Louis Timothee

Louis Timothee
Born	1699 The Netherlands
Died	30 Dec 1738 (age 39)
Resting place	Charleston County, South Carolina, USA
Occupation	printer
Known for	publisher in colonial America
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth Villin (maiden name)
Children	Peter (b. 24 May 1725) Mary (b. 08 Dec 1726) Louis (b. 19 Jun 1729)[1] Charles (b.14 Sep 1730) [2] Catherine (b. 15 Jan 1735) Louisa (b. 6 Dec 1737)
Signature

Lewis Timothy or Louis Timothee was a prominent Colonial American printer in the Colonies of Pennsylvania and South Carolina, who worked for Benjamin Franklin. A couple of newspapers he published were the Pennsylvania Gazette and the South Carolina Gazette. He served as a part-time librarian in 1732 for the Library Company of Philadelphia, one of Benjamin Franklin's projects. He later became a full-time paid staff member for the library and thereby the first American librarian.

Early life[]

Timothy was born in Holland to French Huguenot parents who lived in Rotterdam after they fled France and went to Holland to escape religious persecution that was caused by the revocation of the Edict of Nantz.^[3] As a young man in the Netherlands he learned printing from his father. Timothy, with his wife, Elizabeth, and four children, moved to British America in 1731. He took the Oath of Allegiance to King George II at Philadelphia upon arrival on September 21, 1731, as was required of all male immigrants to British America.^[3][4][5]

Timothy was fluent in German, French, and English as well as his native tongue, Dutch.^[6] The month after arriving in Philadelphia, Timothy advertised in the Pennsylvania Gazette his intention to open a public French School and become a teacher. He said he would be willing to teach the language to any young gentleman or lady at their residence if requested.^[7]

Mid life[]

Timothy got acquainted with Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia because of his printing skills and started working for him, learning to publish a newspaper.^[8] His first attempt at a newspaper was the German-language Philadelphische Zeitung. It came out in the spring of 1732 and failed within a year. After that Timothy was the printer for the Pennsylvania Gazette owned by Franklin.^[1] Franklin was impressed by Timothy's work, so he entered into a six-year contract with him on November 26, 1733. Franklin agreed to furnish printing equipment for publishing the floundering South Carolina Gazette weekly newspaper in Charleston, South Carolina.^[9][10] Timothy was to publish the newspaper and pay back over six years the expenses Franklin furnished up front. The previous editor, Thomas Whitmarsh, died of the yellow fever disease in 1733; his predecessor died in 1731.^[9]

Timothy did well as a newspaper publisher so became the official public printer and postmaster for the colony of South Carolina. He expanded his printing business to an assortment of jobs, including books and pamphlets. In this period Timothy's son Peter was beginning apprenticeship in his father's print shop.^[11] The Franklin-Timothy agreement said that Franklin was to provide the printing typefonts and the press, while Timothy was to do the publishing.^[9] Franklin also agreed to pay one-third of the maintenance costs; in return he was to receive one-third of the profits.^[12] The agreement also provided that Peter would get the printing business in the event of his father's untimely death.^[1]

Franklin started the first public library in the United States as an offshoot of a discussion group. The group pooled together books and formed a library on July 1, 1731. Franklin arranged for Timothy to serve as a part-time librarian in 1732 to manage this collection of books that became known as the Library Company of Philadelphia, one of Franklin's first philanthropic projects.^[6] There was no full time librarian until November 14, 1732,^[13] when Timothy was hired as the first salaried librarian in the American colonies, thereby becoming Amarica's first official librarian.^[14] He was paid three pounds sterling every trimester,^[15] which was a term of three months.^[16] He worked every Wednesday from two to three o'clock and every Saturday from ten to four.^[17]

Later life and death[]

Timothy arranged with Benjamin Franklin to revive the South Carolina Gazette weekly newspaper. He went to Charleston by himself in the later part of 1733. He started publishing the newspaper on February 2, 1734. Timothy's wife Elizabeth followed later from Philadelphia and went to Charleston in the spring of 1734. She came to Charleston with her six children, four of which were children born in the Netherlands.^[5] This was the third year Timothy had arrived in America and he then changed his name from the previous French spelling of Timothee.^[5][18][12]

In Franklin's Philadelphia shop Timothy continued Whitmarsh's practice of reprinting essays encouraging people to be optimistic and virtuous. One day in 1738 Timothy informed his readers that his publication of a pamphlet was delayed "by reason of Sicknes, myself and Son having been visited with this Fever, that reigns at present, so that neither of us hath been capable for some time of working much at the Press."^[19] He died after this announcement two months later on December 30. He may have contracted the deadly yellow fever, but there are no records to show this for sure. In fact on January 4, 1739, the South-Carolina Gazette noted that the cause of his death was as an unhappy accident.^[12][20]

Timothy had anticipated the likelihood of his own demise because three previous South Carolina printers had died soon after arriving in the colony. He had put in a special clause inserted in the Franklin partnership contract that his eldest son Peter could succeed him if he prematurely died. Peter was just thirteen years old when Timothy died. He was then training as an apprentice with his father, however was too inexperienced yet to take over the business. Franklin agreed to take on the wife of Timothy, as a partner until Peter was capable of running the shop.^[21] When Elizabeth became Franklin's printer partner she had six children. Peter took over a portion of the South-Carolina Gazette newspaper publication in 1740 and the complete printing business in 1746 that included the newspaper and printing of government works as the official public printer for the colony of South Carolina. When Peter was twenty-one years old he took over the partnership his father had with Franklin and worked closely with Franklin for the next thirty years.^[20]

Works[]

The South Carolina Gazette newspaper of February 2, 1734, is a work attributed to Timothy.

• 

  Containg freshest Advices Foreign and Domestick

• 

  SC Gazette Feb 2 1734
  bottom part of 2nd page

• 

  SC Gazette Feb 2 1734
  bottom part of 3rd page

• 

  Printed by L. Timothy
  bottom of fourth page

Other works attributed to Timothy are An Essay on Currency, The Character and Duty of Minister and People, Acts Passed by the General Assembly of South Carolina, and Laws of the Province of South Carolina.^[22]

See also[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lewis Timothy.

• Alexander Purdie (publisher)
• William Hunter (publisher)
• William Parks (publisher)
• Joseph Royle (publisher)
• John Holt (publisher)
• Elizabeth Timothy
• Jane Aitken

References[]

Bibliography[]

• Baker, Ira L. (1977). "Elizabeth Timothy - America's First Woman Editor". Journalism Quarterly. Sage Publications. 54 (Spring 1977): 280–285. doi:10.1177/107769907705400207. S2CID 143677057.

• Frasca, Ralph (2006). Benjamin Franklin's Printing Network. University of Missouri Press. ISBN 978-0-8262-6492-3.

• Hudson, Frederic (2000). American Journalism:a history of newspapers in the United States through 250 years, 1690-1940. ISBN 0-415-22893-X.

• McKerns, Joseph P. (1989). Dictionary of American Journalism. Greenwood. ISBN 978-0-313-23819-2.

• Oswald, John Clyde (1965). Printing in the Americas: ... Kennikat Press.

• Schilpp, Madelon Golden (1983). Great women of the press. Southern Illinois University Press. ISBN 0809310988.

• Sherrow, Victoria (2002). American Women Business Entrepreneurs. Facts On File, Incorporated. ISBN 978-0-8160-4556-3.

• Thomas, Isaiah (1810). Printing in America. Press of Isaiah Thomas. OCLC 946744145.CS1 maint: date and year (link)

• Vaughn, Stephen L. (2007). Encyclopedia of American Journalism. CRC Press. ISBN 978-0203942161.

• Wroth, Lawrence (1994). The Colonial Printer. Dover. ISBN 9780486282947.

External links[]

• Louis Timothee at Find a Grave