Benjamin Edes

Benjamin Edes (October 15, 1732 – December 11, 1803) was an early American printer, publisher, newspaper journalist and a revolutionary advocate before and during the American Revolution. He is best known, along with John Gill, as the publisher of the Boston Gazette, a colonial newspaper which sparked and financed the Boston Tea Party and was influential during the American Revolutionary War. Early life Edes was born on October 28, 1732, in Charlestown, Province of Massachusetts. He was one of seven children of Peter Edes and Esther Hall. His great-grandfather was John Edes, who was born in England, March 31. 1651, son of Rev. John Edes, rector of Lanford, Essex, and a graduate of St. John's College. He relocated to Charlestown in 1674. John was a ship carpenter and lived in Charlestown; by wife Mary Tufts, the daughter of Peter Tufts, a prominent early citizen of Medford. He had the following children: John, Edward, Mary, Peter (Benjamin's father), Jonathan and Sarah Edes. Marriage He married about 1754, at Boston, Massachusetts, Martha Starr, who was christened on June 22, 1729, at the Brattle Street Church in Boston. She was the daughter of Joseph Starr and Margaret Bulman. She was the great-great-granddaughter of Dr. Comfort Starr of Boston, a founder of Harvard College. Benjamin and Martha were the parents of ten children. Career