Ann Smith Franklin moved from Boston to Newport in 1726 when her husband James Franklin, older brother of Benjamin, relocated his printing business. Together, the two ran a successful printing shop, with James becoming the official printer for the colony of Rhode Island. After James passed away in 1735, Ann took control of the printing business and successfully petitioned the General Assembly for renewal of her husband’s contract. Widow Franklin, as she came to be known, continued to run the business while raising a family. In 1758, she partnered with her son James, and they started the Newport Mercury, a popular weekly newspaper. When James died in 1762, Ann brought on Samuel Hall as a business partner and held the contract for publishing all official state documents. When Ann passed away in 1763, Hall published the following in the Newport Mercury:
“She was a widow about 29 years—and tho’ she had little to depend on for a living, yet by her economy and industry in carrying on the printing business, supported herself and her family and brought up her children in a genteel manner, [she] would not suffer herself to be detain’d by trivial family – concerns: herein she excell’d most of her Sex.”
Newport Mercury April 25, 1763
Biography and image provided by Newport Historical Society
Built with Shorthand