A Biographical Sketch of the Life and Character of Joseph Charless: In a Series of Letters to his Grandchildren — John Shaqi
A Biographical Sketch of the Life and Character of Joseph Charless: In a Series of Letters to his GrandchildrenCharless, Charlotte Taylor Blow
History
A Biographical Sketch of the Life and Character of Joseph Charless: In a Series of Letters to his Grandchildren
Charless, Charlotte Taylor Blow
Charless, Joseph, 1772-1834; Printing -- Missouri -- Saint Louis -- History
If you will look in your mother's Bible, you will find that your
grandfather, JOSEPH CHARLESS, was born in Lexington, Kentucky, on the
17th of January, 1804; that his father, whose name was also Joseph
Charless, was born July 16th, 1772, in Westmeath, Ireland, being the
only son of Captain Edward Charles, whose father, (or paternal
ancestor, John Charles), was born in Wales and emigrated to Ireland in
the year 1663.
Your great-grandfather, Jos. Charles, fled from his native country to
France, in consequence of his having been implicated in the Rebellion of
1795, "at the head of which figured the young and noble
Emmet, who fell a sacrifice for loving too well his enslaved country."
After remaining a short time in France, he sailed for the United States
of America, where he arrived in 1796, landing at the city of New York.
Upon his arrival in the United States he added an s to his name to
secure the Irish pronunciation of Charles, which makes it two syllables
instead of one, as pronounced by us.
He settled in Philadelphia, and being a printer by trade, he
secured a situation with Matthew Carey, "who, at that time, did the
largest publishing business in the Quaker City." He often boasted of
having printed the first quarto edition of the Bible that was ever
issued in the United States. In 1798 he married Mrs. Sarah McCloud, a
widow (with one child), whose maiden name was Jorden.
Sarah Jorden was born January 28, 1771, near Wilmington,
Delaware. During the American Revolution her parents, with their
family, were driven by the Hessians from their home in Delaware, and
resided subsequently in Philadelphia.
In the year 1800 Mr. and Mrs. Charless removed from Philadelphia
to Lexington, Kentucky; to Louisville in 1806, and to St. Louis in
1808. In July of that year Mr. Charless founded the "Missouri
Gazette," now known as the "Missouri Republican," of which he was
editor and sole proprietor for many years. This is the first newspaper
of which St. Louis can boast, and I am told it still has the largest
circulation of any paper west of the Alleghany Mountains.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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