Born in 1738 in Connecticut to Sarah Updike Goddard and
Giles Goddard, Mary Katherine Goddard grew up fiercely independent with a good
business sense.
The family was living in New London, CT when her father
died. When brother William came of age, Mary’s mother Sarah financed his start
of a printing business in Providence, RI. The first one for that colony.
Since William traveled often, it was Sarah Updike Goddard
who ran the business with Mary Katherine taking a great interest in making the
company successful by working as typesetter, printer, and journalist. Around
this time, they also started to publish the Providence
Gazette and Country Journal. During this Revolutionary War period, newspapers
wielded great influence and with William away, the mother/daughter team made
their print shop a hub of activity. They diversified the business with a
bookbindery, printed almanacs, pamphlets and occasionally books.
In 1765, William left Providence for Philadelphia, where he
began another print shop and newspaper, the Philadelphia
Chronicle and Universal Advertiser. Sarah and Mary joined him there in 1768
and helped run the business. Sarah died in 1770. With William frequently in
jail because of public outbursts and rabble-rousing, that left Mary Katherine to
keep the company going.
Never staying in one place for long, William left
Philadelphia for Baltimore and started the Maryland
Journal and the Baltimore Advertiser but soon decided to set up an intercolonial
postal system in competition with the official British one.
With her mother gone and William busy with new ventures,
Mary Katherine became the publisher of the Journal
and Advertiser.
Next, in Part 2, we will see that Mary Katherine Goddard
didn’t stop there.
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