Ann Royall - West Virginia Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

Anne Royall was born on June 11, 1769 in Baltimore, Maryland and is by some acount America’s first professional femal journalist. She grew up in the western frontier of Pennsylvania before her family migrated to the mountain of Virginia (present day Monroe County, West Virginia), where she and married William Royall. William Royall died in 1812, and his death both a landslide of litigation between Anne and William’s family. After several years of legal battling, William’s will was nullified and Anne was left with little of no money. For the next few years Anne traveled around Alabama, writing letters to friends about the sate and it people. These letters were eventually published as “Letters from Alabama", before Anne moved to Washington, D. C.
Legend has it that Anne caught President John Quincy Adams during one of hs usual early morning baths in the Potomac River. She reportedly gathered the president’s clothes and sat on them until he answered her questions, making her the first woman ever to interview a sitting president.

Anne spent the near several years traveling around the northeast keeping notes on the people that she met. These noters were turned nton a took titled “Sketches of History, Life and Manners in the United States.” Her books and public stances on issues caused a stir and earned her some powerful enemies. In 1829, Anne Royall returned to Washington, D.C. and began living on Capitol Hill she challenged the right of a church who was using a fire hall for it’s services. Members of the church congregation began praying beneath her window, and Anne respond by cursing them and was arrested and charged with being a public nuisance. The entire incident left Anne embarrassed and left Washington to contue her traveling.

Anne returned to Washington in 1831 and published a newspaper from her home with the help of her friend Sally Stack. The parper was called Paul Pry and exposed the political curruption and fraud that was ever present in government. Anne hired orphans to set the type and faced constant financial woes, which were exacerbated when postmasters refused to deliver her issues to subscribers.

In 1835 “The Huntress” replace Paul Pry and it continued to expose waste in Washington. Ann Royall continued to publish “The Huntress” until her death in 1854 at the age of 85.
Source/Credit: Wikipedia

The text of the historic marker reads:

ANN ROYALL
"Ann Royall, America's first woman journalist, lived here. Widowed at 50, she became an author and prominent figure in national political life. In her newspaper, "Paul Pry," at Washington, she set the style for modern columnists."

Marker Title: Ann Royall Marker Location: Route 311 in Sweet Springs, West Virginia County or Independent City: Monroe County Web Site: [Web Link] Marker Program Sponsor: State of West Virginia Marker Number: Not listed

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