Elizabeth Timothy

Elizabeth Timothy was born in Holland in the early 1700s. She married Louis Timothy in 1722 and lived in Holland till 1731, when the couple, with their four children, sailed on the Britannia of London to America.

They settled in Philadelphia where they met Benjamin Franklin. Louis advertised his services as a French tutor in Benjamin’s paper, Pennsylvania Gazette. Franklin was impressed with Louis and persuaded him to become the first editor of the Philadelphische Zeitung, a foreign language newspaper for the increasing German population.

After two publications, the paper was stopped and Louis entered into a six-year business agreement with Benjamin. Benjamin “furnished the printing press and other equipment and paid one-third of the expenses, receiving one-third of the profits” (Turner, 157). The name of the newspaper was the South-Carolina Gazette.

Louis’s accidental death in 1738 left Elizabeth a widow with six children and one on the way.

Elizabeth’s oldest son was next in line to take over the newspaper business but he was only 13-years-old and was unable to take on the business by himself.

The business was in its last year of the six-year contract with Benjamin and would go under if something wasn’t done, and done quickly.

Therefore, Elizabeth “would either have to remarry, losing legal authority over her children in the process, or take over the helm of the newspaper business and become a working, single mother” (Turner, 157).

Elizabeth decided to take over the newspaper business to support her family, maintain the Timothy family’s good name, and give her son a career.

Though Elizabeth did all the work of a publisher, she listed the publisher as Peter Timothy, her eldest son. Ladies’ opinions were not looked at as honorable and Elizabeth wanted to maintain the newspapers’ dependability.

“In the first issue of the Gazette, Elizabeth Timothy informed readers that it was customary in a printer’s family in the colonies and in Europe for a wife and sons to help with the printing operation” (South Carolina Business Hall of Fame).

Elizabeth did not have much experience in the newspaper business, “though she was well-educated for the period” (Vaughn, 539).

The newspaper struggled in the first year while Elizabeth was learning the trade, but eventually started to improve.

Elizabeth started printing more woodcuts, printed designs from planks of wood (“woodcut,” Britannica), in the paper and increased the number of advertisements (at least one-and-a-half pages of advertisements) in the four-page issues (Vaughn 539).

Elizabeth also started publishing the paper on Monday and Thursday instead of just Saturday like her husband did. Most newspapers at that time were once a week editions, but Elizabeth went above and beyond to prove that her newspaper was just as good, if not better than the other papers. Also, by printing twice a week, Elizabeth was able to add more content in her papers.

In addition to her newspaper, Elizabeth also printed “books, pamphlets, tracts, and other publications” (South Carolina Business Hall of Fame).

Elizabeth remained publisher of the newspaper for eight years before handing the business down to her son, Peter, who had just turned 21-years-old.

Elizabeth not only gave her son a thriving newspaper business and print shop, but “she set an example for her son and other women, showing them a woman could accomplish anything when she put her shoulder to the wheel” (Vaughn, 539).

Benjamin Franklin was more impressed with Elizabeth than her husband.

He described Louis as “a man of learning, and honest but ignorant in matters of account; and tho’ he sometimes made me remittances, I could get no account from him, nor any satisfactory state of our partnership while he lived” (South Carolina Business Hall of Fame).

In contrast, Benjamin wrote that Elizabeth “continues to account with the greatest regularity and exactitude every quarter afterwards and managed the business with such success that she not only brought up a … family of children, but at the expiration of the term [of partnership agreement between Franklin and (Louis)] was able to purchase of me the printing house and establish her son in it” (Turner, 160).

Bibliography

"Elizabeth Timothy." Legacy of Leadership. 1999. South Carolina Business Hall of Fame. 27 May 2009 .

Turner, Janine. Holding Her Head High Inspiration from 12 Single Mothers Who Championed Their Children and Changed History. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2008.

Vaughn, Stephen L. Encyclopedia of American Journalism. Illustrated ed. New York: Routledge, 2007.

woodcut. (2009). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved May 27, 2009, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/647549/woodcut

Ridding Rexburg of crap

Rexburg’s city council met on May 6, 2009 to discuss the need for a new wastewater treatment.

Though the council didn’t come to a definite decision, they were seriously contemplating an $8 million project.

John Millar, member of the city department, introduced the company owner (I was unable to catch his name and could find no information about him on the internet) of a solar wastewater treatment company from Bountiful, Utah.

The owner explained the process that the city would have to go through, showing them a miniature design of the project. He explained that this $8 million project could be cut into smaller projects.

The most essential project, he explained, is the bio tower.

When asked what was wrong with the tower, John Millar explained that there isn’t a major problem now but there soon will be. There are a lot of build ups that will probably become too much to handle within the next few years.

In contrast, the solar bio tower would be efficient enough to last the city 20 years.

The owner explained that the new project would be a very green plant and also very innovative.

“It will cut down solids 20%-30%,” he explained.

This process comes from the European designs and is very efficient, he explained. Unfortunately there are no working modules close by for the council to examine.

“The closest bio facilities are in Oregon, which has a different climate and humidity,” he said.
Mayor Larsen stated that they didn’t have enough money in their budget for such a big project. They discussed raising taxes, having a fundraiser or simply asking the residents to contribute money for the cause.

In the end, the city council decided to look into the project and decide for certain in a month and a half.

Turtleheads plow their way through the field

Though the Pass-along-grass gave a big fight, pulling out trick plays here and there, they were no match for the experienced Turtleheads.

The game winning aspects in any football game are big plays, turnovers, and a strong defense. And in this match-up the Turtleheads came out on top in all three categories.

The game started with 2 quick touchdowns by the Turtleheads whose offense seemed to be in sync on every play. The Pass-along-grass started to get an offense going with some trickery. They gained a few yards with a direct snap to the running back who was in motion and left the entire Turtlehead defense standing on their heals wondering what had just happened. However with this trickery came some confusion that led to a Turtlehead interception and touchdown by Daren Peterson.

During half-time, Pass-along-grass expressed that they needed to change things up more. They needed to score more, not let the other team get plays where they get 6 points, and on a more serious note, stop the penetration up the middle by the Turtleheads.

The second half was all Turtlehead. After a few changes of possession the Pass-along-grass turned away from trickery to a simple passing game and made it to the other end of the field. But the Turtleheads showed their unstoppable defense with Daren Peterson’s quick blitzes putting pressure on the quarterback; the Pass-along-grass team was not able to score.

The next possession the Turtleheads scored with a full field hail mary and walked away with a 25-0 victory.

After the game, the Turtlehead players Matthew Taylor, and Robert Harvey they named Darren Peterson their “MDP” (Most Darren Peterson)

Robert Harvey said a big part of their victory was that they were all “passing well, running well and their defense stopped them (Pass-along-grass) all.”

(Unfortunately my camera died before I could take any pictures of the game. There were, however, a lot of great plays.)