John Wyeth

WYETH, John. b. Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, 31 March 1770; d. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 23 January 1858. Best known as an American music publisher, Wyeth began as a printer’s apprentice at age 17. At 21, he became manager of a printing company in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. In 1791, he returned to America, having narrowly escaped with his life in the Haitian insurrection. First working in Philadelphia, and finally settling in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Wyeth continued in the publishing industry, co-owning a local newspaper, The Oracle of Dauphin, with which he was involved until 1827. In 1793, President Washington appointed Wyeth Postmaster, a position he held until...