Journalistic Roots

Although the actual anniversary was back in April, the Register-Star chose today to recall that 2015 marks 230 years from the founding of the newspaper, which traces its roots back to Hudson's first newspaper, the Hudson Weekly Gazette, first published by Ashbel Stoddard and Charles B. Webster in April 1785. The history of the paper, from the Hudson Weekly Gazette to the publication that now exists, is recounted by Roger Hannigan Gilson in today's Register-Star: "Celebrating 230 years in print."     

Gilson makes the point that the Register-Star is the second oldest newspaper in the country still in print. The oldest surviving newspaper is the Connecticut Courant, originally called the Hartford Courant. Interestingly, both Stoddard and Webster apprenticed at the Hartford Courant before joining forces to create Hudson's first newspaper.

A few years ago, the portraits attributed to Ammi Phillips of Ashbel Stoddard (shown above) and his wife, Patience Bolles Stoddard, were came up for auction at Stair Galleries. At that time, Walter Ritchie wrote a biography of Stoddard and his life in Hudson, which can still be read at the Stair Galleries website: "Ammi Phillips in Hudson, New York: The Portraits of Ashbel and Patience Bolles Stoddard, c. 1812-1813."
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