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��EARLY HISTORY OF THE CONCORD PRESS.
��companion, of amiable disposition, good at telling a story or relating an anecdote, and a writer of fair ability. But he had, like other men, his infirm- ities. He was exceedingly indolent, a great snuff taker, and fond of exhila- rating and intoxicating liquors ; and it often came to pass that when publica- tion day was at hand there was a lack of supplies for the editorial columns. Then he was wont to resort to George Kent, Esq., whose pen had been all along the chief instrument by which the Register was making its way in popular regard.
But without dwelling farther upon this portion of the topic, I proceed to say that in September, 1826, the "New Hampshire Statesman" and the "Con- cord Register" were united, the full title of each being retained- The Statesman abandoned its North-End quarters, in a building that was the abode . of the late Dr. Ezra Carter, and came down to the office of Mr. Hough, sit- uated upon ground now occupied by Phenix Block. The united paper was, however, not long printed by Mr. Hough, who had passed his seventy- fifth year ; for about the time of the consolidation here spoken of, Mr. Thomas G. Wells, who had been pub- lishing a paper entitled the " Amherst Herald," the subscription list of which, with the printing materials, were brought to Concord, — Mr. Wells having pur- chased an interest in the Statesman and Register. But being desirous of trying his fortune in a new and distant field, Mr. Wells sold his interest in the paper to Moses G. Atwood and Asa McFar- land, February, 1826, and within a few months sailed for Valpraiso.
It here comes in order to speak of the rise of another paper. In 1826, John Quincy Adams being president of the United States by a congressional, not popular, election, and a strictly mi- nority president, it was very obvious that his re-election would be sharply contested, and that Gen. Andrew Jack- son — his most formidable competitor in the election of 1824 — would be brought forward again in 1828. It was also apparent, as early as 1826, that al-
��though Mr. Adams was the choice of New England, and a favorite of a large portion of the Democratic Republicans of New Hampshire, the Patriot, never- theless, which had in 1824 sustained Wm, H. Crawford of Georgia, would support Gen. Jackson in 1828. Among the Democratic supporters of Mr. Adams was a host of influential men, found in every portion of New Hamp- shire. To name a few of those in Con- cord is to indicate the character and position of Mr. Adams' supporters in this state. Jacob B. Moore was one of these. He was associated with Mr. Hill in the Patriot up to the year 1822. Richard Bartlett, secretary of state ; Joseph Low, adjutant and in- spector general ; Samuel Sparhawk, cashier of the " Upper Bank," so called, in distinction from the Lower Bank ; Gen. Robert Davis ; and others, less prominent, but equally active politi- cians. The Statesman and Register was sustaining Mr. Adams ; , but that journal being regarded by the Adams Democrats as the representative of what remained of the Federal party, and in the interests of such men as William A. Kent, Stephen Ambrose, Abel Hutchins, Wm. Kent, Richard Bradley, Robert Ambrose, Benjamin Gale, Charles and George Hutchins, and other well-known men of Concord and elsewhere in New Hampshire, a new paper was, by the Democratic wing of the Adams party, regarded as necesssary. This desire came to ma- turity, and in September, 1826, Jacob B. Moore, then carrying on the busi- ness of bookseller and printer, com- menced "The New Hampshire Jour- nal." The first number contained an account of the frightful and melancholy occurrence in the Notch of the White Hills, August 26, known as the destruc- tion of the Willey family. This nar- rative was from the pen of Mr. Moore, who, with Richard Bartlett, were upon an excursion to the mountains at the time of the awful deluge which fell upon those hills and valleys, and themselves narrowly escaped being swept into a swollen and raging torrent.
Mr. Moore was a gentleman of un-
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