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A History of the Maryland Press, 1777-1790
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In an article defending the so called "cruelties of the democratic party"
in awarding the position of Printer to the State to him rather than to
Jonas Green, Jehu Chandler said:
"Frederick Green, (late printer to the state,) was continued in office until the day of his death
in 1811, by the democrats, notwithstanding he was the editor of a federal paper, and one of the
most violent partizans in the federal ranks."9
Frederick Green's five sons held prominent positions in Annapolis:
Jonas helped his father with the newspaper; William was appointed
Assistant Clerk of the House of Delegates in 1808 and was soon made
Clerk of Anne Arundel County; Henry10 and Louis were employed in
the Farmer's Bank of Maryland; and James worked for his brother
William.11
Samuel Green died on January 6, 1811, and his brother Frederick died
on January 12. "Thus have two brothers, who were never separate in
life, been united in death in one short week."12 Jonas Green, grandson of
the founder of the Maryland Gazette, succeeded his father and printed the
newspaper until 1839 when he was obliged by his illness to give it up.
He died on November 1, 1845, and thus ended that long and distin-
guished line of American printers which had begun nearly two hundred
years before, when Samuel Green, in 1649, took over the press of the
first English printer in America.13
9 Maryland Republican, September 25, 1813.
10 On the basis of a letter written by Andrew Marschalk in 1837 and quoted in Proceedings of the American Antiquarian
Society, Vol. 26 (1916) pp. 84-85, mentioning a Mr. Green from Baltimore who brought a press to Natchez, Mississippi, in
1800 and printed a newspaper there for a short time, it has been suggested that the Green family of Annapolis were responsi-
ble for early printing there. The Baltimore printer mentioned was probably Henry Green who was listed in the New Balti-
more Directory for 1800 and 1801 as a printer. However, there is not enough evidence as yet to justify the belief that the
pioneer printer at Natchez was the Henry Green of Annapolis.
10 Maryland Republican, September 25, 1813.
12 Federal Gazette, January 21, 1811.
11 American & Commercial Daily Advertiser, September 7, 1845. Jonas Green's death has been usually given as in 1839
when the paper was discontinued. The Maryland Historical Society has a death warrant form printed by J. Green. It may
have been printed in 1840 because the date of execution is for the decade of the 1840's, the last digit being blank. It would
be strange indeed if the last known printing of the Green family should have been this form for a death warrant.
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