Elizabeth Timothy.......America's First Female Newspaper Editor and Publisher

 

97 King Street, Timothy Printing Shop

     In 1731, Louis Timothee, his wife Elizabeth and their four children - ranging in age from one to six -  arrived in Philadelphia from Rotterdam as members of a group of French Huguenot immigrants. The family settled in Philadelphia where Louis advertised in Benjamin Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette seeking work as a French tutor. Franklin evidently was impressed with the young man and taught him what he could of the newspaper and printing business. Timothee soon anglicized his name and became Lewis Timothy. 

     Benjamin Franklin had sent a young man named Thomas Whitmarsh to Charleston to set up a newspaper there called The South Carolina Gazette. Unfortunately, Whitmarsh died after being in Charleston only two years and the position became available for Lewis Timothy. Lewis and Elizabeth moved their family to Charleston where Lewis assumed the publication of The South Carolina Gazette in partnership with Benjamin Franklin -  and Elizabeth went about the equally challenging business of raising their growing family, now consisting of six children. 

     Just before Christmas in 1738, Lewis died suddenly in an accident. Elizabeth was expecting their seventh child any day at the time of her husband's death. No one would have blamed her if she had thrown her hands up with the overwhelming future she faced as a widow with seven children under the age of thirteen --- but that was not Elizabeth's way. Not an issue of The South Carolina Gazette was missed. Elizabeth Timothy took over the operation of the newspaper and the print shop  - becoming the first female newspaper editor and printer in America. Adding to her loss, two of her children died in the fall following her husband's death. Yet, Elizabeth Timothy upheld her husband's contract with Benjamin Franklin -- even being (according to Franklin, himself) a far better business person than her husband had been! She trained her thirteen year old son, Peter, to take over the business and actually published the paper in his name.

    Elizabeth Timothy ran the newspaper and was the official printer for the colony until her son, Peter, turned twenty-one -- at which time she turned The South Carolina Gazette over to him -- even though his name had appeared as editor since the death of his father.

    Peter Timothy was quite politically active and was an advocate for freedom before the Revolutionary War. He was a well-respected journalist in his own right. Sadly, he was lost at sea in 1782. Following the tradition set before her, his widow, Ann, continued publication of the newspaper -- eventually turning The South Carolina Gazette over to their son Benjamin Franklin Timothy.

     Elizabeth Timothy played a critical role in the development of the colony and the yearning of a people for freedom. In 1973, Elizabeth Timothy was inducted into the South Carolina Press Association Hall of Fame and into the Business Hall of Fame in 2000.