Matthias Echternacht Bartgis (1791-1849)
MSA SC 3520-14988
Biography:
Matthias Echternacht Bartgis, son of the pioneering printer of Frederick, MD, Matthias Bartgis, was born on January 4, 1791 in Frederick, MD. In 1811 he was made a partner in his father's business and helped him publish the Hornet and Bartgis’ Republican Gazette, among others.1 After his father's death Bartgis inherited the press and published several newspapers by himself.2 Bartgis kept several journals during his lifetime; one, in the possession of the Maryland State Archives, details his time in the Frederick Militia in the 1810s and mentions his time spent in Baltimore during the War of 1812, as well as drafts of letters to his wife Margaret Dertzbaugh and their numerous children.3 The latter half of the journal contains an account of his daily travels as a peddler in western Maryland and Pennsylvania during 1819, with detailed descriptions of each town and incidents that happened along the way.
Wednesday, 23d - Sulphur Springs -The quotes from Bartgis' journal reveal him to be well-educated and a staunch Republican like his father, with quotes from Washington, Franklin, and Jefferson as well as Pope, Shakespeare, and Hume.5
or New Windsor - Nine Miles......Had a conversation with a
Mr. Dotrow, living on the road, a man
apparently 60 years of age; told, when
first married, he went to Philadelphia
with a load of flour, then living at his
fathers in Lancaster Country, Pennsylvania,
there bought himself three knives with
forks, which his father was much dis-
pleased at, considering it great ex-
travagance: it was customary for all
to carry pocket knives, such were
generally made use of – his father
had not at that time any knives
and forks in his family, although
a house-keeper more than twenty
years...4
Bartgis was eventually elected mayor of Frederick and died in office in 1849 of jandus.6
Biography written by 2008 summer intern Rachel Bartgis.
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