Anne Royall Grave

ANNE ROYALL (1769–1854) is generally considered the nation’s first newspaperwoman. She married William Royall in 1797. Upon his death in 1812 his family claimed his will was a forgery and succeeded in having it annulled. Left nearly penniless, she turned to writing to make a living and came to Washington to fight for her husband’s veteran’s pension. She is reputed to have acquired an interview with President John Quincy Adams by sitting on his clothes while the President bathed in the Potomac River. Her unflinching aggressive reporting earned her many enemies in Washington leading to a trial on the charge of “common scold.”