"Advertisement" by Gideon Hinman (1787)

Advertisement.

THE subscriber's wak'd up, spur'd by his creditor,

He can't make remittance, his money groes scarcer,

Calls upon debtors to make him remittance,

On paying their accounts he'll give them acquittance.

He's been very patient, on some he's long waited,

For sueing was always a thing that he hated;

And was it possible, he'd wait yet some longer,

Before he wou'd drive them beyond what is honor;

But the longer he waits, the worse they will serve him,

And surely waiting, and waiting, will starve him.

His friends soon to pay him, he therefore advises,

Great is the trouble when a LAW SUIT arises.

An account, when once sued, often costs double,

Pay him some money, and save yourselves trouble;

For surely he's in great need for the want on't,

So doing you'll oblige your most humble servant,

                                        GIDEON HINMAN.

        Lansinghborough, Sept. 3, 1787.

Northern Centinel and Lansinghborough Advertiser. September 3, 1787.

The paper was first published May 21, 1787 and was the first newspaper published in Rensselaer County, making the above perhaps one of the first newspaper ad-poems for the county. The first newspaper published in the state might have been the The Poughkeepsie Journal, established 1785, so Hinman’s poem is could still be among the oldest newspaper ad-poems for even the whole state.

Gideon Hinman (1725-1809)

Lansingburgh Village Cemetery, Troy, NY

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=44869387