Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Humphrey, James

HUMPHREY, James, printer, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1747; d. there, 10 Feb., 1810. After receiving a liberal education he studied medicine, but afterward learned the printing business with William Bradford, and in January, 1775, began the publication of the " Ledger, or the Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey Weekly Advertiser." He held for a time the office of clerk to the orphans' court of Philadelphia, and, when called upon to take up arms in defence of the colony, declined to do so, pleading the obligation of his oath of allegiance to the crown, which he had taken to qualify himself for this office. He came to be regarded a Tory, and his paper was denounced. In November, 1776, its publication was suspended until the British occupied the city, when, on 10 Oct., 1777, it again appeared, this time with the royal arms at its head. When the British evacuated the city, Humphrey made his exit, and, after remaining in New York for a short time, sailed for England, and thence to Nova Scotia, where he opened a printing-house and issued the "Nova Scotia Packet." This enterprise not proving a success, he sold the paper, and, after engaging in mercantile business until 1797, established a publishing-house in Philadelphia.