- March 6, 1809, 217 years ago — Death of Thomas Heyward Jr..
- March 6, 1724, 302 years ago — Birth of Henry Laurens, President of the Continental Congress.
- March 7, 1707, 319 years ago — Birth of Stephen Hopkins, signer of the Declaration of Independence.
- March 7, 1699, 327 years ago — Birth of Susanna Boylston Adams, mother of John Adams.
Ann Smith Franklin
FRANKLIN, Ann Smith, printer, born in Boston, Mass., in 1696; died in Newport, R.I., in 1763.
She was the wife of James Franklin, brother of Benjamin Franklin, and after his death in 1735 she carried on his printing business in Newport. She was the first woman in America to edit and publish a newspaper, and for many years conducted the “Newport Mercury.”
She was also printer to the colony of Rhode Island, and issued many pamphlets, almanacs, and official documents. Her work was widely respected for its accuracy and quality, and she played a pioneering role in American journalism and printing.
Ann Smith Franklin is remembered as one of the earliest female printers in the colonies and a trailblazer for women in the press.
Source:
Wilson, James Grant, and John Fiske, eds. Appleton’s Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1887. Patriot Echoes Archive
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