Report28Wustp5466

GERMAN PRINTING IN VIRGINIA

A CHECK LIST, 1789-1834

By KLAUS G. WUST

German printing in Virginia never

passed its initial stage in spite of some

remarkable productions, particularly

by the Henkel press. The German

settlements in the Shenandoah Val-

ley unlike the German areas of Penn-

sylvania were not original settlements.

Practically all pioneers who came

down the old Indian trail from Penn-

sylvania through Western Maryland

into the Great Valley of Virginia had

for some time sojourned in Pennsyl-

vania. The lure of virgin land, vari-

ous religious reasons, and the frontier

wars in William Penn's province

caused the exodus which reached Vir-

ginia in several waves. The first party

of Germans arrived around 1726 on

the Massanutten land. The last

large immigration wave from Penn-

sylvania set in after the Revolution-

ary War.

Pennsylvania had already passed a

century of nourishing German presses

when the first book in the German

language was printed in Virginia. By

1785 the young German settlements

were still in the pioneer state. Few

little towns had sprung up, none large

enough to justify the establishment

of a German print shop. Most of the

books that were found in the homes

of these pioneers were brought along

from the Fatherland or had been ac-

quired during their stay in Pennsyl-

vania. A few people in the Valley

subscribed to newspapers or almanacs

that came from Pennsylvania. Thus,

we find Saur's Der Hoch-Deutsche

Pennsylvanische Geschichtschreiber

and his almanacs circulated in the

Shenandoah Valley. Heinrich Ringer

at Winchester, and Jacob Nicolas at

Peaked Mountain were the agents for

the Philadelphia Staatsbote. Joseph

Stauffer in Staufferstaun (Strasburg,

Va.) had a little book store were he

sold Billmeyer's almanac. Der Volks-

freund and the Lancaster Adler had

several Virginia Germans on their

subscribers list.

The products of the Western Mary-

land presses also found their way into

Virginia. John Gruber's Westliche

Correspondenz and Bartgis' Märy-

ländische Zeitung were read in the

northern part of the Valley. Gruber's

almanac was so popular that no seri-

ous attempt was made by Virginia

printers to start their own almanac.

The books, almanacs, pamphlets, and

newspapers which came in from

Pennsylvania and Maryland evidently

provided sufficient reading material

for the 45,000 Germans. Most printed

material of those days devoted little

space to local events so that it could

be easily enjoyed by people in another

state.* Besides, the Valley Germans,

having come from Pennsylvania them-

selves, still had relatives and friends

in the North and were in constant

communication with the older settle-

ments. Their churches were parts of

northern organizations. Preachers,

teachers, and salesmen came continu-

ously down from Pennsylvania.

It was a churchman who first de-

plored the fact that there was no local

German press between Maryland and

Georgia. In 1783 the Lutheran Pastor

Adolf Nüssmann urged the establish-

* We thought we could omit here a description of the general situation of German printing before and

after 1800, since this was done by Felix Reichmann in his extensive study "German Printing in Maryland,

A Check List 1768-1950" in the Twenty-seventh Report of the Society for the History of the Germans in

Maryland (1950), pp. 9-70. For a description of the most widely read German almanac of the Shenandoah

Valley see Dieter Cunz, "John Gruber and his Almanac," Maryland Historical Magazine, XLVII (1952),

89-102.

[54]

ment of a German press for the south-

ern settlements hoping that books

and tracts produced locally might re-

vive the interest of the people in, and

strengthen their ties with the strug-

gling young German pioneer churches

in the South.

In Summer 1789, Matthias Bartgis

of Frederick, Maryland, brought the

first German printing outfit to Vir-

ginia, but it remained an attempt.

When on October 16, 1792 German

citizens of Augusta County presented

a petition before the General Assem-

bly of Virginia to have the laws of

the State printed in German, there

was no printer in Virginia who could

have done the job. For over two

years the motion rested with the As-

sembly until it was finally resolved in

December 1794 "to have printed in

German the revenue law, the execu-

tion law, the law governing fees of

clerks, sheriffs and other officers, law

of decents, the law concerning wills

and the law regulating conveyances."

The order for 991 copies was given to

Carl Cist of Philadelphia. The first

book published for the use of the

Virginia Germans was thus printed in

Pennsylvania:

"Akten, welche in der General Assembly der

Republik Virginien paszirt worden sind. Aus

dem Englischen übersetzt durch Gustav Fried-

rich Goetz. Philadelphia: Gedruckt bey Carl

Cist, No. 104, in der Zweyten-strasse nah bey

der Rehs-strasse, 1795."

More than ten years later the crude

hand press set up by the Henkels of

New Market finally made it possible

that the Germans of Virginia could

have books printed in their vernacu-

lar that would cater to their particular

needs.

A brief sketch of each of the five

German print shops in Virginia will

follow. A comprehensive and detailed

presentation of these pioneer printers

is in preparation by the author. It

will be a part of a work on the entire

history of German-language printing

in Virginia from 1789 until 1950.

MATTHIAS BARTGIS IN WINCHESTER

To the printer and publisher Mat-

thias Bartgis of Frederick, Maryland

belongs the credit of having estab-

lished the first German press in Vir-

ginia. In August, 1789, two years

after he began publishing his Virginia

Gazette, and Winchester Advertiser,

the German printing outfit arrived in

Winchester together with a compe-

tent German journeyman printer.

Two weeks later Bartgis announced

the commencement of publication of

the Virginische Zeitung. The name of

his Winchester firm read henceforth

"Bartgis & Co., English and German

Office, Loudon Street."

Unfortunately we have no copy of

this paper although it was probably

issued for at least six months, if not

a year. As late as February 1790

Bartgis wanted apprentices "that can

read and write the German language."

It can be assumed that this news-

paper failed for lack of readers. Bart-

gis had to experience what Ambrose

Henkel and Jacob D. Dietrich found

out a few years later, namely that

there was not sufficient interest in the

affairs of the world and of the state

among the Valley Germans to support

a newspaper of their own.

JOHN WISE IN STAUNTON

No books or pamphlets in German

are extant from the press of John

Wise, but we derive from his imprint

in English publications that he did

printing work in German. On the

title page of an oration printed by

him in 1800 his imprint reads:

"Printed by John Wise, at his Eng-

lish and German Printing Office." He

was a soldier under General Wayne

during the Revolutionary War and

settled in Staunton before the close

of the century. For some time he

published a newspaper in Staunton,

presumably in English. He died in

1807, the year when Jacob D. Die-

trich moved to Staunton.

[55]

THE HENKEL FAMILY IN NEW

MARKET

Much has been written about the

Henkel family, too much of it based

on traditions and mere conjectures.

Only recently the author succeeded in

locating most of the business and per-

sonal files as they were kept by the

leading members of the family. Sev-

eral hundred letters and manuscript

copy for the newspaper and many of

their books which have so far been

untapped by historians turned up in

basements and stowage rooms. The

evaluation of this copious material is

in progress. A brief survey may suffice

here.

The idea of acquiring a press for

the printing of Lutheran religious lit-

erature, especially of the conference

reports, originated with the Pastors

Paul Henkel and Adolph Nüssmann

in North Carolina. When Paul Hen-

kel removed from North Carolina to

New Market in 1786, he hoped to

carry out this project in Virginia. At

first a press that was for sale in Lin-

coln, N. C. was to be bought, but this

did not realize. When the Lutheran

Conference in 1805 gave him charge

of putting the conference minutes in

print, he took the order to John

Gruber in Hagerstown. There he also

negotiated about buying a press and

type with Gruber. It was not until

June 1806 that Gruber agreed to sup-

ply the necessary implements for a

print shop in New Market at a reason-

able rate. Paul Henkel's oldest son,

Solomon, was put in charge of the

shop, while his younger son, Ambrose,

hurriedly received some instruction

by Gruber about how to print a few

sheets which left the Henkel press

already during the later part of 1806.

Gruber could not keep his promise to

hire a skilled printer for the Henkels

since no journeyman was willing to

go to New Market. Thus, Ambrose

Henkel had to learn the craft himself.

In the spring of 1807 he went to

York County, Pennsylvania as an

apprentice to Starck and Lang. It

was there that he printed the pros-

pectus for his newspaper Der Virgin-

ische Volksberichter. While he was

still in the North the prospectus was

circulated throughout the Valley.

Immediately after his return he pub-

lished the first number of his news-

paper in December 1807. This marks

the beginning of a successful printing

business which flourished over 125

years in the Shenandoah Valley.

Ambrose was the principal printer

and headed the print shop from 1807

until 1815, for five years (1810-1815)

in co-partnership with Solomon Hen-

kel and Lawrence Wartmann. He

compiled the ABC-books, wrote the

children's books and made all the

woodcuts that were used for the vari-

ous publications. Solomon was the

sole owner of the shop after 1815. He

sold and distributed the products of

the press from his store. Paul, the

father, and Charles Henkel contrib-

uted as authors, Andrew, Philip,

David, Sylvanus and Samuel Henkel

served as printers at one or another

time during the 27 years of German

printing.

Although Ambrose and Solomon

Henkel were the most instrumental

members of the crew, the operation of

the Henkel print shop was truly a

family affair. 88 of the 97 German

imprints of the period covered by this

check list originated with the Henkel

press. The long list of juvenile prim-

ers, story books, moral tracts, song

and prayer books, and conference re-

ports in German were of eminent im-

portance to the churches, schools and

homes of the Germans in the Valley.

JACOB D. DIETRICH IN STAUNTON

Jacob D. Dietrich was one of the

most enterprising printers of his days.

Very little has been known about him

up to now. The author has devoted

several years of research in four states

to shed some light on this interesting

figure of early American journalism.

Dietrich, "an emigrant from the

Fatherland," started his career in

Pennsylvania and followed the trail

[56]

of the German settlers through West-

ern Maryland into Virginia and Ohio.

We meet him first as the owner of a

book store in Chambersburg, Pennsyl-

vania during the last decade of the

18th century. Although books seem

to have been his major item, he ad-

vertized "ironmongery, paint, patent

medicines and fancy goods" along

with imported and domestic books.

In November, 1800 he removed to

Hagerstown, Maryland where he

opened his book store and a circulat-

ing library. John Gruber printed sev-

eral editions of a German almanac

especially for Dietrich's store, while

an English "Clerk's Magazine" was

printed for him by John Thomson in

Frederick, Maryland. For two years

the "Dietrich almanac" was pub-

lished in Hagerstown and Winchester

simultaneously. Both editions are en-

tirely identical and set with the same

type, except for the cover and title

page. (Cf. Nos. 1, 2). It can be

rightly assumed that the Winchester

edition was actually printed in Hag-

erstown and merely sold through his

branch book store in Winchester. In

summer 1807 Dietrich moved to

Staunton where he began at once

publication of the weekly Staunton

Eagle. Already in December, 1807 he

prepared a German edition of the

Eagle which came out for the first

time on January 22, 1808. This news-

paper, like the two other German

sheets that had preceded it, did not

meet with sufficient support and did

not outlast two years.

In 1812 he received a call to take

over a Republican weekly in Lan-

caster, Ohio. He edited for several

years the Ohio Eagle and Der Deu-

tsche Ohio Adler, served as a judge

for two terms, took an active part in

public life, and died as a distinguished

citizen in 1839.

LAWRENCE WARTMANN IN

HARRISONBURG

As a young journeyman Lawrence

Wartmann came down from Pennsyl-

vania to work for John Gruber at

Hagerstown. In 1810 he joined the

Henkels at New Market. When their

business was not going too good, he

commuted between New Market and

Harrisonburg, printing in German for

the Henkels and in English for David-

son & Bourne in Harrisonburg. In

1816 he started his own printing busi-

ness in Harrisonburg. Three rather

important books came off his press:

Johannes Braun's Circularschreiben

an die Deutschen Einwohner von

Rockingham County which contains

the 130 pages "Treatise on Slavery,"

the only German work on that sub-

ject in the South, the Heidelberg

Catechism for the Reformed Church

in Virginia, and Joseph Funk's Choral

Music, a union hymn book for all

German denominations. From 1822

on Wartmann published the Rocking-

ham Register (discontinued in 1914).

He died 66 years old in Harrisonburg

in 1840.

The peak of German printing in the

Shenandoah Valley coincided with the

begin of the language transition of the

settlers. The close connection that

existed between Pennsylvania, West-

ern Maryland and the Valley of Vir-

ginia began to loosen. The counties

of the Valley became more and more

oriented toward eastern Virginia.

Surrounded by English-speaking peo-

ple in the East, West, and South,

living in a state where the English

element was most dominant in all

public affairs, the German language

quickly was replaced by English. As

of today there are only a few isolated

communities around Dayton, in Rock-

ingham County, where a German dia-

lect is still spoken by some families.

Generally the transition set in during

the twenties and thirties of the last

century. By 1830 the flood of Ger-

man books put out by the Henkels

suddenly dried to a trickle and then

disappeared forever. At first the Hen-

kels had tried to stem the Americani-

zation but they had finally given in

when they published their ABC book

in English and German. Also Wart-

[57]

mann concluded his scope of German

printing with an English and German

edition of the Heidelberg catechism,

thus facilitating the language transi-

tion and helping the people of the

Valley to become full-fledged Ameri-

cans.

In compiling this check list the

author enjoyed the most valuable as-

sistance of Mr. John Cook Wyllie of

the Alderman Library, University of

Virginia who was untiringly con-

cerned with the project during every

phase. Much gratitude is owed to

Mrs. Henry I. Tusing of New Market,

Virginia, whose almost complete col-

lection of Henkel books and files con-

tributed largely to whatever complete-

ness this study represents. Mr. Jo-

seph K. Ruebush of Harrisonburg,

and Miss Agnes Kline of the Bridge-

water College Library gave much of

their time and know