Episode Details
Back to EpisodesAnne Royall - First American Woman Investigative Journalist - 1820s
Description
Anne Royall was born in 1769 in Baltimore but her family moved to Pennsylvania in 1772 to help settle a new town in what was then considered the migration West. It was the beginning of the expansion of the United States.
In 1782 during the Revolutionary War Anne's town in Pennsylvania was raided by British soldiers and Seneca warriors who burned the town to the ground.
Anne and her mother survived the attack and moved to Sweet Springs, Virginia where they worked for a wealthy man named William Royall. William recognized Anne's intelligence and arranged for her education while working for him. After 12 years, William and Anne were married. Anne was 28, William was around 50. They lived happily for 15 years until William's death in 1812 and Anne inherited his wealth...until William's greedy relatives took it all away and Anne found herself penniless at age 50.
This episode tells of Anne's journey of reinventing herself as America's first woman investigative journalist. She never asked permission to make history!
Join Kit and Sherlock for the whole story of Anne Royall.
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