September is Be Kind to Editors and Writers Month. Lone Star Publishing (no longer in business) started the event in 1984. The intent was to show respect and support to editors and writers. All kinds of editors and writers.
Let’s start the celebration with an introduction to the first female editor of a newspaper in America. Few women owned or edited newspapers before or during the 1950s. It didn’t happen in the American colonies until Elizabeth Timothy was widowed unexpectedly with six small children under her care and a seventh due any time. We know nothing about Elizabeth’s birthdate, her family, or her early life. Benjamin Franklin described her as “born and bred in Holland.” True or not, we pick up some details of her life after she arrived in America.
Philadelphia
Elizabeth married Louis Timothée (also spelled Timothy), a French-born immigrant from Rotterdam.
They, and their four children under the age of six, arrived in Philadelphia in 1731. Louis and the four children appear on the passenger list as French Huguenot immigrants from Rotterdam arriving on the ship Britannia of London in 1731. Elizabeth’s name was not on the list, but must have come with them.
In Philadelphia, Louis advertised his services as a tutor of French in Benjamin Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette. Franklin, seriously considering establishing a foreign-language newspaper for the growing German population, persuaded Louis to be the first editor of the Philadephische Zeitung. The only issues on record appeared on May 6, 1732, and June 24, 1732.
Next, Louis became librarian of Franklin’s Philadelphia Library Company, and a journeyman printer for the Pennsylvania Gazette.
South Carolina
Franklin had sent one of his Gazette printers to Charles Town (later Charleston) to establish the Carolina Gazette. Soon after the paper began regular publication, that editor died of yellow fever.
So in November 1733, Franklin established a business partnership with Louis as the new printer of the South-Carolina Gazette. Franklin furnished the press and other equipment and was to receive a third of the profits for a six-year period. Knowing that the previous printer had died, Louis arranged for his eldest son, Peter, to take over if he (Louis) died before the six years ended.
Louis moved to Charleston in 1733 and prepared the first issue of the newspaper. Meanwhile, Elizabeth settled family business affairs before moving. She and the children moved in March 1734. The family registered at St. Philip’s Church.
Early issues of the Gazette listed the publisher as Louis Timothée, but soon he anglicized his name to Lewis Timothy.
By 1736, Lewis had a land grant of 600 acres and a town lot in Charleston. Sources report that he and Elizabeth had mourned two of their children by 1737.
Lewis died in December 1738, with a year before the contract expired. Papers said his death was “accidental.” His six “small children” and his wife, Elizabeth, who was pregnant and due any day, survived him.
Widow & Publisher
At the time of his father’s death, Peter was an inexperienced apprentice and only thirteen. Therefore, Franklin agreed Elizabeth should assume control of the printing office.
On January 7, 1739, Elizabeth published the next issue of the Gazette, which included the announcement that she was editing the paper. Even though her son Peter’s name was on the masthead, that announcement made her the first woman in the American colonies to publish a newspaper.
At first, there was little local news in the paper. Its quality suffered at first, relying more heavily on foreign and domestic news exchanges. She often wrote homilies, inspirational pieces and carried essays emulating those in English journals.
Growing Success
The printing process was labor-intensive. They used cast-metal blocks. They cast each block to be a single letter of the alphabet. Then they locked the type into a form, or chase, and placed it on the press. They applied ink to the type, mechanically pressed the type onto a piece of paper, and printed one sheet at a time.
Elizabeth reprinted dramas, poetry, and literary classics and early efforts of new Southern writers. The paper was four pages in two columns (later three) and was approximately 8 by 13 inches in size.
She also printed acts and proceeding for the Assembly. Besides the Gazette, she printed books, pamphlets, tracts, and other publications. While Peter Timothy’s name appeared on those works, there is no doubt Elizabeth made most of the decisions in operating the business.
By the end of the year, she’d bought out Franklin’s interest in the paper. Franklin praised her for her regular and exact accounting and commended her for raising a family and purchasing a printing operation from him.
New Ventures
When Peter turned 21 in 1746, Elizabeth relinquished control of printing the Gazette.
In October 1746, Elizabeth had an ad in the Gazette. She announced she’d opened a book and stationery store next door to the printing office. There she sold pocket Bibles, spellers, primers, and books titled Reflections on Courtship and Marriage, Armstrong’s Poem on Health, The Westminster Confession of Faith, and Watts’ Psalms and Hymns. She also sold bills of lading, mortgages, bills of sale, writs, ink powder, and quills. She ran the shop for about a year. During that time, she advertised in the Gazette that she planned to leave the province and asked that people who owed debts to her or her husband’s estate pay those debts within three months.
It’s unknown when Elizabeth left Charles town or where she went, but by 1756 she had returned.
Death
Elizabeth signed her will on April 2, 1757. They buried her two days later at Philip’s Church. In her will, she left personal property, eight slaves, and household items to her children. She also left a Lewis’ silver watch and the printing business to Peter.
The Family Business
Elizabeth’s son, Peter, was a widely known Southern journalist of the 18th century. He continued publishing the Gazette until 1775. He published the paper again until Charles Town fell in 1780, and then the British exiled him, his family, and 28 other prominent Whigs as prisoners in St. Augustine and exiled their families in Philadelphia. Later, the British exchanged the prisoners for British prisoners and reunited with their families.
Peter investigated starting over in Antigua. However, his ship sank in a gale off the capes of Delaware. All on board drowned.
Peter’s wife, Ann, returned to Charles Town and resumed publication of her husband’s newspaper on July 16, 1783. Nine years later her son, Benjamin Franklin Timothy, Elizabeth’s grandson, succeeded her.
Legacy
Elizabeth was at the center of Charles Town’s cultural and literary life. As publisher and printer, she played a vital role in the development of Charles Town and South Carolina.
By assuming responsibility for Lewis’s newspaper, Elizabeth established a pattern in America that continued for many years. (See Andrew Bradford’s wife, Mrs. John Peter (Catherine) Zenger, and others.)
They inducted Elizabeth into the South Carolina Press Association Hall of Fame in 1973 and placed a plaque to recognize her “on the bay near Vendue Range,” where she last served as publisher of the South-Carolina Gazette.
She was inducted into the South Carolina Business Hall of Fame in 2000.
Remember and Make Your Own Path
In the 1700s, Elizabeth’s story wasn’t important enough to record because she was a woman. But it’s important we remember and recognize the women who showed and lived lives beyond the roles society defined for them. It’s important so that we and our descendants may continue to explore any role or career or interest we have now and in the future.
If you liked learning about Elizabeth, read about other women who pioneered in their fields in my Strong Women posts.
P.S. You can celebrate Be Kind to Editors and Writers Month in September and all year long by leaving reviews of books on retail or book review sites and leaving a kind word or two on social media.
References
Image Credits
Featured Image: Henry Benbridge, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Print Shop gregobc, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
