Goddard, << GOD uhrd, >> William (1740-1817), was an American publisher, editor, and printer. He and his mother, Sarah Updike Goddard, and his sister, Mary Katherine Goddard, were among the first newspaper publishers in the American Colonies. Goddard also developed a private mail-carrying business in 1774. His business was incorporated into the national postal service established by the Continental Congress in 1775.
Goddard established three major newspapers–The Providence Gazette in 1762; The Pennsylvania Chronicle in Philadelphia in 1767; and Baltimore’s first newspaper, The Maryland Journal, in 1773. An active revolutionary, he used his newspapers to support the patriot cause. In 1776, he returned to the Journal. He retired in 1793. Goddard was born on Oct. 20, 1740, in New London, Conn. He died on Dec. 23, 1817.
