NOTES AND DOCUMENTS
George Trisler (1768-1845) of Frederick, Maryland
Early in 1788 the well known Maryland printer, Matthias Bartgis, was
looking for " a Journeyman Printer, Who is Master of the German lan-
guage" for his branch office in Winchester, Virginia. It was not until
the middle of the year 1789 that Bartgis could send a bilingual craftsman
to Virginia. The name of the man who edited, published and partly printed
the newspaper and handbills in English and German in Winchester had
so far escaped researchers. Recently records in Frederick, Maryland
revealed that Bartgis' helper in Winchester was a young man whom he
had trained in his Maryland publishing firm: George Trisler, a native of
Frederick.
Trisler's parents had come from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania to
Frederick where George was born in 1768. He grew up speaking German
and English and after schooling in the local Lutheran Church he was
apprenticed to Bartgis. This remarkable " newspaper king " of the Ameri-
can hinterland beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains entrusted 21 year old
George Trisler with his branch business in Winchester. For less than two
years, the unexperienced young man struggled with a newspaper that was
beset by considerable financial difficulties and by heavy competition. By
January 1792, Bartgis sold his Virginia Gazette to Richard Bowen, pub-
lisher of the Centinel in Winchester and Trisler was without a job. Despite
the discouraging experience with Bartgis' business, Trisler felt inclined to
pursue a commercial career. He entered the mercantile firm of Henry
Schroeder in Baltimore as a clerk. Schroeder was one of the leading German
businessmen in Baltimore and served for a number of years as a vice
president of the German Society. In 1794 Trisler married in Baltimore. A
year later returned to Frederick to set up a business of his own. From
1799 to 1803 we find George Trisler once more in Winchester, at first as
a partner in the firm of Trisler & Haff and after 1801 as the sole publisher
and proprietor of the Winchester Triumph of Liberty. Soon after 1803
he seems to have returned permanently to Maryland to open a store in
Frederick which remained for decades one of the largest general stores in
Western Maryland. He was active in politics, first as a Jeffersonian Repub-
lican and later transferred his partisan allegiance to the Jacksonians. Al-
though he was widely known as a merchant, most fellow-citizens considered
him as "their poet." Indeed, numerous fugitive poetical productions by
him can be found in the early newspapers of Frederick and Winchester,
particularly in the files of the Maryland Chronicle, the Virginia Museum
and Winchester Philanthropist. George Trisler died in Frederick in 1845.
KW.
Additional Items for the Virginia Bibliography
Since the publication of the bibliography of " German Settlements and
Immigration in Virginia " in The Report 33 (pp. 47-59), the following
additions and corrections have been received:
[48]
Beasley, Ellen, " Appendix " (Report on Re-
search on Isaac Hite and Belle Grove),
Historic Preservation XX (1968), iii-iv,
73-84.
Jackson, George Pullen, White Spirituals in
the Southern Uplands (Chapel Hill, 1983).
[Jenner, Samuel], Neu-gefundenes Eden, Oder
ausführlicher Bericht von Süd- und Nord-
Carolina, Pensilphania, Mary-Land & Vir-
ginia ([Bern], 1737).
Nichols, Frederick D., " Belle Grove in the
Developing Civilization of the Valley of
Virginia," Historic Preservation XX
(1968), iii-iv, 7-19.
Russell, William Greenway, What I Know
about Winchester (Winchester, Va., 1953).
[Publ. as Vol. II of Winchester-Frederick
County Historical Society Papers].
Smith, George M., " The Trade and Mysterie
of Farming," Historic Preservation XX
(1968), iii-iv, 40-49.
Stewart, John, " Shanghaiing in the Valley
of Virginia," Madison College Bulletin
XXIV (1966), ii, 97-105.
Wamsley, J. S., "Highland County Syrup
Time," The Commonwealth, XXIX (1962)
iv, 32-6.
Wust, Haus, " Folklore, Customs and Crafts
of the Valley Settlers," Historic Preserva-
tion XX (1968), iii-iv, 28-29.
Wust, Klaus, " The Wythe County Germans:
Beginnings in the 1740's," ECK Feb. 8,
1969.
Our Society is presently collecting bibliographical entries concerning
the German element in Maryland not included in the list which appeared
in The Maryland Germans by Dieter Cunz (pp. 439-449). We are particu-
larly interested in elusive items appearing in local and congregational
publications.
A collection of West Virginia material relating to German immigrants
and settlements is in preparation.
Babe Ruth's Birthplace in Baltimore
The birthplace of George Herman Erhardt, better known as Babe Ruth,
at 216 Emory Street, Baltimore, has been restored and converted into a
baseball museum at a cost of about $80,000. The house itself and three
adjacent row houses form the new museum complex. Babe Ruth was born
there on February 6, 1895. Visitors will be shown a film of the Yankee
slugger's career. A permanent exhibit of baseball mementoes has been
arranged. Erhardt like Frank Frisch, Lou Gehring, Honus Wagner and
Heinie Groh, all among the great baseball players of yesteryear, was the
son of German-born parents. He died in New York in 1948. During his
career he hit 714 major league home runs, a record that still stands.
[ 49]
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