Royall, Anne Newport

Royall, Anne Newport

 orig. Anne Newport

(born June 11, 1769, New Baltimore, Md.—died Oct. 1, 1854, Washington, D.C., U.S.) U.S. writer, generally considered the nation's first newspaperwoman. Royall journeyed across the country and during 1826–31 published 10 accounts of her travels, which remain valuable sources of social history. An eccentric and acerbic woman, she was convicted in Washington, D.C., in 1829 of being a “common scold,” the result of her antagonism to a local Presbyterian church. In 1831 she began to publish her outspoken and controversial views on various subjects in her Washington newspaper, Paul Pry (1831–36), which was succeeded by The Huntress (1836–54).