Gaine, Hugh

Gaine, Hugh

(1726–1807) journalist; born in Belfast, Ireland. Emigrating in 1745, he founded the New-York Mercury in 1752 and continued it for some 30 years. The paper wavered in its politics before the American Revolution. When the British occupied New York, Gaine at first removed the paper to Newark, N.J., then returned to New York and adopted a strongly pro-Tory stance. After the Revolution the paper folded.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.