The Nuthead Press William and Dinah Nuthead

under the name of Dinah Devoran.¹ In later years Dinah married again.
Her third husband was "Sebastian Oley of Annarund'l County a German
born," as he was described in an act of naturalization of 1702,

In spite of the fact that this woman whom we knew first as Dinah Nut-
head was unable to sign her name, she seems to have made her way to a
position of respect in the community. WilliamTaylard, a man of some promi-
nence in the Province, had sufficient confidence in her character and ability
to act as bondsman for her behavior and later to accept the guardianship
of her children;² but as even more striking evidence of her worth is to be
remembered the fact that in a day when women were few in public life, she
had been able to secure from the Governor and Assembly of Maryland per-
mission to operate a printing press in the service of the Province. As far as
is known she was the first woman in English America to conduct or to at-
tempt to conduct a printing establishment, the forerunner in this trade of
Anne Catharine Green, Sarah Updike, Clementina Rind and Mary God-
dard, who nearly a century later in Maryland and elsewhere carried on such
establishments with notable success. It is a matter for regret that no more
was heard of Dinah Nuthead's printing activities after the recording of her
bond for good behavior in the conduct of her press.

A SUMMARY OF THE EVIDENCE FOR A SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY

PRESS IN MARYLAND

In the foregoing pages of this chapter there has been set forth evidence,
in such amount as it has been possible to collect, with the object of demon-
strating the seventeenth-century origin of printing in Maryland. An exam-
ination shows that the following facts have been brought out by this evi-
dence; namely, that from 1686 to 1695 there lived in St. Mary's City, the
old capital of the Province, one William Nuthead, who was several times
designated as "Printer" in contemporary documents; that as early as 1686,
"William Nutthead, Printer," was in the pay of the government; that after
his death, a printing press and a font of letters were listed in the inventory
of this Nuthead's personalty; that in the colophon of an important Mary-
land political pamphlet, printed in London in 1689, William Nuthead of
St. Mary's was specifically named as its original printer; that there exists

¹ Inventories and Accounts, 21: 190. March, 1701. Ms. in Land Office, Annapolis.

² Deeds, Anne Arundel County, Liber W. T. No. 2, p. 684. Ms. in Court House, Annapolis. Indenture between
Dinah Oely (sic) of Anne Arundel County, Widow, and William Taylard, Gentleman, trustee of William Nut-
head, Susannah Nuthead and Sebastian Oely, children of the "sd Dinah Oely lately called Dinah Devoran."
Sebastian Oley, the elder, died in 1707 (Maryland Calendar of Wills, 3: 85), leaving in addition to his wife and
executrix, this son Sebastian and a daughter Margaret, who as she is not mentioned in the above indenture may
have been Oley's child by a former wife

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