Ann Smith Franklin facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ann Smith Franklin
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| Born |
Ann Smith
October 2, 1696 |
| Died | April 16, 1763 (aged 66) |
| Other names | "Widow Franklin" |
| Occupation | Newspaper/Almanac Printer/Publisher |
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Notable credit(s)
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America's first woman newspaper editor |
| Spouse(s) | James Franklin |
| Children | 5 |
Ann Smith Franklin (October 2, 1696 – April 16, 1763) was an American colonial newspaper printer and publisher. She inherited the business from her husband, James Franklin, brother of Benjamin Franklin. She published the Mintunt, printed an almanac series. She was the country’s first female newspaper editor, the first woman to write an almanac, and the first woman inducted into the University of Rhode Island's Journalism Hall of Fame.
Personal life
Ann Smith Franklin was married to James Franklin, a printer and the brother of Founding Father Benjamin Franklin.
They had five children including daughters Mary and Elizabeth, and son James Jr. (c.1730-1762). James Jr. attended Philadelphia Academy with his cousin William, Benjamin's son, before James Jr. was apprenticed in the printing trade to his uncle Benjamin. After a long illness, James died in Newport in 1735, leaving Ann a widow, aged 39, with three young children to support, one child having died earlier.
Career
In 1736, Ann petitioned the General Assembly of Rhode Island, seeking printing work in order to support her family. She was awarded the contract, becoming the General Assembly's official printer to the colony, a position she held until she died. In this official capacity, she printed the colony's charter granted by Charles II of England. To supplement her income, she printed sermons for ministers, advertisements for merchants, as well as popular British novels. Ann's most notable work was compiling and publishing five editions of the Rhode Island Almanack, for the years 1737-1741. In 1741, she began selling her brother-in-law Benjamin's almanac, Poor Richard's Almanac, and in 1745, she printed 500 copies of the Acts and Laws of Rhode Island as a folio edition, her largest commission.
Though a second child died young, Mary, Elizabeth and James Jr. worked in the family business. The daughters performed typesetting while James Jr. ran the business, now called "Ann and James Franklin", with his mother. During this time, however, some of Ann's imprints continued to bear the name "Widow Franklin". In 1758, they published The Newport Mercury, Rhode Island's first newspaper.
Later years
As Ann grew older, she turned over many business responsibilities to James Jr. After the deaths of her remaining children, Ann, then age 65, returned to the printing press. She took on the printer Samuel Hall, who had been her son-in-law, as her business partner in 1761, forming "Franklin & Hall". Under this imprint, they printed a folio of Rhode Island schedules.
Ann Smith Franklin died in 1763 and was buried in the Newport Common Burying Ground and Island Cemetery.
Posthumous awards
- Journalism Hall of Fame, University of Rhode Island
- Yankee Quill Award, 2008
- Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame, 1998
Partial works
- Almanacs
- Stafford, J. (1737). The Rhode-Island almanack for the year, 1738. ... Fitted to the meridian of Newport, on Rhode-Island, whose latitude north is 41 gr. 30 m. longitude from London, 72 grs. but may without sensible error, serve from New Found-land [sic] to South Carolina. Tides excepted. Newport [R.I.]: Printed and sold by the Widow Franklin, at the town school-house.
- The Rhode-Island almanack for the year, 1739 ... Fitted to the meridian of Newport, on Rhode-Island, whose latitude north is 41 gr. 30 m. longitude from London, 72 grs. But may without sensible error, serve from New-Found-Land to South Carolina. (1738). Newport [R.I.]: Printed and sold by the Widow Franklin at the town school-house.
- Franklin, A. (1739). The Rhode-Island almanack for the year, 1740.: ... Fitted to the meridian of Newport, on Rhode-Island, whose latitude north is 41 gr. 30 m. longitude from London, 72 grs. But may without sensible error, serve from New Found-land to South Carolina. Tides excepted. Newport [R.I.]: Printed and sold by the Widow Franklin, at the town school-house.
- The Rhode-Island almanack for the year, 1741. ... Fitted to the meridian of Newport, on Rhode-Island, whose latitude north is 41 gr. 30 m. longitude from London, 72 grs. But may without sensible error, serve from New Found-land to South Carolina. Tides excepted. (1740). Newport [R.I.]: Printed and sold by the Widow Franklin at the town school-house.
- General Assembly of Rhode Island
- (1744). The charter granted by His Majesty, King Charles II to the Governor and company of the English Colony of Rhode-Island and Providence-Plantations, in New-England in America. Newport: Printed by the Widow Franklin.
- Franklin, J., & Franklin, A. S. (1759). An act for vesting and distributing intestate estates. Newport, R.I.: Printed by James Franklin.
- British
- Nathan ben Saddi, Dodsley, R., & Chesterfield, P. D. S. (1741). The chronicle of the kings of England, Written in the manner of the ancient Jewish historians. London, printed: Re-printed and sold by the Widow Franklin.
- Religious
- Bowler, C., Franklin, J., & Franklin, A. S. (1758). Reflections on the conduct and principles of the Quakers in North-America. Newport, R.I.: Printed by James Franklin.
- Franklin & Hall
- (1762) Remarks on a late performance, sign'd, a freeman of the colony, in answer to a dialogue between the governor of the colony of Rhode-Island, and a freeman of the same colony.
See also
In Spanish: Ann Smith Franklin para niños
