John Colerick

• formal_name:
• first_date: 1807
• last_date: 1808
• function: Publisher
• locales: Wheeling
• precis: Publisher of The Wheeling Repository (1807-08) with Alexander Armstrong (014).
• notes: Publisher
  Wheeling
  Publisher of The Wheeling Repository (1807-08) with Alexander Armstrong (014).
  Colerick presents a unique case in the history of Virginia's printing trade: he had been dead three years when this early Virginia newspaper was first issued. He was proprietor of the long-lived Federalist press in Washington, Pennsylvania, issuing the Western Telegraphe (1795-1811) there from 1797 to 1804, producing at least two dozen other imprints in that time as well. On his death in February 1804, Colerick left a household of sixteen people, ten of them under sixteen years of age. Hence, the family, using his well-recognized name, kept control of his printing business until 1811, when much of his estate was finally seized and sold at a marshal's sale to satisfy his creditors.
  Between 1804 and 1811, Colerick's office was operated by his last shop foreman, Alexander Armstrong, who ran the press for the equal benefit of himself and Colerick's estate. In 1806, Armstrong set up his own office in Wheeling, though the estate evidently retained a sizable (if not equal) interest in his new situation. After two years of exceptional effort maintaining both offices, Armstrong closed his less-than-profitable Wheeling press and Repository paper to return to Washington and his earlier employment. Only when Colerick's estate was taken by the courts could Armstrong finally pursue a truly independent course; by late 1811, he had removed to St. Clairsville, Ohio, where he began publishing the new Belmont Repository in December. With that, Colerick became simply a footnote in Virginia's history.
  
  
  Personal Data
  
  Died:
  Feb. 28
  1811
  Washington, Pennsylvania
  
  1800 census indicated a wife, ten children, two elderly relations, and three possible employees and/or apprentices in household.
  
  Sources: Imprints; Brigham; Norona & Shetler; Crumrine, Washington County; Federal Decennial Census, 1800; notices in Washington Reporter 1804-11; obituary in Philadelphia Evening Post, 10 March 1804.
  
• Related Bios:
  • Alexander Armstrong

This version of the Index of Virginia Printing was a gift from the estate of the site's creator, David Rawson. The content contained herein will not be updated, as it is part of the Library of Virginia's personal papers collection. For more information, please see David Rawson Index of Virginia Printing website. Accession 53067. Personal papers collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.