St. Luke Lutheran cemetery ca.1900 I’m on the Cemetery Committee at my church, St. Luke’s Lutheran in Chanceford Township, where both my husband’s family and mine go back over 200 years. The cemetery was one of about 500 cemeteries in York and Adams counties that were recorded during the 1930s
A previous post included my York Sunday News column on the “royal” reception given to Alderman Henry Rhodes Brown and his wife, Clara, during the 150th Anniversary celebration of Congress meeting here in York. Brown, a former Lord Mayor of York, England was selected on short notice to represent that
Browns of York, England welcomed to Pennsylvania You just never know when new information comes to light. Just recently the York County Heritage Trust Library/Archives was contacted by a descendant Henry Rhodes Brown, twice Lord Mayor of York, England. The family found a diary kept by Brown’s wife, Clara during
York County was forever changed when the British occupied Philadelphia, then the capital of the recently united states, in 1777. Continental Congress needed a fairly safe place to meet, eventually settling into a small town 100 miles to the west, putting a fair distance and a wide river between themselves
Historical research is so intriguing because it is all about making discoveries and solving mysteries. You just never know when that ah-ha moment is going to happen. A friend showed me the watercolor portrait above recently. It is attributed to folk artist Jacob Maentel, who lived in York County part
There were quite a few news stories the past week on the “Bonusgate” grand jury recommendations that Pennsylvania General Assembly reform its wasteful spending practices. Is this a new problem? Don’t answer that until you read the excerpt below from the November 6, 1782 Freeman’s Journal, a Philadelphia newspaper. (At
View of part of probable Camp Security area There is admittedly a lot we still don’t know about Camp Security, but that doesn’t mean that we aren’t looking. Until more archaeological digs are done, we won’t know any more about the physical location. The artifacts and signs of location found
Lewis Miller drawings of James Smith, Sr. and James Smith, Jr. In my recent York Sunday News column I addressed how little we know about York’s signer of the Declaration of Independence, James Smith. There are even differences among the few illustrations we have of what Smith may or may
Simon Snyder, Pennsylvania Governor 1808-1817 Simon Snyder, who served from 1808 to 1817, was the first of many Pennsylvania Governors to have Pennsylvania German roots. George Leader, Governor from 1955 to 1959, the only York County-born governor, was another. Even though Simon Snyder wasn’t born in York County, biographies of
Masthead of a York-printed Pennsylvania Gazette. The Pennsylvania Gazette newspaper is an extremely important source of information on the Revolutionary War era. Besides carrying general news of the war, the Gazette disseminated official proceedings of Continental Congress. The publishers, Hall and Sellers, were also authorized by Congress to issue broadsides