Margaret Hartman Markoe Bache

Margaret Hartman Markoe Bache (November 7, 1770 – May 28, 1836) was an American printer and editor. Born in Saint Croix, then part of the Danish West Indies, she was raised in Philadelphia. Bache ran the Aurora newspaper with her first and second husbands, Benjamin Franklin Bache and William Duane. It survived attempts at its demise through the period leading up to the American Revolutionary War and became a leading newspaper in the United States, covering local, national and international news. Personal life Born November 7, 1770 in Saint Croix, Margaret Hartman Markoe was the daughter of Elizabeth Hartman and Francis Markoe. Her parents had emigrated from Denmark to St. Croix, where they had a sugar plantation, Clifton Hill estate. After her father's death, likely in the late 1770s, she and her mother emigrated to Philadelphia. They lived in a large mansion of her uncle Abraham Markoe, who was a successful merchant. Shortly after they moved to Philadelphia, Elizabeth married Adam Kuhn, a physician. Her mother died in 1790. Bache met Benjamin Franklin "Benny" Bache, an "eager suitor" in 1788. In November 1791, they married and she moved into 322 Market Street. In 1792, they moved to 112 High Street in Philadelphia. They had their fourth child, Hartman Bache, in September 1798. Benny contracted yellow fever about the same time and died on September 8, 1798. Bache and fellow journalist William Duane, hired by Benny before his death, were married at the Christ Church in Philadelphia on June 28, 1800. They lived at 316 Market Street some time after their union. After 25 years of marriage, Bache told Thomas Jefferson in 1824 that she had the qualities of "a Roman matron".