December 9, 2024
Introduction: In this article, Katie Rebecca Merkley writes about the special Christmas messages our ancestors had printed in their local newspapers. Katie specializes in U.S. research for family history, enjoys writing and researching, and is developing curricula for teaching children genealogy.
This is the time of year when Christmas messages go viral. Your social media feed may contain brightly colored pictures in red and green of some Christmas scene and a message. Perhaps you read the message and were touched. Or the message was too long for your attention span, so you reacted to the post based on your impression of the picture.
Our ancestors did not have brightly colored digital images to scroll through. Instead, they had the newspaper printed in black and white. Pictures in the newspapers have appeared more frequently in recent times. This was our ancestors’ social media. Like modern social media, our ancestors’ newspapers hailed the Christmas season by posting Christmas messages.
I found some of these by searching in GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives. This article series will review a few Christmas messages posted in the United States in the late 18th century.
In 1785, an anonymous author published a message in a Maryland newspaper about the meaning of Christmas, focusing on the life of Christ, beginning with his birth from the Virgin Mary in very humble circumstances.
The author muses:
“Why were they sent to see their Lord, not in some glorious palace, but in a despicable manger of a common inn? It was thy will, which is the highest reason…”
The author goes on to mention the star and the wise men, the doctors whom Jesus preached to at age 12, and the miracles of healing and walking on water. He later muses that Christ dispensed his saving doctrine not through a scholar or a scribe but through a simple fisherman.
He concludes:
“Look down upon the creation, from where thou sittest in thy glory; teach us thy love, but such a love as doth fear to offend thee; teach us thy fear, but such a fear as first doth love thee; and indue us with thy grace, whilst, by thy permission, we walk on this globe, which thy blessed feet have trodden, to solemnize this the season of thy nativity; not with wanton jollities, but with songs of praise, and meditations of like comfort.”
This message was published in the newspaper two days before Christmas, just in time for heads of households to read to their families as they began their Christmas festivities. Or at least, it can be assumed that some who saw this in the newspaper chose to read it aloud to remind their families why they were celebrating Christmas.
Shortly after Christmas of 1791, an anonymous author in Boston posted a message in a column called “Moral Miscellanies.” This message focused on the grace of God.
This eloquently written article begins by mentioning “the birth of a Savior into our world” and alludes to his humble origins: “he, who was born of a virgin, who was brought forth in a stable and laid in a manger.” The article states that Christ makes all things new, and lists new heavens, new earth, new man, and new moral system. Later, the author states that if any event “is worthy to be commemorated,” it is the advent of the Savior.
The following paragraph of the article begins with “Happy for us sinful mortals”; the rest of the piece goes on about the mortal condition, why salvation from Christ is needed, and, at last, talks of the resurrection.
The message concludes with:
“Boundless as the grace, let be our praise, Salvation is born for us – born for all – For them whose ears the joyful tydings [sic] never reached – But fill most happy, blessed they, who hear and know the joyful sound, as well as share their Maker’s love, and the Redeemer’s grace.”
This writer seems like a religious person, based on the content of his message, and seems to be a skilled writer, based on his artful use of language.
The article was published on January 2nd. Those who consider New Year’s Day the end of the Christmas season might say this was published too late for Christmas. However, for those who celebrate the 12 days of Christmas, the 12th day is January 5th. Therefore, this was still published during the Christmas season.
These 18th century Christmas messages were not posted with colorful pictures like modern ones seen on social media. They were printed in the newspapers to remind our ancestors about the significance of Christmas. The next article in this series will explore a few more such messages.
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Note on the header image: “The Adoration of the Shepherds,” by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, c. 1650. Credit: Museo del Prado; Wikimedia Commons.
