Achievement, Technology and Worship
52 Ancestors - Achievement - Technology - Worship
Johann Cristopher Sauer (1695-1758) and son Christopher Sauer the 2nd (1721-1784)
My 6th and 5th great-grandfathers
I have decided to combine the next three categories of this project into one document, as all three fit together with the remarkable lives of this father and son team. These two men, together and separately, accomplished so many things during their lifetimes that it defies reason in today’s world. They did it all without the benefit of the tools we take for granted in the 21st century.
Johann Christopher Sauer (he Americanized his surname to Sower upon arriving in the colonies) arrived in the port of Philadelphia in 1724 with his wife and 3 year old son Christopher Sower “the younger.” Johann Christopher Sower the 1st was born in Ladenburg Germany in 1695. He made his home in Germantown, PA. In his younger years in Germany, he was a tailer, but once in America he set that aside and began making clocks, and repairing pots and pans.
Just two years after arriving in America, he had purchased a 50 acre farm in Lancaster County, PA, and started farming, but by 1731 he was back in Germantown, due to the fact that his wife left their home to join another religious sect of the German Baptist cloister in Pennsylvania. (The Sower family were part of the German Baptist Brethren religion, also referred to as “Dunkers,” due to the fact that they believed in whole-body immersion for baptism.)
Upon moving back to Germantown, he continued his clockmaking, but also opened an apothecary shop. He then learned to build cabinets and he built a glazier shop. By 1739 he had built a large 2-story stone house on a main road in Germantown.
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| Sower house and printshop |
Since arriving in America, Sower had seen the need for poor German immigrants to have books, almanacs and religious material in their own tongue. Benjamin Franklin and Andrew Bradford were printing a small amount of German language materials, but Sower found there was a great need for more.
Sower had no training in printing, a profession that usually required many years of apprenticeship first. However Sower had connections back in Germany, and in a few years he had managed to have a set of Gothic (Fraktur) type imported to him. For a printing press, Sower put his knowledge of cabinet and clock making to use. And using his chemistry knowledge, he made his “ink” and later sold it under the name “Sauer’s Curious Pennsylvania Ink Powder”.
Starting in 1739 Sower printed many smaller items such as hymnals, Catechisms, and he even started an almanac, and a newspaper, all in the German tongue. He was careful to keep current news out of these publications though, as he felt so much of the news could be untrue, and he didn’t want to spread rumors. These publications were all very popular with the German immigrants.
But Sower’s greatest accomplishment was printing an entire German language bible, which he felt compelled to do. After three years of work, he succeeded, printing1200 volumes of the first European-based language Bible in America. It was 7 1/2 x 10 inches, and contained 1,248 pages. Each full page had to be type set and printed for the entire edition, then the type was set again for the following page. The typeset for this 1743 edition was imported from Germany, and used the traditional “Fraktur” style for this Martin Luther German Bible. It was printed in “quarto” stye, meaning a full sheet contained 4 pages on each side. The full sheet was then cut to make the four separate pages.
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| Sauer 1743 bible |
Johann Christopher Sower remained active is printing business until his death in 1758, at the age of 63, making what I consider an enormous contribution to America. He loved the fact that in America he was free to do and build whatever he needed, and to pursue and accomplish so many of his interests, all the while adhering to his religious and pacifistic beliefs.
Christopher Sower “the younger”
Christopher Sower the II carried on in his father’s footsteps, learning the printing business from his father. He later took over the printing of various publications in the English language, as well as handling his father’s many businesses.
“Junior” was a highly educated person, studying with both Christopher Dock and Alexander Mack in Germantown. At age 26, he became a minister in the German Baptist Church, and a few years later was made a bishop in the same church. Christopher Jr is often referred to as “The Elder” due to his church duties. In fact, “Elder” is on his tombstone in The Methacton Mennonite Cemetery in Montgomery County, PA.
Even with his church responsibilities, he added to his father’s printing and apothecary businesses, increasing their worth and success. He also, with the help of others in the community, created the Germantown Academy.
When he was 29, he married Catherine Sharpnack, who was 26. They had eight children together. One of their children was Catherine, who went on to marry Samuel Harley, the namesake and founder of Harleysville, PA.
He also printed two more additions to the Bible his father had first printed. The 1763 edition was a 2,000 volume edition and was the first Bible printed in America on American-made paper. Since paper was hard to come by, they actually built their own paper mill. The 1776 edition was the first Bible printed from American-made typeset, manufactured by Justus Fox at the Sauer type foundry in Germantown. Most of the 1776 bible sheets were never bound though, because the British had invaded Germantown (one of the battles of the Revolutionary War.) and confiscated much of the unbound pages and used them for cartridge paper for their muskets, and for litter for their horses. This bible version is often referred to as the “gun-wad Bible.”
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| 1776 Sower Bible |
Successful as he was, his fortunes were reversed during the Revolutionary War due to his religious convictions against war itself, as he was a pacifist. The patriots identified him as a loyalist, and as a result his property and possessions were confiscated when he refused to take an oath against the British. He was treated very harshly, being dragged from his home, forced to march miles through cornfield and farmland, after being stripped naked, his hair and beard cut, and painted with red and black oil. Days later he was allowed to return to Methactin, PA, but all of his possessions and property were confiscated and sold. He lived out his final years and days virtually penniless, under the care of his daughter Catherine and friends. He died in 1784, and was buried in the Methactin Cemetery.
In conclusion, I would like to add a few thoughts. The information here is only a brief overview of the lives and accomplishments of this father and son. There is so much more to their stories. The Sower Publishing company continued on for many generations after this. One fascinating item they published was “A Genealogical Chart of the Descendants of Christopher Sower, Printer of Germantown, Philadelphia, PA.” My mother’s father, C. Wilbur Harley, (a descendant of Christopher Sower) was provided a copy of this, or it was given to him by his father. Its unknown how he got it. I suspect that each descendant living at the time was provided one. It was published in 1887, and was a massive 4’ by 12’, and was folded up much like a road map. It was housed in a felt covered box. I remember seeing this when I was a teenager in the attic of our home, and even then I was fascinated by it. The sad part of the story is that when my parents retired and moved to NC this treasure was lost in the move. However, a few years ago I was able to see another one that the Minnesota Historical Society owns. It is amazing to even think that something this large was printed in 1887! I am still on the lookout for one.
Also, in 2017 I took a trip by myself from Fargo to eastern Pennsylvania to do some family history research and visit some cemeteries in and around Harleysville, PA. On a Sunday morning I went to the Methacton Mennonite Church to see the cemetery where Christopher Sower (the II, also the church Elder) my 5th great grandfather was buried. Being it was Sunday, I also took part in the church service there that morning. Everyone there was so welcoming. It was quite the morning, and I am still in awe that this happened.
Below is a photograph I took of his tombstone the was erected in 1938 by some of his descendants. Notice the fallen branches of a tree around the tombstone. This was a huge Methacton (white oak) tree that had grown almost 4 centuries in the corner of the cemetery. Just a few days before I arrived there, the tree had been struck by lightning and had fallen. The branches just missed hitting this tombstone.
