a Member of Congress from the Cayuga District, and was for a time, I believe, Keeper of the Auburn State Prison. If I am not mistaken he is now in the Bookselling business in the City of New-York.
SENECA AND YATES COUNTIES.
It is to be regretted that a more particular and minute history of the Press of these two Counties could not have been obtained. E.J. Fowle has furnished what may be regarded more in the light of a personal history of himself, than a general one of the Press—in doing so, however, although himself a resident of Yates, he has given a mere glimpse of the early history of Printing in both these Counties.
In a letter to the Committee of Correspondence of the Franklin Festival, under date of Dec. 24, 1846, Mr. Fowle says: "I date my connection with the Press from 1816, when I commenced as an apprentice with Michael Hayes, in the office of the "Ovid Gazette." The County of Seneca had then just been cut up by the formation of Tompkins, and the Courts removed to Waterloo. The first paper ever printed in this County, the "Seneca Patriot," by George Lewis, had followed the location of the Courts. One object in starting the paper at Ovid was to get the Courts back half the time. This was accomplished after several years struggling. Lewis soon after this event sold out at Waterloo, to Hiram Leavenworth, who now, I believe, conducts the "Journal," at St. Catherines," C. W. [In 1827, when the Compositor of this entered upon his apprenticeship in the office of Wm. L. Mackenzie, at York, now Toronto, he recollects frequently to have heard the name of Mr. Leavenworth mentioned as a Journeyman having been employed in that office the year previous. That he is a good Printer and a gentleman of taste, the exceeding neatness of the paper which he continues to publish in the flourishing village of St. Catherines, affords ample proof. Unlike his old employer, it is believed Mr. L. is possessed of a goodly share of this world's goods, with which to supply the wants of the decline of life.] Mr. L. had not been long established, when, on account of some trifling misunderstanding with a few of the would-be office-holders of that day, he was invited one evening by one of the clique to a conference at the hotel, and while thus engaged, the others went into the Printing Office and stole and ran off with the Press, Types, and all, and the poor Printer returned only to find a vacant room. So much for the liberty of the Press!
"The appearance of most of the papers of those days would afford a rich treat, if copies could be found. They were generally of very small dimensions—were printed on some day during the week, the proprietors not being very particular which, and the date affording no evidence. Whenever the "boss" or the boys had been lazy or frolicking too much, a column or two of the latest news in Great Primer or Double Pica, was set up by way of helping along. The advertisements were rendered very conspicuous by a caption in Cannon, and many of the cuts were of domestic manufacture, and would represent almost anything, 'without,' as the almanac makers used to say, 'material alteration.' "
Mr. Fowle remained in Ovid some five years—went to New-York, where he worked for Alden Spooner, and the Messrs. Harpers—returned to the West—worked for William Ray, the Poet, at Geneva, and for B. B. Drake, at Waterloo, and again for a while at Ovid. In the fall of 1823, he went to Penn Yan, and started the "Yates Republican." Previous to this time, however, A. H. Bennett had commenced the "Penn Yan Herald," the name of which he soon changed to that of "Penn Yan Democrat," and which is still continued by his son, Clement V. Bennett, and Alfred Reed. Mr. F. continued the "Yates Republican" something like twelve years, when he abandoned the Press and Types for "Dry Goods, Groceries, Crockery, and Hardware," in which business he is still engaged. The paper, under various titles and proprietors, is still continued. Since he quit it, J. A. Hadley, now of Rochester, Gilbert, of Kalamazoo, Michigan, and William Childs have had charge of it.—It is now in the hands of Rodney L. Adams; the daily called the "Telegraph," and the weekly the "Yates County Whig,"
There is also a paper published in Yates County, at Dundee, called the "Dundee Record," but I know not by whom, or how long it has been published.
TIOGA COUNTY.
The materials from which to furnish a history of the Press in this County, are meagre in the extreme. Mr. Calhoun, the Editor of the Oswego Advertiser, has supplied the only data from which any facts can be gathered in relation to it, and he complains that others, from whom he had a right to expect assistance in the matter, have failed to give him any whatever.
The "American Farmer" was established by Stephen Mack, somewhere about the year 1800. In 1815, it was purchased by Stephen B. Leonard, since Member of Congress from this District, who changed the name to the "Oswego Gazette."—Mr. Leonard conducted it 20 years, and sold out in 1835, to Shurtleff & Bull. This firm was dissolved in 1837, and the paper was carried on by J. B. Shurtleff till February, 1839, when his office with its contents was destroyed by fire. In May, the same year, the "Gazette" was again started by E. P. Marble, who continued to pub-
