Christopher Sower (27 January 1754 in
Germantown, Pennsylvania – 3 July 1799 in
Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...
) was a
printer
Printer may refer to:
Technology
* Printer (publishing), a person
* Printer (computing), a hardware device
* Optical printer for motion picture films
People
* Nariman Printer (fl. c. 1940), Indian journalist and activist
* James Printer (1640 ...
and
publisher
Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...
in
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
.
Biography
He was the son of
Christopher Sower the younger and the grandson of
Christopher Sower the elder. He developed a strong distaste for those who criticized the German sectarians
Quakers
Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestantism, Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally ...
, Mennonites
Mennonites are a group of Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Radical Reformation. The name ''Mennonites'' is derived from the cleric Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland, part of ...
, Schwenkfelders, Moravians
Moravians ( or Colloquialism, colloquially , outdated ) are a West Slavs, West Slavic ethnic group from the Moravia region of the Czech Republic, who speak the Moravian dialects of Czech language, Czech or Czech language#Common Czech, Common ...
and the Dunker sect of his father. See and their beliefs. These critics included
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...
,
Henry Melchior Muhlenberg and
John Henry Miller
John Henry Miller (1702 Waldeck, Germany – 31 March 1782 (sometimes only referred to as Henry Miller) Bethlehem, Pennsylvania) was a printer and publisher who worked in the Thirteen Colonies, most notably for Benjamin Franklin and William Bradf ...
. With his preferences, Sower was naturally of
loyalist
Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...
sympathies before and during the
Revolutionary War.
He received his father's Germantown home and printing and publishing operations in 1774 when they were handed over to him without legal formality.
He then began publishing a newspaper, ''Germantowner Zeitung'', which had a loyalist tone so far as the authorities allowed. When the British occupied Philadelphia in 1777, he moved there. During this time he was wounded and captured by rebel troops; he was released by exchange a short time later. He accompanied the British to New York City in 1778 when they abandoned Philadelphia. That year the family belongings were confiscated and sold by the rebels.
After
Cornwallis's defeat in 1781, Sower went to England and received an indemnification for his losses. In 1785 he went to
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...
where he was deputy postmaster and king's printer. He died in the Baltimore house of his brother.
See also
*
German American journalism German American journalism includes newspapers, magazines, and the newer media, with coverage of the reporters, editors, commentators, producers and other key personnel. The German Americans were thoroughly assimilated by the 1920s, and German langu ...
Notes
Notes
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sower, Christopher
1754 births
1799 deaths
American printers
American publishers (people)
Loyalists in the American Revolution from Pennsylvania
German-language mass media in the United States
Printers from the Thirteen Colonies