It’s in the blood : Print Type

She was the first woman in America to become a newspaper publisher and also the first woman to hold a franchise in America.

In 1731 Franklin signed his first business agreement with Thomas Whitmarsh who opened a printing shop in South Carolina.

Whitmarsh died two years later and Franklin appointed his journeyman Lewis Timothee to run the shop.

Timothee died soon after, his son was underage and unable to run the business so his wife Elizabeth Timothee took over.

During the time the Founding Father Ben Franklin was in the printing business he had two female franchisees, the second one was his sister-in-law, Ann Smith Franklin who went into partnership with him in 1762.

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Franklin expanded his business by initially identifying cities with no printers or with room for competition then he offered the site to an employee who had shown good work ethic.

Franklin’s  network of printers grew to be the largest and most powerful in colonial America stretching from New England to the West Indies.

Franklin had a key role in training printers that would play an important part in the fight for independence.

Early life

Timothy (maiden name Elizabeth Villin or Elisabet Vilain) was born in Amsterdam on June 30, 1702.

She received her formal schooling in the Netherlands, which included accounting.

( To this day we still have a large number of accountants in our family.)

She married Lewis Timothy (French: “Louys Timothee” or “Louis Timothee”) in July 1724;her marriage application says she was then 22 years old.

Little is known of Elizabeth Timothy’s origins and early life. Benjamin Franklin described her as “born and bred in Holland.”

She was married to Louis Timothée, a French-born immigrant from Rotterdam. Together with their four young children, the couple sailed to Philadelphia in 1731.

Louis worked as a French instructor and soon after established an association with Franklin, who helped him become a journeyman printer for the Pennsylvania Gazette.

In November 1733 Franklin established Louis in a six-year business partnership as the new printer of the South-Carolina Gazette.

Timothée did revive the South-Carolina Gazette, the colony’s first permanent newspaper.

The early issues of the Gazette listed Louis Timothée as the publisher, but he soon anglicized his name to “Lewis Timothy.”

The following year, his wife & children joined him in Charles Town, where they became members of St. Philip’s Anglican Church.

Timothée also helped organize a subscription postal system originating at his printing office &, in 1736, obtained a land grant of 600 acres & a town lot in Charles Town.

But 2 years later, Lewis Timothy died  in December 1738. Without missing an issue, his widow continued publication of the Gazette in the name of her eldest son, Peter, who was then about 13 years old.

A year remained on the contract with Franklin.

Because of her son’s youth, Elizabeth Timothy assumed control of the printing operation. The publisher, however, was listed as Peter Timothy to comply with the contract.

She asked the paper’s readers “to continue their Favors and good Offices to this poor afflicted Widow and six small children and another hourly expected.”

As official printer for the province, Elizabeth Timothy printed acts & other proceedings for the Assembly.

In addition to the Gazette, she printed books, pamphlets, tracts, & other publications. The colophon “Peter Timothy” appeared after each.

However, she made most of the decisions in the operation of the business.

In addition to the newspaper, at least 20 imprints were issued during the years (1739-45) of Elizabeth Timothy’s connection with the printing business.

According to Benjamin Franklin, the widow was far superior to her husband in the operation of the business.

In his autobiography, Franklin described Timothy as.

“a man of learning, & honest but ignorant in matters of account; & tho’ he sometimes made me remittances, I could get no account from him, nor any satisfactory state of our partnership while he lived.”

On the other hand, Franklin found that Elizabeth Timothy

“continu’d to account with the greatest Regularity & Exactitude every Quarter afterwards; & manag’d the Business with such Success that she not only brought up reputably a Family of Children, but at the Expiration of the Term was able to purchase of me the Printing House & establish her Son in it.”

According to the arrangement between her husband and Franklin, Elizabeth’s eldest son, Peter, was to carry on the business in the event of his father’s death.

But because of Peter’s youth, she assumed control of the printing office as well as responsibility for her family.

The newly widowed Elizabeth published the next issue of the Gazette on January 4, 1739, pledging “to make it as entertaining and correct as may be reasonably expected.”

By the end of the year, she bought out Franklin’s interest in the partnership and became the first woman in the American colonies to own and publish a newspaper.

Franklin praised her regular and exact accounting and commended her for both raising a family and purchasing the printing operation from him.

Elizabeth gradually relinquished control of printing operations when Peter came of age in 1746.

Requests for payment from the South Carolina Commons House of Assembly from 1740 to 1743 in Elizabeth’s name show her reliance on the revenues as public printer.

In addition to publishing the Gazette and colonial laws, she sold legal blanks, broadsides, and stationery and established a bookstore adjacent to her son’s printing office.

While Louis prepared the first issue of his Charleston newspaper, Elizabeth settled family business in Philadelphia before moving her family to South Carolina in March 1734. The family became established members of low country society.

The name Louis was anglicized to “Lewis” and Timothée became “Timothy,” and the family was registered at St. Philip’s Church.

By 1736 Lewis Timothy prospered as a landholder and printer, serving as the official colonial printer for South Carolina.

When Peter Timothy turned 21 in 1746, he assumed operation of the Gazette, & his mother opened a book & stationery store next door to the printing office on King Street.

She not only carried books, but also stationery and writing supplies such as ink, powder, and quills. She also carried tallow, beer, and flour.

She also offered bills of lading, mortgages, bills of sale, and writs Gazette ad published in October 1746, she announced the availability of books such as pocket Bibles, spellers, and primers.

She also sold the books Reflections on Courtship and Marriage, Armstrong’s Poem on Health, The Westminster Confession of Faith, Watts’ Psalms and Hymns, and Franklin’s works including Poor Richard’s Almanack.n a Gazette ad published in October 1746, she announced the availability of books such as pocket Bibles, spellers, primers, & titled books .

Timothy ran her bookstore and stationery shop for about a year and then decided to leave Charleston. Prior to leaving, Timothy advertised in the South-Carolina Gazette she planned to leave the province & asked that anyone who owed money to her or to her husband’s estate settle their debts within 3 months.

It is unclear when she left Charles Town or where she made her new home. But by 1756, she had returned to Charles Town: & on April 2, 1757, she wrote her will & died within a month.

Her son Peter Timothy (c.1725-1782) continued to publish the South-Carolina Gazette, and gained distinction as one of the leading American printers of his generation, & was prominent in South Carolina’s Revolutionary movement.

In 1776, Peter Timothy of Charleston printed this copy of the Declaration of Independence and brought the news of independence to South Carolina.

In doing so, he risked his life.

Elizabeth Timothy, had with the aid of Peter,also  increased the quality of the newspaper over the long term, according to the readers of the South-Carolina Gazette.

Her newspaper was broad-based with not only local news, but colonial news from Boston, Newport, and Philadelphia.

She even printed European news from London, Paris, and Constantinople. An important part of her newspaper, that many of her readers looked forward to, was the advertisements.

They offered local commodity goods as well as books and stationery supplies. Many times she dedicated at least a full page of her four-page newspaper to advertising.

not only sent me as clear a state as she could find of the transactions past, but continued to account with the greatest regularity and exactness every quarter afterwards, and managed the business with such success, that she not only brought up reputably a family of children, but, at the expiration of the term, was able to purchase of me the printing-house, and establish her son in it.

Historian Isaiah Thomas remarked that her good business sense could be attributed to the high level of education she had acquired in the Netherlands.

Timothy was also the postmaster for Charles Towne, South Carolina, delivering letters, packages, and newspapers.

Personal life and legacy

Timothy belonged to the Charles Towne Library Society, her son Peter being one of the founders.

She and her family were members of St. Philip’s Anglican Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

Historians record that Timothy’s husband was accidentally killed in December 1738.

Timothy was pregnant with her seventh child (third American) in 1739, but the child was premature and died.

She also lost two sons in 1739 to yellow fever.

At the time of Timothy’s death in 1757 she was survived by her son Peter, who had married Ann Donovan, and by her three daughters:

Mary Elizabeth, married to Abraham Bowquin; Catherine, married to Theodore Trezevant; and Louisa, married to James Richards.

Timothy was inducted into the South Carolina Press Association Hall of Fame in 1973,and into the South Carolina Business Hall of Fame in 2000.

A plaque is on the bay near Vendue Range in Charleston describing her role in journalism.

Timothy was the first known female in American journalism, according to historian A.S. Sallev.

The fact that Timothy took over her husband’s business of publishing the South-Carolina Gazette newspaper from a franchisee agreement he had with Franklin made her the first female franchisee in America as well.

Her daughter in law , Ann Timothy (c1727-1792), printer & newspaper publisher, was born Ann Donavan, probably in Charleston, S.C.

At St. Phillip’s Church in Charleston, on Dec. 8, 1745, she married Peter Timothy (1725-1782), who about this time became publisher of the South Carolina Gazette, the colony’s first permanent newspaper, earlier published by his father, Lewis Timothy, & his mother, Elizabeth.

 Franklin reprinted many of Timothy’s articles, as did the Gentlemen’s Magazine in England.

The South Carolina Gazette was published in this house at 106 Broad Street in Charleston.

Ann Timothy was the 2nd woman in South Carolina & the 2nd in her family to become the publisher of a newspaper.

In addition to publishing the Gazette, she obtained the post of “Printer to the State,” which she held, apparently, from 1785 until her death.

At least 15 imprints were issued under her name from 1783 to 1792.

One of the first seals of South Carolina appeared on March 28, 1785, in the nameplate of the State Gazette of South Carolina, a Charleston newspaper.

The paper was published by Ann Timothy, the official state’s printer.

Ann Timothy died in Charleston in 1792, at the age of 65.

At the time of her death, her living children were Sarah (unmarried), Robert, Elizabeth Anne (Mrs. Peter Valton), Frances Claudia (Mrs. Benjamin Lewis Merchant), & Benjamin Franklin Timothy.

Benjamin Timothy inherited the Gazette & published it, until his retirement from the printing business in 1802, at which time the 69-year-old South Carolina printing & newspaper family dynasty came to an end.

The sitter was born in 1746 in Charleston, South Carolina, the daughter of Peter and Anna Donavan Timothy.

She married Peter Valton in 1767, with whom she had two children; after Valton’s death, she married the planter William Williamson in 1785, the approximate date of her miniature, which could very well have been painted as a betrothal portrait.

Benbridge was Charleston’s finest portraitist, in both miniature and oil on canvas, and this portrait is indicative of his finest work.

The Williamsons are said to have sold their South Carolina properties soon after their marriage and moved to England.

source : our family history book, called The Trezevant Family in the United States: From the Date of the Arrival

by John Timothee Trezevant