Sarah Updike Goddard
American printer and newspaper publisher
Sarah Goddard
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Born |
Sarah Updike
circa 1701
Coscumcussoc,
Narragansett
,
Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
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Died |
1770 (aged
68
–
69)
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Nationality | English |
Occupation | Printer |
Known for | Printing the first newspaper in Providence, the Providence Gazette and Country Journal |
Notable work | Providence Gazette and Country Journal |
Sarah Updike Goddard ( c. 1701 — January 5, 1770) was an early American printer , as well as a co-founder and publisher of the Providence Gazette and Country Journal , the first newspaper founded in Providence, Rhode Island . She worked closely with her son William and daughter Mary Katherine , who both also became printers and publishers, forming one of the earliest influential publishing dynasties in the American colonies . [1]
Early years and education
Sarah Updike was born at Cocumscussuc, Rhode Island , just north of the village of Wickford , where her parents, Lodowick Updike (anglicized from Opdyck) [1] and Abigail (Newton) Updike, had inherited Smith's Castle , the original site of Roger Williams ' trading post. [2] [3] [4] Sarah was one of six children; her brother Daniel would go on to serve as attorney general of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations . [2] [3]
She was well educated, studying French and Latin in addition to more usual subjects. [1] [2]
Career
In 1735, she married Giles Goddard, a well-to-do physician, and they settled in New London, Connecticut . [1] [3] Giles Goddard was also the postmaster in New London, and when he fell ill in 1755, Sarah served as postmaster in his place. [5] Both of their surviving children — Mary Katherine and William — became involved in the printing and publishing businesses. [2] [3]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a9/1762_Providence_Gazette_and_Country_Journal_RI_Nov20.png/220px-1762_Providence_Gazette_and_Country_Journal_RI_Nov20.png)
Sometime after Giles's death in 1757, Sarah moved to Providence, Rhode Island , where in 1762 she financed her son William to set up Providence's first print shop and an associated weekly newspaper, the Providence Gazette and Country Journal . [2] [5] Both Sarah and her daughter Mary Katherine worked in the shop and developed into accomplished printers alongside head printer John Carter, who had apprenticed with Benjamin Franklin . [2] [6]
In 1765, due to a lack of subscribers, William suspended publication of the Providence Gazette and moved away. [2] Sarah took over management of the print shop with the help of Mary Katherine and issued broadsides and pamphlets as well as the annual West's Almanack under the imprint "S. & W. Goddard". In 1766, she revived the Providence Gazette with "Sarah Goddard & Company" as the publisher. [2] [5] That same year, she printed the first American edition of the letters of the essayist and poet Lady Mary Wortley Montagu . [2] She added a bookstore and bindery to her operation before selling the business in 1768 to John Carter. [2] [7]
Goddard and Mary Katherine then moved to Philadelphia, where William had launched a new paper, the Pennsylvania Chronicle and Universal Advertiser . This paper had run into trouble due to William's erratic management and many absences. [5] Goddard took over management of the paper and provided financial support, which allowed the Chronicle to survive. [2] [5] However, she died within a year of the move, leaving her daughter as the paper's manager. [2] [5]
A contemporary obituary praised Goddard for her "uncommon attainments in literature" and her "sensible and edifying conversation". [2]
In 1998, Goddard was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame . [7]
References
- 1 2 3 4 Anderson, George Parker, et al. "Goddard Family". Encyclopedia of American Literature , 3rd ed. Manly, Inc., 2013.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Sarudy, Barbara Wells. "Sarah Updike Goddard (c. 1701-1770) Printer & Mother of a Spoiled Son & a Fine Daughter" . 18c American Women . Oct. 18, 2017.
- 1 2 3 4 James, Edward T., Janet Wilson James, and Paul S, Boyer, eds. Notable American Women 1607–1950 , vol. 2. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press, 1971.
- ↑ Geake, Robert A. "The Narragansett at Cocumscussoc" . RIFootprints , Aug. 19, 2014.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Fellows, Anthony. American Media History , pp. 35–36.
- ↑ "John Carter of Providence, Rhode Island : July 21, 1745-August 19, 1814, and his descendants, a brief narrative" . Archive.org; reprinted from Rhode Island Historical Society Collections. Retrieved Dec. 10, 2017.
- 1 2 "Sarah Updike Goddard" . Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame. Retrieved Dec. 10, 2017.
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