Sarah Porter Hillhouse

{{Infobox person | name = Sarah Porter Hillhouse | birth_date = {{Birth date|1763|05|29}} | birth_place = [[Massachusetts]] | death_date = {{Death date and age|1831|03|26|1763|05|29}} | occupation = editor and printer | years_active = 1803-1811 | known_for = First female editor and printer in [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] | spouse = David Hillhouse (m. 1781) | children = 6 | relatives = [[Edward Porter Alexander]] (great-grandson) }}

'''Sarah Porter Hillhouse''' (May 29, 1763—March 26, 1831) was [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]'s, and possibly [[United States|America]]'s, first woman [[Editing|editor]] and [[Printer (publishing)|printer]].<ref name="GA Women">{{cite web|title=Sarah Porter Hillhouse|url=https://www.georgiawomen.org/sarah-porter-hillhouse|work=[[Georgia Women of Achievement]]|accessdate=June 12, 2020 |url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200612222856/https://www.georgiawomen.org/sarah-porter-hillhouse | archive-date=June 12, 2020 }}</ref> She has been posthumously inducted into both the [[Georgia Newspaper Hall of Fame]] and the [[Georgia Women of Achievement]].

== Life == Sarah Porter was born on May 29, 1763, in [[Massachusetts]] to General Elisha and Sarah Jewett Porter.<ref>{{cite thesis |id={{ProQuest|304501725}} |last1=Leslie |first1=Glenda Sue Gillis |date=1999 |title='The controlling bar': The influence of Macon's attorneys on its early history }}</ref> On October 7, 1781, she married David Hillhouse, a [[Yale University]] graduate who was said to have commanded a regiment at the [[Battles of Lexington and Concord]] and who fought at the [[Battles of Saratoga]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Eberhard |first=Wallace B. |date=July 31, 2019 |title=Sarah Porter Hillhouse: Setting the Record Straight |journal=Journalism History |volume=1 |issue=4 |pages=133–136 |doi=10.1080/00947679.1974.12066755 }}</ref>

In 1786,<ref name="GA Women" /> Hillhouse joined her husband in settling in the still-undeveloped to [[Washington, Georgia]], from Massachusetts.<ref name="Alexander Letters review">{{cite journal|last=Phillips|first=Ulrich B.|title=The Alexander Letters, 1787-1900, Review|journal=The American Historical Review|date=July 1911|volume=16|issue=4|pages=830–832|jstor=1835729 |doi=10.2307/1835729}}</ref> They moved with David's sister and brother-in-law. David Hillhouse worked a variety of jobs, including setting up a general store, owning land, serving as a local and state official, and contracting troops. He also served as a justice of the peace, judge, and militia officer.<ref name=":0" />

The Hillhouses had six children together, though three died young. Sarah, Mary, and David P. Hillhouse survived into adulthood.<ref name=":0" />

=== ''Monitor'' === In 1801, Sarah's husband David Hillhouse purchased the town's newspaper, the ''Washington Gazette'', and renamed it the ''Monitor.''<ref name="GA Women" /> When he died just two years later on March 24, 1803, Sarah took over the role as [[Publishing|publisher]], making her the first woman publisher in Georgia. She immediately took on the management and learned the necessary skills to run the paper, which had a subscription of around 800. Under her management, the ''Monitor'' focused on providing up-to-date news and background on public affairs.<ref name="Alexander Letters review" /> She also worked as a reporter. Hillhouse engaged in many of the side businesses common for publishers at the time, such as selling writing paper, blank legal forms, and [[Gamut (music)|gamuts]]. She also advertised books being available at her house.{{cn|date=February 2024}}

She edited the ''Monitor'', and was acknowledged on the folio line, until 1811 when she passed it to her son, David P. Hillhouse, who sold the newspaper to John K.M. Charlton.<ref name=":0" />

=== Later life === In 1814, Hillhouse built her house that is now a historic site in Washington.<ref name="GA Women" /> This house was built on the previous site of the ''Monitor'' site, and was one of the first [[Frame house|Frame houses]] in Washington.

Hillhouse's daughter Sarah died as a young adult. After Sarah's husband, Felix Gilbert, died, Hillhouse was named one of her granddaughter, Sarah Gilbert's guardians and "was to enjoy the income of the granddaughter's $20,000 trust fund if it was more than the child needed."<ref name=":0" /> Upon her death, most of Hillhouse's estate was left to Mary, as David had received much of the family property during her life, and Sarah Gilbert was well provided for through her trust fund. Hillhouse stipulated that the estate should be done with as Mary wished and that any of Mary's children who contested her management were to be cut off from their share. This stipulation was likely to prevent arguments about the management.

One of Sarah Gilbert's sons was the [[Confederate States Army|Confederate]] general [[Edward Porter Alexander]].<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.0500011 |year=2000 |last1=Gallagher |first1=Gary W. |chapter=Alexander, Edward Porter (1835-1910), Confederate soldier and author |title=American National Biography |isbn=978-0-19-860669-7 }}</ref>

== References == {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hillhouse, Sarah Porter}} [[Category:1763 births]] [[Category:1831 deaths]]

[[Category:American printers]] [[Category:19th-century American newspaper publishers (people)]] [[Category:19th-century American businesswomen]] [[Category:19th-century American businesspeople]]