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07-04-2018 06:44 PM
This is some fascinating historical trivia for the wind-up of the glorious Fourth. Actually, they had an even more provocative title in the Time article where I discovered this-- their headline was "The Woman Who "Signed" the Declaration of Independence". A bit of a teaser, but catchy!
Her name was Mary Katherine Goddard, and her name appeared on the first copy of the Declaration meant to be archived, dated January, 1777. It proclaimed that it was "printed by Mary Katherine Goddard".
Her back story is, that she and her family were in printing and publishing, and she eventually had her own newspaper, "The Maryland Journal", where she printed articles and speeches tweaking the British over their taxation, etc. Not only that, she was printer and postmaster to the Second Continental Congress in Baltimore. It is even believed by some, that she was the first female postmaster in the U.S., according to the piece.
It makes sense that an active newspaper publisher with a scarce and precious printing press (for the era) would be called upon to print official and even rarefied and exalted documents of the newly-hatched United States, like the Declaration...
So she gets immortalized on that early, official copy along with the others. Pretty neat!
07-04-2018 06:55 PM
@Oznell Thanks for posting this. If I've ever read about her I don't remember doing so.
07-04-2018 06:57 PM
Nor have I, @Greeneyedlady21. Love stumbling on nuggets like this....
07-04-2018 06:59 PM
Thanks for sharing this interesting information - I had never heard of her.
07-04-2018 08:05 PM
I know, @cimeranrose, you'd think she'd be more well-known b/c of that. Perhaps because she is not on every single one of those first copies, but just some of them-- they kind of implied that...
KInd of makes you realize there are other, interesting figures of the past out there, lurking in the mists of history, and waiting to be widely known, perhaps!
07-04-2018 08:08 PM
And she was removed from her postmaster position because as a woman it would be too difficult for her to travel. *sigh*
07-04-2018 08:19 PM
Not only that, @Cakers3, I think I read that there were additional, murky political patronage issues resulting in professional setbacks for her-- a shame.
07-04-2018 10:42 PM
@Oznell Doubtful that was included in the tours we have taken. What a disappointment!
07-05-2018 05:48 AM
Thanks for the nugget of knowledge!!... I love History
07-05-2018 06:53 AM
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