Sarah Goddard

Sarah Updike Goddard ( – January 5, 1770) was an early American printer, as well as a co-founder and publisher of the Providence Gazette and Country Journal, the first newspaper founded in Providence, Rhode Island. She worked closely with her son William and daughter Mary Katherine, who both also became printers and publishers, forming one of the earliest influential publishing dynasties in the American colonies. Early years and education Sarah Updike was born at Cocumscussuc, Rhode Island, just north of the village of Wickford, where her parents, Lodowick Updike (anglicized from Opdyck) and Abigail (Newton) Updike, had inherited Smith's Castle, the original site of Roger Williams' trading post. Sarah was one of six children; her brother Daniel would go on to serve as attorney general of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. She was well educated, studying French and Latin in addition to more usual subjects. Career In 1735, she married Giles Goddard, a well-to-do physician, and they settled in New London, Connecticut. Giles Goddard was also the postmaster in New London, and when he fell ill in 1755, Sarah served as postmaster in his place. Both of their surviving children — Mary Katherine and William — became involved in the printing and publishing businesses.