Advertisements from the York Recorder gives us an glimpse into educational offerings in York Town in the early 1800s. The first is for a small girls school, probably run out of a home: EDUCATION &c. &. Misses THOMSON and SCANLAN take the liberty of informing the inhabitants of York, and
I never tire looking at the drawings of York folk artist Lewis Miller (1796-1882). His illustrations depicting town and rural life during the first half of the 19th century are so detailed. He wrote captions, most just a few sentences, but some quite lengthy, adding more insight into the daily
I have been looking at old photos of York’s square, following the various sites where Punch, the wooden cigar store statue, offered his bundle of cigars over the decades. The earliest photo of Punch (see above) also shows a very large sign for the Gazette Printing Office atop the building.
I have shared stories of some of the well-known persons who attended or taught at the York County Academy. They include Thaddeus Stevens, abolitionist and congressman and Samuel Bacon, charged by President Monroe with the founding of Liberia. Fellow blogger Jim McClure has shared information on other noted YCA alumni,
Remember the pressure of final exams? Putting pencil to paper doesn’t seem so bad when compared to oral exams conducted in public and advertised in the newspaper, as seen by the clipping below from an early York paper: York. April 22, 1789 There will be a public examination of the
My post yesterday was on Eib’s Landing in present East Manchester Township. When I was doing research and looking at maps for that post and a prior one on the covered bridge over the Gut, I found an undated plan in the York County Heritage Trust files for nearby Liverpool,
Lewis Miller recorded the quirks and humor he found in the citizens of 19th century York County. No detail was too small to escape his pen and brush. In a recent post I shared Miller’s depiction of a dog stealing an unattended sausage at the tavern run by Martin and
Newspapers of the past give a good look at the lives of our forebears. The advertisements can sometimes reveal more than news items. The ad below, from the York Gazette, for Richard Porter’s tavern, store, house with barn and other outbuildings, livestock, farm equipment, furniture and land, including an island
As you know, the southeastern/southcentral Pennsylvania area was settled early, and then, as families grew, some members spread out through the rest of the country from here. The western parts of Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina beckoned, as the settlers travelled down the valleys in quest of land. Some went
History is full or “what ifs.” We can only speculate on how a different path could have affected outcomes of important events in our history. We might be familiar with the life of Thaddeus Stevens and his role in Congress as a strong advocate for the Emancipation Proclamation and the