The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 35, July 1931 - April, 1932 Page: 180
348 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Southwestern Historical Quarterly
papers were begun almost simultaneously at Nacogdoches and at
San Felipe de Austin. We are here on more satisfactory ground,
for we have not only records that the publications were issued, but
a good file of the issues of one of them. Nacogdoches was a little
ahead of San Felipe de Austin, but the paper established in the
latter town became outstandingly successful, and with its origin
the printing art is generally considered to have become a fixture in
Texas.
Milton Slocum, a young printer from Massachusetts who had
recently been at work in Louisiana, came with two companions and
a press to Nacogdoches in June, 1829. During the next month
Slocum was accepted as a citizen and took the oath required of
printers not to print any seditious documents. About the fourth
of September, 1829, Slocum printed the first number of his Mexican
Advocate in Spanish and English. This information also comes
to us only through mention of this publication in other news-
papers.18 The Advocate continued for some months at least, but
the exact length of its life is not known. Slocum continued to
live at Nacogdoches and was officially listed as a printer until
1832, in which year he is described as a farmer."
Godwin Brown Cotten was the founder at San Felipe de Austin
of the Texas Gazette, begun September 25, 1829, less than a month
after Slocum's Mexican Advocate. Cotten had previously been
publisher of the Louisiana Gazette at New Orleans in 1815-1816
and from 1816 to 1819 of the Mobile Gazette at Mobile, Alabama.
San Felipe de Austin, now San Felipe, is much farther south than
Nacogdoches, being located about fifty miles west of Houston.
Cotten had arrived at Austin's colony August 10, 1829, from
Louisiana, being then thirty-eight years old. Publication of the
Texas Gazette was proposed immediately, but illness delayed Cotten
until the end of September. Punning on the publisher's name,
this newspaper was evidently dubbed by some "The Cotton Plant."
Bancroft took this seriously and so records the title of this paper.20
elude that this letter belongs to 1830 and that the reference is probably
to the Texas Gazette.
s1The Arkansas Gazette of September 23, 1829. Winkler, Quarterly of
the Texas State Historical Association, VII, 243, quotes a notice of this
paper in the St. Louis Beacon of November 14, 1829, taken from the New
York Courier of October 23, 1829.
'"Barker, Southwestern Historical Quarterly, XXI, 130.
"Bancroft, H. H., "Newspapers of Texas," in his History of the North
Mexican States and Texas (San Francisco, 1889), II, 548.180
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Periodical.
Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 35, July 1931 - April, 1932, periodical, 1932; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101092/m1/184/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.