After her husband Lewis Timothy's sudden death, Elizabeth Timothy took over the South Carolina Gazette, becoming America's first female newspaper editor and publisher.
On 30 December 1738, Elizabeth Timothy's husband, Lewis Timothy, died unexpectedly in Charleston, South Carolina, leaving behind the printing business he operated under contract with Benjamin Franklin, including the influential South Carolina Gazette. Rather than allow the enterprise to collapse or be sold off, Elizabeth Timothy — a widow with several children and another on the way — stepped in immediately to take charge of the printing house and the newspaper.
This moment is widely regarded by historians as the point at which Elizabeth Timothy became the first woman in what would become the United States to serve as editor and publisher of a newspaper. At a time when women were legally and socially barred from most forms of business ownership and public professional life, her assumption of control over a printing operation — a trade requiring literacy, technical knowledge, and business acumen — was a remarkable and rare achievement.
Her continuation of the business also fulfilled the terms of Lewis Timothy's printing partnership with Benjamin Franklin, preserving the family's contractual obligations and eventually allowing her son, Peter Timothy, to inherit a functioning, successful print shop. Her decisive action in the immediate aftermath of her husband's death set the stage for over a decade of publishing under her direction.