Christopher Sower III

Christopher Sower (27 January 1754 Germantown, Pennsylvania – 3 July 1799 Baltimore, Maryland) was a printer and publisher in Pennsylvania.

Biography

He was the son of Christopher Sower the younger and the grandson of Christopher Sower the elder. He developed a strong distaste for those who criticized the German sectarians^{[notes 1]} and their beliefs. These critics included Benjamin Franklin, Henry Melchior Muhlenberg and John Henry Miller. With his preferences, Sower was naturally of loyalist sympathies before and during the Revolutionary War.^[1]

He received his father's Germantown home and printing and publishing operations in 1774 when they were handed over to him without legal formality.^[2] He then began publishing a newspaper, Germantowner Zeitung, which had a loyalist tone so far as the authorities allowed. When the British occupied Philadelphia in 1777, he moved there. During this time he was wounded and captured by rebel troops; he was released by exchange a short time later. He accompanied the British to New York City in 1778 when they abandoned Philadelphia. That year the family belongings were confiscated and sold by the rebels.^[1]

After Corwallis's defeat, Sower went to England from New York and received an indemnification for his losses. In 1785 he went to New Brunswick where he was deputy postmaster and king's printer. He died in the Baltimore house of his brother.^[1]

Notes

1. ^ Quakers, Mennonites, Schwenkfelders, Moravians and the Dunker sect of his father. See George Harvey Genzmer (1935). "Sower, Christopher (September 1721 - August 26, 1784)". Dictionary of American Biography. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} James O. Knauss (1935). "Sower, Christopher (January 27, 1754 - July 3, 1799)". Dictionary of American Biography. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 
2. ^ George Harvey Genzmer (1935). "Sower, Christopher (September 1721 - August 26, 1784)". Dictionary of American Biography. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 

•  "Sower, Christopher". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1900. 
• John B. Frantz (1999). "Sower, Christopher, II". American National Biography. New York: Oxford University Press. 
• Christopher Sower III at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online

Persondata
Name	Sower, Christopher
Alternative names
Short description	Printer and publisher
Date of birth	27 January 1754
Place of birth	Germantown, Pennsylvania
Date of death	3 July 1799
Place of death	Baltimore, Maryland