Marschalk also printed the
Acts passed at the second session of the General Assembly 1803, printed
in 1804. Those Acts were all signed by William CONNER, as Speaker
of the House, John ELLIS, President of the Senate, and William C. C. CLAIBORNE,
Governor.
The Acts of the first and second sessions
of the General Assembly of the Territory of Mississippi were published
in Natchez in 1802, by D. Moffatt & Co.
Andrew Marschalk, of Dutch extraction
by both parents, was an ensign in Wayne's army during the Revolutionary
War. He entered the army during the administration of the elder President
ADAMS. Later, owing to some differences between himself and his brother
officers who were stationed at Walnut Hills, he was recalled.
Preferring, however, to remain in Mississippi, he resigned. Having
been bred a printer, he removed to Washington in Adams County, then seat
of the territorial government, and started a paper called the Republican.
The success of this paper was not satisfactory, and he removed to Natchez
and established the Gazette, which,
after undergoing many changes, became the Statesman
and Gazette, about the time of the Andrew JACKSON and John ADAMS
excitement, when it became the organ of the JACKSON party.
The Statesman
and Gazette was edited by several aspiring young politicians
of that school, the principal one of whom was John F. H. CLAIBORNE, then
a law student in the office of GRIFFITH and QUITMEN. Claiborne was
later widely known as a scholar and politician.
After the election of President JACKSON,
Mr. Marschalk removed back to Washington, where he was appointed Postmaster.
He established a paper there called the Tablet,
but it did not last long. Mr. Marschalk also served as Justice of
the Peace. He continued to reside in Washington until his death,
in 1837.
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OTHER
NEWSPAPERS
One of the earliest papers published
in Natchez was The Messenger, by Samuel
and Timothy TERRELL. They were North Carolina gentlemen of excellent
character and ability, who came to the territory shortly after its organization.
They were stanch Jeffersonian republicans, and their paper was edited with
dignity and decorum. The former of these gentlemen resided in New
Orleans in 1860.
The Mississippi
Republican was established in Natchez in 1810 by Peter ISLER.
He was a native of Pennsylvania, and a man of pure morals and honorable
character. The Republican succeeded
The
Messenger, and was the organ of what was then known as the Jeffersonian
or Republican party, headed at that time in Mississippi by such men as
Gen. Ferdinand Leigh CLAIBORNE, George POINDEXTER, Clowes MEAD, Wm. B.
SHIELDS, Chancellor CLARKE, Edward TURNER, Alexander MONTGOMERY, Judge
TURNER, and others equally prominent and influential, all deceased before
1860.
Mr. Isler conducted a very able paper,
but he was not successful, owing principally to a diseased physical constitution,
under which he almost constantly labored. After leaving Natchez,
he removed to Jackson, Hinds County, where he shortly afterward died.
Some of his descendants maintained a connection with the press in Jackson,
for a time.
.
One of the ablest men connected with
the territorial press was Dr. John SHAW, who conducted at one time a paper
called The Halcyon, and afterward wrote
extensively for the papers of TERRELL and ISLER. His style was rough,
rasping, and vigorous, and his powers of ridicule and satire were of the
very highest order. He was also a poet of the Hudibrastic school,
and was famous for epigrams and pasquinades. He belonged to the Jeffersonian
party, and, for the reasons mentioned, was greatly dreaded by his adversaries.
SHAW lived at Natchez, and afterward
at Greenville, in Jefferson County, once a gay, refined, and very thriving
village, but entirely extinct well before 1860. Dr. SHAW was for
a long time a member of the territorial legislature, and was also a member
of the convention which framed the constitution of the State of Mississippi.
He died during the session of that body, in 1817.
.
The Statesman
was established in Natchez by the Jackson Committee, and was first published
by a Mr. DOYLE, an Irish gentleman of education, but its business affairs
were badly conducted, and it was united with The Gazette, MARSCHALK's paper.
.
The Southern
Galaxy was established at Natchez, by Cyrus GRIFFIN. He
was a Northern gentleman, and a brilliant, caustic, and satirical writer.
He was an ADAMS man. at one time he was connected with The
Vicksburg Wig. He died in 1837.
.
The Ariel was started in Natchez
in 1825 by James K. COOK.
The Ariel
was considered to have been one of the best papers ever published in Mississippi.
COOK was born in Adams County under the Spanish government. He inherited
a large estate, which he spent improvidently. Afterward, he turned
editor, and his paper became the organ of the ADAMS party. The paper
obtained a large well-deserved circulation. The publication was an
interesting sheet, full of readable articles and news items, with the matter
well arranged. Mr. COOK was not a polished writer, but always sensible
and well-informed.
After the lapse of a few years, COOK
changed the name of his paper to The Natchez.
Soon after, he retired from the press, and subsequently removed to Brooklyn
where he died. It is said that the only contributions to the press
of the North, from his pen, were in defense of the traduced institutions
of the South.
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