Our area has a high concentration of descendants of so called “Hessians.” This general term was applied to those soldiers from German-speaking regions whose rulers hired out their regiments to fight on the side of the British during the Revolutionary War. (Germany did not become a confederated nation until 1871,
My previous post shared a July 21, 1905 article from the York Daily about Dr. Reed of Lancaster coming to look for the camp where his grandfather guarded Revolutionary War prisoners. We know the site today as Camp Security. Dr. Reed’s visit must have been important in the news of
I found this article from the July 21, 1905 York newspaper, probably the York Daily, in the Jere Carl scrapbooks at the York County History Center. Little articles about Camp Security pop up every now and then in the old newspapers. Even though these articles might not be completely accurate, as
You might be familiar with two books featuring drawings of Lewis Miller published by The Historical Society of York County/York County Heritage Trust/York County History Center over the years. Lewis Miller, Sketches and Chronicles: The Reflections of a Nineteenth Century Pennsylvania German Folk Artist (1966) is out of print; Lewis
My recent post shared some of the World War II related items from one page of the Gazette and Daily of October 1943. The rest are transcribed below. We might tend today to forget how such a major conflict affects just about all of those left back home, whether missing
I often use newspapers of the past to look into the lives of those who have proceeded us. The York County History Center has local newspapers on microfilm from the late 1700s up to the present. In addition, the YCHC Library/Archives now has a subscription for Pennsylvania newspapers at newspapers.com
We probably have all known local people who bravely served in the military during World War II. During that time the home front was also very busy. I have written columns and blog posts about the York Plan, the system of cooperatively switching our factories from peacetime to wartime production
The present-day Spring Garden Band traces its existence back before the Civil War. The group of musicians served as the 87th Regiment band during the war. I found this September 1, 1892 York Daily clipping in the York County Heritage Trust Library/Archives files. It lists the members and their instruments
Sources say that about 350,000 women served in the United States armed forces during World War II. WACS (Women’s Army Corps), WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service in the Navy, women in the Coast Guard (SPARS) and Women Marines served as nurses, administrators, instructors, office workers and in many
I have learned a lot about the Revolutionary War era in the past six years or so since I stepped up my research on Camp Security. Did you ever wonder how those farmers, merchants and craftsmen in the far flung reaches of York County, including the area that is now