)
Bangor Sunday Republican
Dally Bee
1849 ( ?)
l\Iaine RuraJ Life
1913
The Jeffersonian
1849-1870
Eastern De1110C'rat
1914
{
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-II
The Peter Edes Press
Destroyed in the Bangor Public Library in the Conflagration
of April 30, 1911
THE COMMITTEE OF ARRANGEMENTS
WILFRID
A.
HENNESSY
OSCAR
A.
·I
SHEPARD
]OHN
P. FLANAGAN