John Campbell (editor)

John Campbell (1653, Scotland – March 4, 1728)[1] was a Boston editor. He founded the first regularly published newspaper in British America, The Boston News-Letter.

John Campbell
Born1653
Scotland 
Died4 March 1728  (aged 74–75)
Boston 
OccupationEditor

Biography

Campbell was one of a family or kin of Boston booksellers and public officials whose relationships are not determinable. He arrived in Boston some time before 1698, and in 1702 was appointed postmaster.[2] As postmaster, he was the news center of the New England provinces, and in 1703 was writing "news letters" of European news to Governor Fitz-John Winthrop of Connecticut, and perhaps to other governors, made up of information received from arriving travelers, etc., with inferences as to New England policy.

In 1704 he decided to make these news items public and for sale; and on 24 April issued the first newspaper in America, The Boston News-Letter, which he edited until 1722. It was not the first attempt at a newspaper, but it was the first to become an established concern.[2]

In 1719 he was deprived of the postmaster position. He was justice of the peace in Suffolk County for some years.

In April, 1723, he married Mary Clark, who was previously married to Ebenezer Pemberton until his death in 1717. After Campbell's death in 1728, she married a third time to Henry Lloyd of Long Island.[3]

References

Citations
  1. Weeks, Lyman Horace; Bacon, Edwin M. (1911). An Historical Digest of the Provincial Press. 1. Boston: The Society for Americana, Inc. p. 34. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  2. David M. Matteson (1929). "Campbell, John". Dictionary of American Biography. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
  3. New England Historic Genealogical Society (1892). The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. 46. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society. Retrieved 15 September 2020.

Sources
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