The Connecticut Courant

Hannah Bunce was born in Lebanon, CT, in 1749. She married Ebenezeer Watson, the Courant’s publisher; when he died of smallpox in 1777, she took over the paper, which had been established in 1764. Early in her tenure, the papermill Watson owned burned, and she announced that the paper would cease printing. Instead, the Connecticut General Assembly quickly authorized a state-wide lottery to subsidize the construction of a new mill – which Watson announced in this February 10, 1778 issue – and the Connecticut Courant continued printing.

Watson determined what the Courant printed. She featured articles on temperance and cleanliness alongside news of military battles from across the colonies and English parliamentary proceedings. She also published editorials supporting independence. In doing so, Watson, one of America’s first woman publishers, made the Courant an essential source of news and support for the Patriot cause.

Now called the Hartford Courant, the newspaper is the longest continuously-published news source in the United States.