At age 15, Louis Roy (1771-1799) began his printing apprenticeship with William Brown, owner of the Quebec Gazette. He continued working there, likely as a journeyman printer, when Brown’s nephew Samuel Neilson inherited the business.

Quebec Printer Louis Roy

Louis Roy was working in Montreal when the new Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, John Graves Simcoe, hired him to set up a newspaper in Newark (Niagara-on-the-Lake). His employment agreement that included a good monthly salary and a supplement for living expenses began October 1, 1792.

With supplies and a second-hand wooden screw press purchased from his former employer, Roy organized the new printing shop, and filled printing orders by January 1793. One of his first jobs was an eight-page brochure with Simcoe’s speech made at the opening of the first session of the Upper Canada legislature.