172

grew and prospered, and in 1790, Stewart Herbert set
up a press there.

From the information on his tombstone in St.
John's churchyard in Hagerstown, it may be recorded
that Herbert was born on February 12, 1754. Where he
was born is uncertain. He may have come from Lancaster,
Pennsylvania, for there was a Stewart Herbert operat-
ing a press on Queen Street in that city in 1774.⁶

Herbert's Lancaster origins are further corrobo-
rated by numerous references in the printed volumes
of Pennsylvania Archives to the Revolutionary services
of Stewart Herbert of Lancaster County. The fact that
Stewart Herbert, the Hagerstown printer, served in the
Revolution is attested by his obituary notice:

His memory shall be saved from the obliterating
ravages of time, because it will be ever grate-
fully remembered, that Capt. Herbert was among
the number who fought and bled for American
liberty.⁷

However, these citations in the Pennsylvania Ar-
chives cannot with any certainty be attributed to
Hagerstown's first printer, for the Pension Records
in the National Archives in Washington prove that
there was another Stewart Herbert, a man who lived in
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, at least during his

6 Thomas, Isaiah. A history of printing in America
v. 2, p. 87.

7 Washington spy. March lo, 1795.