GREEN, BARTHOLOMEW, printer; b. 1699 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, son of Bartholomew Green, printer of the Boston News-Letter, and Maria (Mary) Mather; m. Hannah Hammond, 19 Nov. 1724, by whom he had five children; d. 29 Oct. 1751 at Halifax, Nova Scotia.
After serving his apprenticeship with his father, Bartholomew Green set up for himself in 1725. From then until 1751 he printed occasionally on his own and sometimes with other printers, including his brother-in-law, John Draper, and John Bushell. Green printed the Boston Gazette from 1725 or 1726 until 1732. The quality of the work done by one firm with which he was associated, that of Bushell, Allen and Green, seems to have been high. Isaiah Thomas, in The history of printing in America, remarked that “they used handsome types, and printed on good paper.”
In February 1744/45 Green was commissioned a second lieutenant in the train of artillery to be sent to Louisbourg, Île Royale (Cape Breton Island), in the expedition commanded by William Pepperrell. According to Green, “a disposition to Serve His Majesty and [my] Native Country . . . put [me] out of good Business,” which he could not regain. In 1748 he therefore petitioned the General Court of Massachusetts to take his case under consideration and appoint him doorkeeper of the General Court.
In 1751 Green moved to Halifax, arriving there in September aboard the sloop Endeavor. He proceeded to erect on Grafton St (north of Duke St) the first printing office in what is now Canada, but died sometime in October. In the meantime he may have issued a prospectus concerning the publication of a newspaper, which was actually initiated by John Bushell as the Halifax Gazette. Green had two sons who were printers, but apparently they never went to Halifax.
“Mass. Archives,” LXXIII, 294. St Paul’s Church (Halifax), Burial records, p.67 (mfm in PANS). PRO, CSP, Col., 1730, 388. Checklist of Boston newspapers, 1704–1780, and bibliography (Col. Soc. Mass. Pubs., IX, Boston, 1907), 447–48. New Eng. Hist. and Geneal. Register, XIV (1860), 376. Marie Tremaine, A bibliography of Canadian imprints, 1751–1800 (Toronto, 1952), 661. H. A. Hill and G. F. Bigelow, An historical catalogue of the Old South Church, Boston (Boston, 1883), 348–49. The memorial history of Boston, including Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 1630–1880, ed. Justin Winsor (4v., Boston, 1880–81), II, 392, 400. Isaiah Thomas, The history of printing in America (2nd ed., 2v., Albany, 1874), I, 121.
Cite This Article
Donald F. Chard, “GREEN, BARTHOLOMEW,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 3, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed September 4, 2024, https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/green_bartholomew_3E.html.
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| Permalink: | https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/green_bartholomew_3E.html |
| Author of Article: | Donald F. Chard |
| Title of Article: | GREEN, BARTHOLOMEW |
| Publication Name: | Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 3 |
| Publisher: | University of Toronto/Université Laval |
| Year of publication: | 1974 |
| Year of revision: | 1974 |
| Access Date: | September 4, 2024 |