On James Franklin's death (his 38th birthday), Ann took over the print shop as 'Widow Franklin,' becoming the first woman to operate a press and print a newspaper in New England.
James Franklin died on February 4, 1735 — coincidentally his own thirty-eighth birthday — leaving Ann a widow with young children and a print shop to manage. Rather than abandon the family trade, Ann made the determined decision to continue the business herself, operating under the imprint "Widow Franklin."
This decision marked a historic first: Ann became the first woman in New England to actually operate a printing press and produce a newspaper. While Elizabeth Glover had owned the first printing press in colonial New England back in 1638, she never personally operated it, delegating the work to hired printers. Ann, by contrast, took direct control of typesetting, press operation, and business management — a remarkable achievement in a trade almost universally restricted to men.
Running a print shop required not only physical labor — inking type, operating the heavy wooden press, and binding materials — but also literacy, business acumen, and the ability to navigate a male-dominated commercial world. Ann had to negotiate with government officials, secure printing contracts, manage apprentices (including training her own children in the trade), and maintain the shop's reputation for quality and reliability.
Her success in this transition set a precedent for women's participation in the American printing trade and directly enabled her later achievements, including her appointment as official printer to the Rhode Island colony and her eventual role as the first female newspaper editor in America.