EARLY HISTORY OF THE CONCORD PRESS.
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��licans as they were then styled) , in the legislature of that year ; candidates for governor and for congress being then nominated in June by members of the lesislature. In the following winter Hon. Levi Woodbury of Portsmouth, then one of the Justices of the Su- perior court, was nominated for gov- ernor by an irregularly constituted as- semblage of people in attendance upon a term of court in session at Portsmouth. The Patriot sustained the nomination of the legislative convention, and came out in strong rebuke of this procedure at Portsmouth, which really was an open revolt, by so many Democrats as participated in the nomination of Judge Woodbury, against the regular nomina- tion of the party the preceding June. But the Portsmouth transaction was countenanced, if not shaped, by the Plumers of Epping, Judge Butler of Deerfield, the North-End Democrats in Concord, and other equally conspic- uous and influential politicians in . various parts of the state. Although the Federal party had been disbanded, yet thousands who were members of it naturally sympathized with any proced- ure in conflict with the Patriot, and, with nearly one accord, went into the support of Judge Woodbury, who was chosen over Gen. Dinsmoor by 4026 majority.
The Statesman of course advocated the election of Judge Woodbury : in- deed, I have supposed that when it was commenced it was undersotod that a rebellion was on foot against the nominee of the June convention. But the triumph of the North-End gentle- men was transitory, for one of the first important appointments by Governor Woodbury was that of Hon. Richard H. Ayer of Hooksett, to be sheriff of the newly formed county of Merrimack. This was a suitable selection — fitness being the standard — but one which created disappointment ; indeed, dis- pleasure throughout the ranks of those by whose votes Judge Woodbury was made governor. Mr. Ayer was broth- er-in-law of Mr. Hill, and exerted all his power to thwart the election of Gov. Woodbury, who, in fact, by this and
��other procedures, turned his back upon his supporters, and distinctly indicated to them that he should henceforth seek promotion in another quarter. He was governor only one year.
The generous promise of material aid to Mr. Roby, if he would com- mence the Statesman, having failed of fulfillment, and the chief motive for setting it on foot having been thwarted, at least for the time, and the zeal of its godfathers having become indiffer- ent to its fate, the paper commenced to languish, and would have ceased to be, but for an arrangement of which I proceed to make mention, finding it necessary to retrace my steps, and speak of another journal, which came into existence a year and four months after the birth of the Statesman.
In May, 1824, the good George Hough being still alive, though far ad- vanced in years, and without much worldly substance, was induced by his fast friends to commence a paper, which bore the name of "Concord Register." The promises to Mr. Hough were made good at the start, and he was furnished with such means that he brought out a paper surpassed in typographical appearance by no other in the state. It was of large di- mensions for those times, printed with new materials, and arranged with the good taste and care for which Mr. Hough was distinguished. The Reg- ister was, in truth, a very comely publi- cation, filled with useful and enter- taining matter, and in its editorial col- umns there was no lack of ability. These columns were nominally filled by George Kimball, Esq., who had read law, but was for a time teacher in the public schools here. He was a native of New Hampshire, but had been a resi- dent of the island of Bermuda, where he married a lady who was said to be the owner of several slaves. As the Patriot disposed of the Concord Ga- zettee by styling it " the crow paper," so it put Mr. Kimball, of the Concord Register, in a disadvantageous position by uniformly alluding to him as " the Bermuda man." Mr. Kimball was a gentleman of intelligence ; a pleasant
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