William Parks (publisher)
| William Parks | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 23, 1699 Shropshire, England |
| Died | April 1, 1750 (aged 50) |
| Resting place | Gosport, England |
| Residence |
Annapolis, Maryland Colonial Williamsburg |
| Occupation | printer |
| Known for | publisher in colonial America |
| Spouse(s) | Eleanor |
| Children | William Parks Jr. (christened March 20, 1720) Eleanor (christened July 1721) |
| Parent(s) | William Parks (Sr.) Susanna (Lowe) Parks |
William Parks (1699–1750) was a printer and journalist in England and Colonial America.
Parks was born in Shropshire, England on May 23, 1699. He was first a printer and newspaper publisher in England, where he maintained printing houses at Ludlow, Hereford and Reading. In Ludlow, Parks published the Ludlow Post-Man starting in 1719. In 1721 he moved to Hereford where he published two books. In July 1723 Parks operated a printing business in Reading, where he published The Reading Mercury with one D. Kinnier.
Parks eventually moved to America in 1726 where he started a print shop in Annapolis, Maryland. He soon became postmaster there. His print shop served as the stage coach stop in Annapolis; the Philadelphia American Weekly newspaper featured an advertisement on April 4, 1728, which mentions the stagecoach stopping in Annapolis at Parks's post office.
Parks began publishing Maryland government documents in 1726 when he published the Acts of the Assembly for the colony. In 1727 he became the first "public printer" (aka: "printer to the public") for the government of colonial Maryland, and was commissioned to print all government documents, which he did until 1737. About 1730 he began a print shop in Colonial Williamsburg on Duke of Gloucester Street "near the Capitol". Sometime shortly after 1737 he moved to the print shop familiar today as the tourist attraction on lot 48. He became the first official government "public printer" for the colony of Virginia as well. Parks was then the government "public printer" for both colonies of Maryland and Virginia. He was the "public printer" for the government of the colony of Virginia from 1730 to 1750, and as Virginia's official "public printer", published the first official collection of Virginia's laws in 1733, known as A Collection of all the Acts of Assembly, now in force, in the Colony of Virginia.
Parks founded the Maryland Gazette newspaper in 1727, which he published continuously through 1734. In the Maryland Gazette he published the poetry of Ebenezer Cook and Richard Lewis. He also published the ecclesiastical views of Reverend Jacob Henderson, the legal views of colonial lawyer Daniel Dulany and the views of other figures not very well known in the colonies at the time.
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