Margaret Green Draper
Margaret Green Draper (May 3, 1727 – c. 1804) was an American printer and journalist. She was the great-granddaughter of pioneering American printer Samuel Green. She was one of the first American women to run an independent business.[1] A United Empire Loyalist, she supported the British monarchy during the American Revolutionary War.
Margaret Green Draper | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 3, 1727 |
| Died | c. 1804 |
| Occupation | Printer |
Biography
Draper was born on May 3, 1727. On May 30, 1750, she married her cousin Richard Draper. They had no children, but adopted one of Margaret’s nieces.[2][3] Richard died on June 6, 1774, and Margaret took over the Loyalist paper The Massachusetts Gazette and The Boston News-Letter. Six of her competitors were driven out of business during her tenure at the paper.[4] Following the Siege of Boston, Draper and other Loyalists left for Halifax, Nova Scotia, on March 17, 1776 (Evacuation Day). She then went to England where she successfully petitioned the British government for a pension.[5]
References
- Jeffrey D. Schultz (1999). Encyclopedia of Women in American Politics. Phoenix, Ariz.: Oryx Press. p. 59. ISBN 9781573561310.
- Ritchie, Donald A. (1997). American Journalists: Getting the Story. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 26–29. ISBN 9780195099072.
- "The Woman Newspaper Publisher who was a Loyalist". Colonial American Digressions. October 31, 2011.
- "Women with a Deadline: The Revolution in Print". National Women's History Museum. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
- Thomas Waln-Morgan Draper (1892). The Drapers in America: being a history and genealogy of those of that name and connection. J. Polhemus Printing Company. p. 195.
- Genealogies of Connecticut families: From the New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Baltimore: Clearfield. 2006. p. 94. ISBN 9780806310305.