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“T” is for Timothy, Lewis (d.1757)

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“T” is for Timothy, Lewis (d.1757). Newspaper publisher. Timothy was born Louis Timothée, the son of a Huguenot who took refuge in Holland. With his Dutch-born wife and children he sailed for Philadelphia in 1731. He anglicized his name to Lewis Timothy and found work in the printing business. He worked for Benjamin Franklin on the Pennsylvania Gazette and was the first librarian of the Library Company of Philadelphia. In 1733, in a joint venture with Franklin, Timothy agreed to publish the South-Carolina Gazette and sailed for Charleston. In addition to publishing the weekly newspaper, he became the official colonial printer. Timothy was a founding member and officer of the South Carolina Society, a social and charitable organization comprised of Huguenots. Lewis Timothy died as a result of “an unhappy accident” in December 1738.

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Dr. Walter Edgar has two programs on South Carolina Public Radio: Walter Edgar's Journal, and South Carolina from A to Z. Dr. Edgar received his B.A. degree from Davidson College in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969. After two years in the army (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), he returned to USC as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Archives, assigned to the Papers of Henry Laurens.