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).

* * *

▪ American author

née  Newport  

born June 11, 1769, New Baltimore, Maryland [U.S.]

died October 1, 1854, Washington, D.C.

      traveler and writer and one of the very first American newspaperwomen.

      She was married in 1797 to Captain William Royall, a gentleman farmer who served in the American Revolution and died in 1813. In her 50s Anne Royall began to journey across the country, and from 1826 to 1831 she published 10 accounts of her travels, which remain valuable sources of social history. An eccentric and acerbic woman, Royall was tried and convicted in Washington, D.C., in 1829 for being a “common scold,” the result of her antagonism to a local Presbyterian church. John Eaton, Andrew Jackson's secretary of war, paid her fine.

      In 1831 she began to publish Paul Pry, a Washington newspaper; it was succeeded by The Huntress (1836–54). In those newspapers Royall crusaded against government corruption and incompetence and promoted states' rights, Sunday mail service, and tolerance for Roman Catholics and Masons. John Quincy Adams called her a “virago errant in enchanted armor,” and she gained widespread notoriety for her outspoken and often controversial views.

      In addition to her travel books, Royall wrote a novel, The Tennessean (1827), and a play, The Cabinet.

* * *