Thomas Green

Thomas Green was the founder of the Hartford Courant, the oldest continuously-published newspaper in the United States. The Courant published its first edition, as the Connecticut Courant, on 29 October 1764.

Per the Connecticut State Library:

"Thomas was a prolific Connecticut printer, publishing or helping to publish about four hundred items in his lifetime. He helped edit and print the first newspaper in the colony, the 1755 New Haven Gazette for its owner, Parker & Company. Then, seeing opportunities in Hartford, one of the centers of Connecticut government, he moved there and started the Connecticut Courant in 1764. Though the name has changed through the years, the newspaper is still in existence as the Hartford Courant, America’s longest continuous-running newspaper. Next, he and his brother Samuel founded the Connecticut Journal in New Haven in 1767. While Thomas Green was publishing newspapers, he also published yearly almanacs, printed Connecticut laws as they were changed and issued, and did other printing jobs. Thomas Green was married three times, and by those marriages, had seven children..."

Per the Office of the Connecticut State Historian:

"... In its first issue, Green told his readers that the value of a paper such as his was that 'It is the channel which conveys the history of the present times to all parts of the world.' Centuries later, as the Hartford Courant, Green’s newspaper enjoys a daily statewide circulation and is still published in the heart of Connecticut’s capital city. A humble, four-page periodical, first published today in Connecticut history, was destined to become the longest-running continuously published newspaper in American history — a very special first issue, indeed!"

Sources

• "The Green Family: Early Connecticut Newspaper Publishers." Connecticut State Library. < link > Accessed 30 October 2021.
• Woodward, Walt. "The Nation's 'Oldest' Newspaper's Very First Issue." Today in Connecticut History, published 29 October 2021. < link > Accessed 30 October 2021.