Mennon and MacGillivray

IMAGINING COMMUNITIES:
THE GLASGOW ADVERTISER AND THE KENTUCKY FRONTIER, 1790-1795
Melodee Beals
Loughborough University
ORCID: 0000-0002-2907-3313
@mhbeals
JOHN MENNONS
• Briefly Worked for Edinburgh Courant
• Married into a Respectable Glaswegian Family
• Printer and Newspaper Editor in Glasgow
• Sold Newspaper and Purchased Coal Field
• (Obstinately) Retained Business Records
• Coal Business Failed
• Returned to Newspaper Printing
THE GLASGOW ADVERTISER
• Founded 27 January 1783
• Weekly, 4-Page Publication
• Printed on Used Press (£200)
• Edited by Mennons and son, John
• Sold interests in 1802,
1805 Respectively
• Relied Heavily Upon London News
and Trongate Gossip
Glasgow Advertiser, 7 December 1789
Glasgow Advertiser, 18 December 1789
ALEXANDER
MACGILLIVRAY
15 December 1750 – 17 February 1793
•
•
•
•
Son of Trader Lachlan MacGillivray
Raised by Mother, Franco-Creek of High Birth
Education in Charleston and Augusta
Apprenticed as a Merchant in Savannah
• Principal Chief of Upper Creek 1782-1793
• Plantation Owner with Slaves
• Diplomat (1790, Treaty of New York)
• Repudiated Treaty with US in 1792
• Received Pensions from US and Spain
Glasgow Advertiser, 12 July 1790
Public Advertiser, 15 July 1790
Edinburgh Advertiser, 20 July 1790
Gentleman's Magazine And Historical Chronicle, July 1790
A PURPOSEFUL PATHWAY
• Very Limited Changes to Text
• All Derived from London, 9 July 1790
• Scottish Connection Unlikely
But…
Glasgow Advertiser, 22 February, 17 May and 21 June 1790
A PURPOSEFUL PATHWAY
• A Combination of Sources
• A Prominent Percentage
• An Interest Piqued?
Dated
Printed
Source
26 Dec
22 Feb
Kingston
20 Feb
17 May
London
5 May
21 June
Kingston
9 May
12 July
London
Glasgow Advertiser, 25 June 1792
London Lloyd Evening Post, 20 June 1792
Evening Mail , 22 June 1792
Glasgow Advertiser, 25 June 1792
A PURPOSEFUL
PATHWAY?
How Important was MacGillivray?
• Larger Curation of US News Not Always Taken
• 1792 was First Mention of Him in Two Years
• Rumours of His Death...
Rising Tensions in Little Turtle Wars (1785-1795)
THE HARMAR CAMPAIGN
• Northwest Territories, Autumn
1790
• Force Comprised of Regular
Officers, Calvary and Kentucky
Militia
• Hardin's in Humiliating Defeat
• Heightens Anti-Indian and
Anti-Officer Sentiment in
Kentucky
Glasgow Advertiser, 12 July 1790
Glasgow Advertiser, 21 February 1791
London Star, 17 February 1791
Evening Mail, 14 February 1791
WHENCE?
• Look for Minor Changes at Start and End:
• "dated November 5, 6, and 7" v. "dated Nov. 7"
• "expectation" v. "impatience"
• "whole truth of the matter" v. "further particulars“
Virginia Gazette and Alexandria Advertiser, 9 December 1790
WHENCE?
• Many Versions of this Story in the Atlantic
• Textual Integrity Extremely High
• Look to Para-textual Material
A Stabbing in Honduras
WHENCE
New York Daily Advertiser, 12 January 1791
New York Daily Advertiser, 14 December 1790
BASED ON CLOSE READING
Jamaican Paper
Virginia Gazette
27 November 1790
1 December 1790
New York Paper
Bahama Gazette
December / January 1791
December / January
1791
Evening Mail
London Star
14 December 1791
17 December 1791
Glasgow Advertiser
21 December 1791
EFFECTS OF THE
PATHWAY
• Advertiser Continues Reliance on London
• London supported by multiple points of entry
• London Language Shapes Glasgow Version
Yet...
Glasgow Advertiser, 18 July 1791
Norwich Packet, 14 January 1791
Gentleman's Magazine And Historical Chronicle, 1 July 1791
PRE-CURATION OF
CONTENT
• News From Many Different Sources Compiled at Every
Node
• Neither Pages nor Sections Taken Whole
• Smaller Sub-Sets Taken or Re-curated
AUTHENTICITY OF
MATERIAL
• The Advertiser Rarely Makes Any Changes
• London Newspaper Rarely Make Significant Changes
• Lazy and Laudable?
Written
1st Printed
GA Printed
Delay
7 Nov
12 Jan
21 Feb
1 ¼ Months
24 Nov
14 Jan
18 July
5 Months
THE WIDER FRONTIER
DISCOURSE
• Representative
• Taken from Ambiguous London Press
• Largely 'American' Authorship
• Outlier
• Significant Named Figures
• Attempts to 'Finish Stories'
Ratio of US Stories Related to Native Americans
250
200
150
100
50
0
1789
1790
1791
Non-Native American Stories
1792
1793
Native American Stories
1794
CONCLUSION
Tracing of Dissemination Pathways Allows for a Better
Understanding of Who was Writing, Revising, Curating,
and Omitting Knowledge about Frontier Life
Discussion of Conflict with Native Americans are
Disproportionately Represented in the Glasgow
Advertiser’s American News from 1789-1795
Mennons Taking Particular Interest in the
Frontier Warfare in Kentucky
and Ohio River Valley with Kentucky Militia