Mary Katherine Goddard, Forgotten Patriot

Okay, so I missed the Fourth of July by a few days, but I’m still going to celebrate by dropping some knowledge about one the American Revolution’s overlooked heroes. Her name was Mary Katherine Goddard; she was a printer, newspaper publisher, and likely first women postmaster in Colonial America. That’s neat, but what Mary’s most famous for is being first to print the Declaration of Independence with the names of the signers.

Mary was born June 16, 1738, in New London, Connecticut. When she was 24 years-old her father died, and Mary, her mother, and brother, William, re-located to Providence, Rhode Island. The family opened a print shop and published the city’s first newspaper, The Providence Gazette. Later, William moved to Philadelphia; there he managed The Pennsylvania Chronicle and Universal Advertiser. Mary and her mother came a few years after. Mary assumed control of the business after William left to found a revolutionary newspaper in Baltimore, The Maryland Journal, and Baltimore Advertiser. Selling her claim she joined her brother, again taking responsibility for the periodicals as he gathered support for his Constitutional Post, a mail service between New York and Philadelphia.