Matthias Bartgis (1759 – 1825) was a pioneer German-American printer in Western Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.
Matthias Bartgis was born June 3, 1759 in
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Lancaster, ( ; pdc, Lengeschder) is a city in and the county seat of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It is one of the oldest inland cities in the United States. With a population at the 2020 census of 58,039, it ranks 11th in population amon ...
to a German immigrant, Matthias Bartgis. He learned the art of printing from William Bradford in Philadelphia and initially established a print office in
York, Pennsylvania
York ( Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Yarrick''), known as the White Rose City (after the symbol of the House of York), is the county seat of York County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located in the south-central region of the state. The populati ...
. In 1778 he expanded his business to
Frederick, Maryland
Frederick is a city in and the county seat of Frederick County, Maryland. It is part of the Baltimore–Washington Metropolitan Area. Frederick has long been an important crossroads, located at the intersection of a major north–south Native ...
and later to
Winchester, Virginia
Winchester is the most north western independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Frederick County, although the two are separate jurisdictions. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Winchester wit ...
as well. In 1788 Bartgis established a regular bi-weekly private mail system which stretched from York to Winchester to facilitate the delivery of his paper.
Until his retirement in 1820 Bartgis published various newspapers, pamphlets, forms, and books for the rapidly growing population of the Shenandoah, bringing printed culture to the area and including the large German minority.
His newspaper publications include:
:*1785-1789. Bartgis’s Marylandische Zeitung, Fredericktown, Md.
:*''1786-1788. Maryland Chronicle, Fredericktown, Md.''
:*''1787-1788. Pennsylvania Chronicle, York, Pa.''
:*''1787-1791. Virginia Gazette, Winchester, Va.''
:*''1789. Maryland Gazette, Fredericktown, Md.''
:*''1790. Staunton Gazette, Staunton, Va.''
:*''1792-1794. Bartgis’s Maryland Gazette, Fredericktown, Md.''
:*''1793. General Staats-Bothe, Fredericktown, Md.''
:*''1794-1800. Bartgis’s Federal Gazette, Fredericktown, Md.''
:*''1800-1820+. Bartgis’s Republican Gazette, Fredericktown, Md.''
:*''1802-1806, 1809-1810, 1813-1814. Hornet, Fredericktown, Md.''
:*''1808. Independent American Volunteer, Fredericktown, Md.''
:*''1810-1813. General Staatsbothe, Fredericktown, Md.''
References
*Brigham, Clarence S. History and Bibliography of American Newspapers, 1690-1820. Vol. 2. Worcester, MA: American Antiquarian Society, 1947.
*Dolmetsch, Christopher, "The German Literature of Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, 1789-1854: A Historical, Linguistic and Literary Study" (Ph.D. diss., U. of Wisconsin-Madison, 1979).
*Wust, Klaus G. "Matthias Bartgis' Newspapers in Virginia," ''American-German Review, Vol. XVIII, NO. 1, (October 1951).
External links
The Maryland State Archives page on Matthias Bartgis
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bartgis, Matthias
1759 births
1825 deaths
American printers
Pennsylvania Dutch culture in Maryland