Bradford put up a log print-shop and on April 11,,1787, brought out the first number of The Kentucke Gazette. The delay in bringing out this paper was due to the difficulty in getting the press, type, and paper from Philadelphia. This equipment had to come by wagon over the post-road to Pittsburgh, and then by flatboat down the Ohio to Maysville, and then "by nag" over the trail recently blazed to Lexington.
In the first number, Bradford issued this apology for the appearance of his paper:—
My customers will excuse this, my first publication, as I am much hurried to get an impression by the time appointed. A great part of the types fell into pi in the carriage of them from Limestone to this office, and my partner, which is the only assistant I have, through an indisposition of the body, has been incapable of rendering the smallest assistance for ten days past.
The partner mentioned in the quotation just given was Bradford's brother, Fielding.
The initial number of The Kentucke Gazette was a single sheet, two pages (10 × 19½), three columns to the page. Fielding Bradford retired with the issue of June 7, 1788, and from that time its publisher until 1802 was John Bradford. The peculiar spelling of "Kentucke" was changed to the modern form, "Kentucky," on March 14, 1789. An attempt was made on January 4, 1797, to make the paper a semi-weekly, but a year later, or on January 3, 1798, it changed back to a weekly again. Daniel Bradford succeeded his father as editor and publisher of the paper on April 2, 1802. General Advertiser was added to the title at the beginning of 1803. Another attempt to make the paper a semi-weekly was made on February 19, 1806, but was not successful and a change to a weekly publication was resumed on January 3, 1807. The Kentucky Gazette and General Advertiser passed out of the control of the Bradford family on October 3, 1809, when Thomas Smith became the publisher. Smith, enlisting for service in Canada in August, 1812, turned the paper over to his brother-in-law, William W. Worseley, but still kept his own name in the imprint as publisher. A month later, however, he took in John Bickley as partner, but a little over a year later sold the paper to Fielding Bradford, Jr. It was published for
