The Man Who Set Type at 71: William Lloyd Garrison’s Snohomish Surprise
In a rare moment of local celebrity, the famous abolitionist visited his old printing shop in Washington Territory to celebrate his semi-centennial anniversary as an apprentice.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
On Friday morning last, an elderly gentleman entered our office and said it was his birthday. He was 71 years old. Fifty years ago, on the 10th of December, 1825, he had attained his majority and finished his apprenticeship in this office, having served seven years and two months. He wished to celebrate the anniversary by setting up a piece where he had learned the mystery of printing, and to see if his hand had come to its running.
A case and stick were accordingly furnished him, and the copy he selected himself: "My Psalm," by Whittier. The gentleman proved that his rapid and correct composition in fact no error could be discovered in his work. His name is tolerably well known in the world. It is William Lloyd Garrison.
In the little when Mr. Garrison was the oldest apprentice in the office, Joseph B. Morse was the foreman, and while the matter was being set Mr. Morse came in and met his old fellow worker celebrating his semi-centennial. William Lloyd Garrison is a native of Newburyport, Mass., and was educated in its common schools.
It is easy to forget that Snohomish was once a hub for national literary figures, not just timber and fish. The presence of William Lloyd Garrison—the most famous abolitionist in American history—working as an apprentice in this very town fifty years prior adds a layer of profound historical weight to the quiet frontier life described in the rest of the paper.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.