But in a letter he is said to have spoken of his
daughter's filial conduct towards him and his undi- >
minished love for his wife.¹²² He died on October 12,
1820; his funeral was held from the home of John H.
Ewaldt on the Reister Town Road, Baltimore,¹²³ where
he probably died, for he had apparently been estranged
from his family because of his daughter's marriage.

Considerable research has, prior to this time,
been done on Samuel Sower. He was a member of a
famous printing family. He was very nearly a first
printer - and certainly the first printer about whom
many details art, known - in the annals of the German
press of Baltimore, as well as a famous early American
type founder. Many of the books and pamphlets from
his press may be found today in American libraries,
and complete - or nearly complete - collections of
his almanacs have been made, notably at the Historical
Society of Pennsylvania. There are a few gaps in the
chronicle of his work, caused, mostly by the absence
of nearly every issue of his newspaper.

During Sower's printing career in Baltimore, there
was German printing in Western Maryland. Matthias
Eartgla continued his German and English work in Fred-
erick; and at almost the same time that Sower estab-

122 Ibid. p. 17,

123 Federal gazette. October 13, 1820.