become its editor-in-chief. Marriage and children Amos Kendall was markedly shy. In part, he had never learned social graces in his family during childhood and adolescence. He did not actively participate in social gatherings until he moved to Groton, Massachusetts, in 1811. There, he fell in love with 16-year-old Eliza, the sister of a prominent Boston family of merchants. She refused his attentions (as she was too young to marry), and Kendall wooed her older sister, Mary. But the loss of his legal apprenticeship and subsequent move to Kentucky in 1813 ended their relationship. After getting more established in Kentucky, Kendall married Mary Bullard Woolfolk of Louisville, on October 1, 1818. The couple had four children: Mary Anne (born in 1820), a stillborn boy, Adela (born in 1822), and William Zebedee (born in 1823). On October 13, 1823, Mary died of a fever after a 10-day illness. On January 5, 1826, Kendall married 17-year-old Jane Kyle of Georgetown, Kentucky. They had four sons and seven daughters together. Career as journalist and Postmaster General Before taking up his duties as editor of the Minerva, Kendall traveled to Lexington to attend a court session. He fell violently ill (possibly with hepatitis). Alone and unable to care for himself in his boardinghouse room, he nearly died. But Lucretia Clay learned of his illness and brought him to Ashland. For the next month, she nursed him back to health. He was well enough to return to Georgetown on July 15. In September 1815, Kendall agreed to purchase a half-interest in the Georgetown Minerva. Johnson allowed him to pay the purchase price of $1,000 in equal installments over the next five years, without interest. Kendall also agreed to buy the position of US postmaster of the town from its current office-holder for $720 over four years. (He hoped that this position would give him early access to news). He briefly committed to teaching and investing in land speculation before backing out of both proposals. He quickly learned that Johnson had mortgaged his half of the business to a brother-in-law, Robert Ward, and sold $800 of Kendall's promissory note to his brother, James Johnson. After an exchange of angry letters, James Johnson cancelled Kendall's debt, took possession of the Minerva, and agreed to let Kendall edit a new newspaper he was founding (the Georgetown Patriot). Kendall began publishing the Georgetown Patriot in 1816. In October 1816,