Why is the name “Mary Katherine Goddard” on some early copies of the Declaration of Independence?
Mary Katherine Goddard published the first official copies of the Declaration, the first to bear the names of all the signers, in January 1777.
At the time, Goddard was the only printer in Baltimore, where the Continental Congress had fled from Philadelphia.
She had taken over the print shop and the city’s only newspaper from her brother William while he was in debtor’s prison.
Mary Goddard went on to serve as Baltimore’s first postmaster from 1775 to 1789, making her the first woman to hold a federal position.
