Charleston Women Summer 2022

1901 Henrietta Aiken Kelly, entrepreneur in local silkworm industry 1908 Huldah Josephine Prioleau, one of the state’s first Black woman doctors 1931 Hannah R. Axelmann, Charleston’s first woman lawyer 1915 Susan Dart Butler, founder of Dart Library www. Char l es tonWomenPodcas t . com | www. ReadCW. com | www. I ns tagram. com /Char l es tonWomen 12 in 1708 with her second husband, the rector of St. Philip’s Church. He acknowledged that if not for the money she made painting portraits in the new world, “I should not have been able to live.” Johnston painted a number of prominent local figures and introduced the use of pastels to American artists. About 40 of her portraits remain, including some at the Gibbes Museum of Art. Two decades after Johnston moved into the area came Elizabeth Timothy. In 1734, this trailblazing Philadelphian arrived in Charleston when her husband founded the newspaper, South Carolina Gazette. She was pregnant with their ninth child when he died in 1738, and she continued publishing the newspaper that he and Benjamin Franklin had started, thereby making her America’s first female newspaper publisher and editor. She bought out Franklin’s stake in the paper and ran the publication for five years, while caring for her large family. Once her son Peter took over, she operated a separate enterprise, printing legal documents, posters, advertisements and stationery. She also owned a bookstore. After Peter’s death, she helped her daughter-in-law continue to publish the newspaper. Though women such as Timothy were already shattering glass ceilings, it was difficult for a female to begin or inherit a business in the 18th and 19th centuries. If a man owned a business, his wife did not inherit it unless it was stipulated in his will. Conversely, if a woman business owner married, her business automatically became her husband’s property. But in 1817, Catharine Maria Sasportas, a biracial woman in Charleston, was granted a deed by her husband to run her own business. Mr. Sasportas made his wife the sole proprietor, agreeing that he would not be involved in any of the dealings. It was likely a shop, since married women were restricted from operating any business other than a bakery, grocery, restaurant or retail enterprise. However, more changes were on the horizon. Elizabeth Waites Allston Pringle was born in 1845 to a wealthy Lowcountry family. When her father died, she and her mother ran a boarding school until his estate settled. She married years later, but her husband and son died shortly thereafter. Pringle purchased her husband’s plantation from her in-laws and inherited her father’s land after her mother’s death. Thus, she became the owner of two plantations. With no agricultural feature E l i zabeth Wa i tes Al l s ton Pr i ng l e.

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