John Holt (1721—1784) was a colonial American newspaper publisher, printer, postmaster, and mayor of Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. He was involved with publishing the Connecticut Gazette, the New York Gazette, and the New-York Journal newspapers. He worked with Benjamin Franklin, the prominent publisher James Parker, and Founding Father Samuel Adams. He had a store that sold miscellaneous supplies, ink, paper, and books on a variety of subjects including religion, freemasonry, economics, history, archaeology, poetry, and biographies.
The publications Holt printed reflected his readers' struggle between the colonies and England. He openly challenged the Stamp Act of 1765, which was a direct British tax on the colonies in America for many types of papers used that included legal documents, magazines, playing cards, and newspapers. Holt was the favorite printer of the Sons of Liberty, a political organization active in the Thirteen American Colonies founded to advance the rights of the colonists and to fight taxation by the British government.
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Early life
Holt was born in 1721 (exact date unknown), at colonial Williamsburg in the colony of Virginia. He received his formal schooling and training as a merchant in the colonial town. His brother-in-law, William Hunter, the "public printer", likely taught him the printing business there.
Holt first became a store shop merchant at Duke of Gloucester street in colonial Williamsburg on lots numbers 49 and 50 in a "new store" he built about 1745, now known as "Holt's storehouse" on the northeast side of the street. William Nelson obtained a loan from Holt in 1745 and gave a mortgage to his town lots numbers 266, 267, 268 as collateral. After several loans, Nelson, eventually sold the lots to the printer publisher Joseph Royle in 1763 for the amount of 500 pounds of the then current money. Royle had a house on lots 267 and 268 at the corner of Nicholson and Botetourt Streets, known today as the "Ravenscroft Site".
Mid life
Holt became the mayor of colonial Williamsburg in November 1752 and served one term from 1752 to 1753. He was Justice of the Peace for York County, Virginia and also held other public positions from 1748 to 1754. In 1754 Holt had a negative cash flow problem at his Williamsburg storehouse, where he stocked general merchandise (i.e. groceries, dry goods, sewing items, china), so he gave that business up.
Holt played a role in the early history of the Connecticut Gazette. In 1755 Thomas Clap, President of Yale College, invited Benjamin Franklin to set up a printing press in New Haven, Connecticut. Benjamin Mecom, Clap's nephew, was to operate the press to publish the paper. Circumstances changed and Mecom declined to run the publication. Franklin then sold the materials to James Parker, a well-known printer who began the Connecticut Gazette on April 12, 1755; it was the first newspaper printed in the colony of Connecticut.
Holt went to Parker in the summer of 1755 with a recommendation letter from others about his skills. Parker gave him a job in the printing business helping publish the Connecticut Gazette. The front page appeared with the co-partnership name of "James Parker and Company" on December 13, 1755. Holt became the junior partner and resident editor conducting the printing business of the newspaper publication at New Haven. He also ran the New Haven post office at the same time. Parker spent most of his time at his printing-house in New York City, so was often away from his New Haven businesses, that Holt totally managed. While in New York, Holt took on William Goddard, printer and publisher, as a silent partner. Goddard, along with Benjamin Franklin would later establish the U.S. Post Office.
Holt then became one of the two deputy postmasters-general for the British American colonies. He worked with the Parker as a junior deputy based in New Haven, Connecticut. Holt moved to New York City in the early summer of 1760 to manage Parker's publishing of the newspaper the New-York Gazette and Weekly Post-Boy that then appeared with the imprint James Parker & Company, with Holt again being a junior partner and the Company referred to. The two also controlled the postriders from New York City to Hartford, who met the riders that carried the mail from the city of Boston.
Holt was quite concerned about the postal system and gave extensive improvement suggestions in a letter to Samuel Adams on January 29, 1776. The suggestions were based from the practical experience he gained as a deputy postmaster. Part of the letter suggested that the Continental Congress should adequately supply whatever was necessary to provide reliable postal service. Another suggestion Holt recommended was good delivery of all letters to and from soldiers on duty and that they might go free of postage. Holt in the New York Journal or General Advertiser newspaper was the first person in New York to recommend a newsdealers' system for the delivery of newspapers instead of using post riders, which was dangerous.
Personal life and death
Holt died in New York City after a lingering illness on January 30, 1784. He is buried in the churchyard of St. Paul's Chapel in New York. After Holt's death in 1784 his widow continued the Independent New-York Gazette newspaper until her death in 1788, when it passed to others and was published until March 8, 1800. Holt's widow also had a lawsuit against the State of New York for unpaid public printing done by Holt during the Revolutionary War. Holt was a member of Sons of Liberty of New York, and Burton Parish Church of colonial Williamsburg.
Family
Holt married Elizabeth Hunter, sister to the colonial Williamsburg publisher William Hunter, in 1744. According to biographer Layton Barnes Murphy they had two children:
Elizabeth Holt (b. April 19, 1746), married Eleazer Oswald (editor of Philadelphia Independent Gazette).
John Hunter Holt (b. July 1748), became publisher of the Virginia Gazette or the Norfolk Intelligencer.
Works
Major publications:
Connecticut Gazette, James Parker & Company (1755-1760)
New York Gazette and Weekly Post-Boy (1762–1766)
New York Journal or General Advertiser (1766–1782)
Independent New-York Gazette or the New York Journal Revived (1783–1784)
Printed examples of works contributed to Holt: