Arunah Shepherdson Abell

Arunah Shepherdson Abell
Born August 10, 1806[1]
East Providence, Rhode Island, United States
Died April 19, 1888 (aged 81)[1]
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.
Occupation Newspaper publisher, philanthropist
Known for Founder of the "The Sun" of Baltimore and the "Philadelphia Public Ledger"
Children 3 sons

Arunah Shepherdson Abell (August 10, 1806 – April 19, 1888)[1] was an American publisher and philanthropist. Born in East Providence, Rhode Island, Abell learned the newspaper business as an apprentice at the "Providence Patriot". After stints with newspapers in New York City and Boston, he co-founded the Philadelphia Public Ledger and later founded the "The Sun" of Baltimore on his own. Abell and later his heirs would continue as publisher of "The Sun" until 1910. He is noted as an innovator publisher in the newspaper business, especially in his use of a pony express from New Orleans, being the first news publisher to make use of the telegraph to transmit news from the first Mexican-American War and a President's speech before the Congress in Washington, D.C., and his use of the new rotary/cylinder printing press invented by Richard March Hoe.

Biography

Abell was born in East Providence, Rhode Island on August 10, 1806. After leaving school at the age of 14, he worked as a clerk in a retail business specializing in West Indian wares, before he became an apprentice at the "Providence Patriot" in 1822.[1][2] He then served as a journeyman printer in Boston and New York City.[3] In New York, he met two other young newspapermen, Azariah H. Simmons and William M. Swain, (1809-1868). Together, they decided to go into business themselves and establish a penny paper.[2] At the time, the majority of newspapers were associated with a political party or with business interests.[4] For example, the newspaper that Abell had worked on in Baltimore was associated with the Democratic Party, and Abell had even been offered a political appointment as a result of his work for it.[2] Penny papers were a relatively new phenomenon at the time. Originating in England, they provided an opportunity for the working class to afford newspapers, since the papers that had existed previously were expensive.[4] New York had a number of penny papers, so Abell, Simmons, and Swain founded their paper in Philadelphia instead, opening the Public Ledger in 1836.[1][2][3] Within 2 years, the Ledger absorbed its nearest rival, the Philadelphia Transcript.[1] Under Abell, the Ledger would remain a working-class paper; however, it would concentrate on the sensationalist stories and scandals.[1]

The following year, Abell convinced his partners to back him financially in the establishment of a penny paper in Baltimore, which at the time had a number of papers that cost a more expensive six-penny rate. They agreed with the understanding that he would personally oversee the new venture.[2] His first four-page tabloid-sized issue of the Sun was published on May 17, 1837.[5] While it was an independent newspaper, the Sun leaned towards the ideals of Jacksonian democracy that were championed by Andrew Jackson. Reflecting those ideals, each issue used the phrase 'Light for All' as its motto.[6] The newspaper quickly became a success; within a year it had double the circulation (12,000)[1] of its closest competitor. Abell's personal life also reached a milestone in 1838, when he married a widow named Mary Fox Campbell.[2] By 1850, business was good enough that Abell was able to commission a new cast iron building for the paper, designed by architect James Bogardus.[4] Throughout the 19th century, Baltimore had a number of newspapers. Many of them were overtly partisan, such as the pro-Republican Baltimore American. Abell's Sun, however, despite its origins as a penny paper, had by the late 19th century developed into the newspaper of Baltimore's upper class.[6] By 1864, Abell was sole proprietor of the Sun and had sold his share in the Public Ledger.[2]

Abell was a trend-setter in several areas of publishing. In his efforts to get news as quickly as possible, he made use of pony express, coaches, trains, ships, and even carrier pigeons.[4] He established a new pony express route from New Orleans, in conjunction with the publishers of the New Orleans Daily Picayune, during the Mexican-American War. Using this advancement, he was able to learn of the US victory at Veracruz, Mexico before Washington, D.C.; he then sent work to the president.[1] He was the first newspaperman to use telegraphy to transmit news when he used it to transmit the President John Tyler's message of May 11, 1846, and was the first to buy a Hoe cylinder press.[1][2][3] The carrier pigeons were part of a network that Abell established with another newspaper publisher in New York, and were able to carry messages between that city, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., and from incoming ships. This network was ended when telegraphy became more widely available. Foreign news arrived in Abell's newsroom by a convoluted route. Arriving in Halifax, Nova Scotia by ship from Europe, it traveled overland by pony to Annapolis Royal, N.S., by steamship to Portland, Maine, and then by rail to Baltimore. This journey of nearly one thousand miles took just over two days. In latter years, Abell was a supporter of telegraph pioneer Samuel Morse[1] and helped finance telegraph lines into Baltimore.[2]

Abell successfully ran the Sun and saw circulation numbers increase with 30,000 subscribers by the start of the civil war.[1] He remained owner of the Sun until his death,[1] and his three sons retained control of it until 1910.[3] It left family control as a result of a financial restructuring of the A.S. Abell company.[6]

Legacy and recognition

The Sun continues to be a prominent Baltimore newspaper. As founder of the paper, Abell himself has at times been the target of posthumous criticism by opponents of the paper, as when state Senator Henry Herbert Balch denounced Abell during a filibuster of legislation authorizing the construction of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in 1949.[6] Abell is memorialized in the name of Baltimore's Abell building, built by architect George Frederick, which as of 2009 houses apartments.[7] During World War II, one of the Liberty ships was named the S.S. Arunah S. Abell in his honor.[8]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 1.11 1.12 Hoiberg, Dale H., ed. (2010). "Abell, A(runah) S(hepardson)". Encyclopedia Britannica. I: A-ak Bayes (15th ed.). Chicago, IL: Encyclopedia Britannica Inc. p. 26. ISBN 978-1-59339-837-8.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Hall, Clayton Colman, ed. (1912). Baltimore, Its History and People, Vol. 2. Lewis Historical Publishing Company.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Van Doren, Charles and Robert McKendry, ed., Webster's American Biographies. (Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 1984) p. 5
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Gayle, Margot; Gayle, Carol (1998). Cast-iron architecture in America: the significance of James Bogardus. W.W. Norton and Company. ISBN 0-393-73015-8.
  5. ↑ "About the Baltimore Sun". Retrieved 2009-10-08.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Brugger, Robert J. (1988). Maryland: A Middle Temperament. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-3399-1.
  7. ↑ "Engineer's Guide to Baltimore: Abell Building". Retrieved 2009-10-08.
  8. ↑ "Liberty Ships, Master List of Names: A". Archived from the original on 21 October 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-08.

External links