Alexander Purdie (publisher)

Alexander Purdie
Born	c. 1743 Scotland
Died	1779
Occupation	printer and publisher
Known for	Colonial Williamsburg publisher[1]
Spouse(s)	Mary (unknown last name) Peachy Davenport[1]
Children	Jennet (b. 1765)[2] James Hugh Alexander William [1]

Alexander Purdie (c. 1743 – 1779) was a prominent colonial American printer, publisher, and merchant in eighteenth-century colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, US. He was born in Scotland and immigrated to the American colonies. He published a Virginia Gazette newspaper and was a Public Printer and printed the laws and legislative journals for the colonial government of Virginia. He supported the cause of the patriots for American independence and that was reflected in his newspaper. Besides having a print shop, he owned a house in downtown colonial Williamsburg from where he sold clothing and accessories.

Early life[]

Purdie is believed to have been born in Scotland by 1743; however, his exact birth date and exact place of birth are unknown. He was trained at an early age in the skills of printing in his motherland. His immigration to the American British colonies is not known for sure; however, by 1764, he had taken up residence in colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. At that time he was employed as an apprentice by the then current Williamsburg printer Joseph Royle.^[3]

Mid life[]

Purdie succeeded Royle as editor of the Virginia Gazette on his death in 1766. He went into a partnership with John Dixon, the second husband of the widow of Royce. It was called Purdie & Dixon, but in 1774 Dixon withdrew and developed a new partnership with William Hunter, the printer at Williamsburg at the time.^[4] Purdie then ran a third Virginia Gazette newspaper starting on February 7, 1775. It had the rallying cry "Always for liberty and the public good" and was published every Friday. It ran articles similar to the other two Virginia Gazette newspapers being printed in Williamsburg at the time.^[5]

Purdie became the official Virginia Public Printer in Williamsburg in 1775, an esteemed lucrative position. He was paid £600 (equivalent to £77,110 in 2019) per year and printed the laws and legislative journals for the colonial government of Virginia. He was the last of the public printers under the colonial government.^[6] He also became the postmaster in Williamsburg by October 1775.^[5]

Dwelling[]

Purdie owned a residence in colonial Williamsburg on a 0.5-acre (0.20 ha) lot. The legal description of its location is Block 9 lot 24 and is known further today as building 28A.^[2] The house was reconstructed by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation based on the original underground foundation.^[2] It is located on Duke of Gloucester Street next to the King Arm's Tavern, about a block from the Capitol.^[2] Purdie purchased the Williamsburg lot and house from the estate of Joanna McKenzie in 1767 with a Dr James Carter being the administrator. He paid "300 pounds current money of Virginia."^[2] The lot already had by 1707 "one good dwelling house thereon."^[7] Purdie lived in the house and ran a store that sold yarn goods and wearing apparel from it.^[7]

Business[]

Purdie's printing shop business was likely located in what is known today as Tarpley's Store.^[2] It is located four lots west on lot number 20 on Duke of Gloucester Street on the southeast corner at Botetourt Street.^[2]

Family[]

Purdie with his first wife Mary had at least two children.^[2] Mary died sometime in or before 1772. He then sold off the remains of her women's hats business after her death – at or below cost according to his advertisements of July and August 1772.^[2] Purdie then married Peachy Devenport in December of that year.^[2]

Later life and death[]

Purdie suffered from dropsy in his later years and died at Williamsburg in 1779.^[5]

Political[]

Purdie favored the American revolutionary patriots’ cause and his Virginia Gazette newspaper articles reflected that voice. In the time period of the American Revolution, he changed his front page design title several times to show his support for the cause of the patriots. At first the top banner read, "Thirteen United Colonies" and "United we stand, divided we fall." Then afterwards an image of a coiled snake was on the masthead with the motto "Don’t tread on me" displaced front and center. It was subtitled "High Heaven to Gracious Ends directs the Storm!"^[8]

Legacy[]

Purdie's Virginia Gazette was the first American newspaper to publish the complete full text of the United States Declaration of Independence, which was printed on July 26, 1776.^[9] The text begins in the first column with the Declaration of Independence introduction: When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.^[10][11]

The film The Colonial Printer shows Purdie's activities in Williamsburg. It is an reenactment of a young apprentice named Peter Thompson, who was being trained by Purdie for the printer trade. The time being represented is the spring of 1775. The dramatization shows the boy returning late at night from a delivery of books and his attention is attracted by sounds coming from the magazine storehouse for ammunition for the colony’s defense. He discovers the royal governor’s marines under leadership of lord Dunmore taking the Colonists’ gunpowder from the storage building and informs Purdie who printed the story. It proved that his courage to publish the news provoked the citizens of the thirteen colonies, because within a few days came the first battle between the Lexington minutemen and British troops and the war for independence had started.^[12]

Works[]

Purdie printed the last Journal of the House of Burgesses in 1775 and the Journal of the House of Delegates from 1776 to 1778. He printed the proceeding and ordinances of the Virginia Convention of 1775 and 1776 and the Virginia Constitution of 1776. Below are examples of works attributed to Purdie as the printer.^[13]

• 

  At a convention of delegates for the counties and corporations...1775

• 

  An Inquiry into the Rights of the British Colonies
  by Richard Bland 1776

• 

  Declaration of Independence
  Virginia Gazette
  July 26, 1776

• 

  An act for raising volunteers to join the Grand Army
  1777

• 

  Articles of confederation and perpetual union between the states...1777

See also[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alexander Purdie.

• William Hunter (publisher)
• Joseph Royle
• William Parks (publisher)
• David Hall (publisher)
• John Holt (publisher)

Footnotes[]

Bibliography[]

• Bryson, William Hamilton (2000). Virginia Law Books: Essays and Bibliographies. American Philosophical Society. ISBN 978-0-87169-239-9.

• Lee, James Melvin (1917). History of American Journalism. Houghton Mifflin Company. p. 51.

• Library of Congress (1970). The National union catalog. Mansell. ISBN 978-0-72010-848-4.

• Tyler, Lyon Gardiner (1907). Williamsburg: The Old Colonial Capital. Whittet & Shepperson. p. 236.