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Mary Katherine Goddard

1738-1816

Printer, publisher, and patriot who in 1775 became postmaster of Baltimore; she was probably the first woman to hold such a position in America.

In January 1777 she issued the first printed copy of the Declaration of Independence to include the signers' names and continued on as postmaster until 1789.

In September 1789, Samuel Osgood the new postmaster general appointed John White of Baltimore to replace Goddard. She appealed directly to President George Washington to intercede on her behalf. Washington refused to interfere and she unsuccessfully pressed her appealed for reinstatement and for payment of a claim against the United States in both the Senate and House of Representatives. From 1790 to her death she operated a bookstore in Baltimore.

On January 18, 1777, while the Declaration was still in Baltimore, Congress, bolstered by military successes at Trenton and Princeton, ordered the second official printing of the document. The July 4 printing had included only the names of John Hancock and Charles Thomson, and even though the first printing had been promptly circulated to the states, the names of subsequent signers were kept secret for a time because of fear of British reprisals. By its order of January 18, however, Congress required that "an authentic copy of the Declaration of Independency, with the names of the members of Congress subscribing to the same, be sent to each of the United States, and that they be desired to have the same put upon record." The "authentic copy" was duly printed, complete with signers' names, by Mary Katherine Goddard in Baltimore. -- National Park Service Text

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Mary Katherine Goddard
Mary Katherine Goddard (1736-1816). Image: caption
follows [Philadelphia 1813.] Drawn by William ...

Mary Katherine Goddard and Freedom of the Press
Our Urban Heritage . . . by Christopher T. George Mary Katherine
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Mary Katherine Goddard
... Mary Katherine Goddard. (1738-1816). ... Mary Katherine Goddard died in Baltimore,
Maryland on August 12, 1816. Contributed by Danuta Bois, 1999. ...

Mary Katherine Goddard
[Waypages]. Mary Katherine Goddard. Interested in Mary Katherine Goddard?
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Washington to Mary Katherine Goddard, 6 January1790
GW Reply to Mary Katherine Goddard New York, 6 January,
1790 Intro | Appeal | Reply | Facsimile ...

Goddard, Mary Katherine
... Goddard, Mary Katherine. (1738-1816), printer and
publisher Born on June 16, 1738, in either ...

First Federal Congress: Petitioning the Federal Government
... Petition of Mary Katherine Goddard Petition of Mary Katherine Goddard,
January 29, 1790 (Courtesy of the National Archives), ...

Patriots in Petticoats WebQuest
... Sybil Ludington, Molly Pitcher, Abigail Adams, Martha Washington.
Deborah Sampson, Nancy Hart, Mary Katherine Goddard. ...

Research Projects: US Communications History
... Rhode Island: Providence. 1757-1768. Sarah Updike Goddard & Mary Katherine Goddard
Son of Sarah Updike Goddard, William Goddard started up Providence's first ...

Maryland State Archives, Special Collections, Maryland ...
... 1775; M[ary] K[atherine] Goddard, May 10, 1775; William and Mary Katherine Goddard,
January 2, 1784; William Goddard, January 6, 1784; Goddard and Langworthy ...

Dock of the Bay
... Mary Katherine Goddard (1738-1816) of Kent County A printer, editor and newspaper
publisher at the Maryland Journal, Mary Katherine Goddard achieved a string ...

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1738-1816

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