She married at quite an early age, but the marriage proved to be an unhappy one which ended in divorce. She had to support herself and her children. At one period, while still living in Portland, Oregon, she felt the need for added income. Her schooling had been interrupted by her early marriage and she had no background of business experience; but one day, it came to her that she should undertake to publish a small periodical. She had no capital with which to begin it, but secured some help from her father, $30 per month for a six-month period, and so launched the magazine which she was inspired to call Nautilus.
Not too long after, she began to scour the social landscape for a man in her newly chosen field and true to her intent, in May, 1900, Elizabeth married William E. Towne, a book and magazine publisher and distributor, bringing the Nautilus to his hometown of Holyoke, Massachusetts. Together, they eventually built up a profitable business in the publishing and distribution of the magazine and New Thought books. Once Elizabeth was partnered with William, the magazine sales boomed. In June 1900, a month after they were married, William began publishing the Nautilus and distribution jumped to 4,500 copies. The printer's bill was just $36.93, including the wrapping. The partnership paid off handsomely and within a short space of time her little four-page paper grew into a handsome illustrated magazine. William was responsible for financing and marketing and soon approximately 50,000 copies of Nautilus were being mailed out of Holyoke each month in addition to a hefty subscription book business. It took four girls a whole week to wrap up a single issue of Nautilus and the delivery to the local post office was by far the largest in the area.
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