Series 1 contains invoices, arrest warrants, and tax collector books for the city of Lancaster. Invoices that were approved by the city council in 1878, 1883 and 1884 for payroll and supplies include road and bridge maintenance, water works, fire departments, clerk and inspection work, and costs incurred by the city during an outbreak of small pox. Arrest warrants for 1918-1919 show names of defendant(s) and police officer, the charge, date and case number. There are also tax collector records for 1860-1889, incomplete.
Series 2 contains documents regarding the market houses, waterworks, lamps, roads, railroad and city ordinances. Petitions support a candidate for night watchman, seek to repeal an ordinance for hanging signs and regulations for public scales, and request a reward for the apprehension of a murderer. There is an 1815 naturalization certificate for James Williams and a resolution regarding a visit of Gen. Andrew Jackson.
Series 3 contains miscellaneous items related to the Borough of Lancaster (1742 to 1818) found in the Document Collection. Items include an act regulating the buildings and keeping in repair the streets, lanes, and alley of Lancaster, passed 14 January 1774; oaths of office sworn by various men from 1764 to 1769; and an extract of Lancaster Borough laws enacted 22 January 1774 reporting the regulations and fines of this borough.
George and Rhonda Andreadis Collection of Lancaster City Records (MG0545)
Notes
Preferred Citation: Title or description of item, date (day, month, year), Collection Title (MG#), Series #, Box #, Folder #, (or Object ID), LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. URL if applicable. Date accessed (day, month, year).
Access Conditions / Restrictions
Please use digital images and transcriptions when available. Original documents may be used by appointment--contact Research@LancasterHistory.org prior to visit.
Copyright
Collection may not be photocopied. Please direct questions to Research Center Staff at Research@LancasterHistory.org.
Permission for reproduction and/or publication must be obtained in writing from LancasterHistory.
Credit
Courtesy of LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
The Christiana Resistance, commonly referred to as the "Christiana Riot," occurred in September of 1851 in Christiana, Pennsylvania, a borough in Lancaster County. The events known as the Christiana Resistance include an attack from slaveholders in Maryland on the inhabitants and home of William Parker (1821-1891), a free Black man living in Christiana, Pennsylvania. The slaveholders crossed the state border, and attempted claim and return the Freedom Seekers as their property, under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.
The violent confrontation resulted in the death of Edward Gorsuch, a slaveholder, and the escape of William Parker to freedom in Canada. Edward's son, Dickinson Gorsuch, was
wounded and taken to the farm of Levi Pownall, where the Pownall family nursed him back to health. Historically, this event challenged the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and is considered a
precursor to the Civil War.
The collection contains 2 distinct series: documents and photographs, from 1803-1971. Documents include: land drafts and deeds, correspondence to and from the Pownall family regarding the incident, notes regarding kidnappings in the area from 1850-1851, photocopied pages of Dickinson Gorsuch's diary, and published accounts of the event, memorializations, announcements and a radio drama related to or inspired by the Christiana Resistance event of 1851.
Contained in the photograph series are photographs of: the event place and places related to the Christiana Resistance, the Pownall farm, event monuments, daguerreotypes of key figures and survivors of the resistance.
Moores Memorial Library (Christiana, Pa.) owns some of the most significant manuscript material relating to the Christiana Resistance. The staff of Moores Memorial Library, part of the Library System of Lancaster County, and the Lancaster County Historical Society worked together to arrange and preserve the collection and create a finding aid to make the materials accessible to the public.
Funds for this project were provided by the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) in 2001.
Admin/Biographical History
The Christiana Resistance, commonly referred to as the "Christiana Riot" occurred in September of 1851 in Christiana, Pennsylvania, a borough in Lancaster County. The events known as the Christiana Resistance include an attack from slaveholders in Maryland on the inhabitants and home of William Parker a free Black man living in Christiana, Pennsylvania. The slaveholders crossed the state border, and attempted claim and return the freedom seekers as their property, under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.
The violent confrontation resulted in the death of Edward Gorsuch, a slaveholder, and the escape of William Parker to freedom in Canada. Edward's son, Dickinson Gorsuch, was wounded and taken to the farm of Levi Pownall, where the Pownall family nursed him back to health. Historically, this event challenged the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and is considered a precursor to the Civil War.
System of Arrangement
Series 1 Manuscript and Printed Material, 1803-1955
The digital images of the manuscript and printed material are 300 dpi JPGs; the photographs are 600 dpi JPGs.
Object Name
Archive
Language
English
Object ID
CHRISTIANA RESISTANCE
Location of Originals
Moores Memorial Library
9 West Slokom Avenue
Christiana, PA 17509
chrlib@christianalibrary.org
610-593-6683 or 610-593-6687
Access Conditions / Restrictions
The attached images have been provided for research. The original items are restricted for preservation purposes.
Copyright
The attached images may be used for research purposes only.
Please contact Moores Memorial Library for high resolution images and permission to publish:
Moores Memorial Library
9 West Slokom Avenue
Christiana, PA 17509
chrlib@christianalibrary.org
610-593-6683 or 610-593-6687
Credit
Christiana Resistance Collection, Series #, Folder #, Moores Memorial Library
Classification
CHRISTIANA RESISTANCE
Description Level
Fonds
Custodial History
Moores Memorial Library (Christiana, Pa.) owns some of the most significant manuscript material relating to the Christiana Resistance. The staff of Moores Memorial Library, part of the Library System of Lancaster County, and the Lancaster County Historical Society worked together to arrange and preserve the collection and create a finding aid to make the materials accessible to the public.
The collection contains correspondence to and from the Pownall family regarding the incident, notes regarding kidnappings in the area from 1850-1851, photocopied pages of Dickinson Gorsuch's diary, and published accounts. An 1896 photograph shows Peter Woods and Samuel Hopkins, survivors of the riot. There are also photographs of the Christiana Riot House, the Pownall farm, and key figures in the riot and at the Treason Trials of 1851.
The staff of Moores Memorial Library, part of the Library System of Lancaster County, and the Lancaster County Historical Society worked together to arrange and preserve the collection and create a finding aid to make the materials accessible to the public. Funds for this project were provided by the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) in 2001.
Collection consists largely of information on the descendants of Edward Hand and on the Hand Family Reunion. Contains correspondence, genealogical materials, family charts, photographs, and commemorative booklet 1912, on Lancaster County in the Revolutionary War. Also, three documents concerning the settling of the Hand estate.
This collection consists of calendars containing photographs, drawings, and prints from Lancaster County and the surrounding region. Some depict local culture, architecture, historic sites, events, or have Pennsylvania Dutch sayings. There are also backs of calendars containing information about Lancaster.
3 boxes, 14 folders, 3 oversized folders, 2 cubic ft.
Object Name
Archive
Language
English
Object ID
MG0070
Location of Originals
LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Access Conditions / Restrictions
Restrictions noted at the item level. Restricted items may be used by appointment. Please contact research@lancasterhistory.org at least two weeks prior to visit.
Copyright
Collection may not be photocopied. Please direct questions to Research Center Staff at research@lancasterhistory.org.
Permission for reproduction and/or publication must be obtained in writing from LancasterHistory.
Credit
Courtesy of LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Collection of Ellmaker family papers, including original papers of the first immigrant, John Leonard Ellmaker of Germany. Papers include correspondence, genealogy charts, deeds and legal papers. newspaper clippings, photographs, articles on Jacob Eichholtz, and a diploma and teachers' certificate. There is also a blank book with paper made at Ephrata Cloister in 1796.
Preferred Citation: Title or description of item, date (day, month, year), Collection Title (MG#), Box #, Folder #, (or Object ID), LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. URL if applicable. Date accessed (day, month, year).
Access Conditions / Restrictions
No restrictions. Please request at Reference Desk or contact Research@LancasterHistory.org prior to visit.
Copyright
Collection may be photographed. Please direct questions to Research Center Staff at Research@LancasterHistory.org.
Permission for reproduction and/or publication must be obtained in writing from LancasterHistory. Persons wishing to publish any material from this site must assume all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants of copyright or other use restrictions. Publication fees may apply.
Credit
Courtesy of LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Classification
MG0071
Description Level
Fonds
Custodial History
Cataloged prior to 1997. Added to database 23 October 2018.
The John Wise and History of Ballooning Collection contains material about John Wise, a pioneering balloonist from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and the history of ballooning. Articles written by and about John Wise provide information about the man and his career. The bulk of Series 1 is correspondence, research notes, and drafts of "The John Wise Story," by John H. Andrews. Series 2 contains material about the ballooning hobby, other early aircraft, and the history of air mail.
Admin/Biographical History
As an adventurous and inquisitive young boy, John Wise was drawn to the skies above his native Lancaster County. He was fascinated by aerial pursuits and began to conduct experiments. He tied his cat to his homemade parachute and observed the cat's safe descent from a local church steeple.
A keen interest in ballooning developed and Wise became a famous aeronaut. Although balloon ascensions were common at county fairs and carnivals he had never observed an ascension before he made his first one in Philadelphia in 1835. John Wise completed 462 balloon ascensions including Lancaster ascensions from Penn Square and the prison yard.
In the nineteenth century many ascensions were made just for the novelty of the event, but John Wise's approach was from a scientific perspective. Each ascension gave him a chance to conduct scientific investigations of the atmosphere, pneumatics and hydrostatics.
It also gave him the opportunity to develop a more advanced flying machine. Wise was the first to observe the "great river of air which always blows from west to east" in the higher regions of the atmosphere. Today we call this phenomenon the jet stream. He also developed the ripcord safety mechanism.
John Wise promoted the advantages of balloon transportation. In 1843 he conceived a project for crossing the Atlantic Ocean and asked Congress to appropriate $15,000 for the project. Congress rejected the appropriation. Wise suggested a plan to bomb the Castle at Vera Cruz during the Mexican War and during the Civil War the Bureau of Topographical Engineers requested his services as a balloonist. He is credited with the first airmail transportation in 1859.
Detailed descriptions of his ascensions and experiments are found in his book, Through the Air, published in 1873. The last ascent of John Wise took place on September 29, 1879 from St. Louis, Missouri. This flight ended disastrously in Lake Michigan where his balloon fell and his remains lie.
Prepared by the Lancaster County Historical Society, ca. 1995.
The Hubley Collection contains legal documents, case papers, family and military papers, wills, deeds, bills and receipts, indentures for servants and enslaved persons, correspondence, petitions, and church-related information.
Admin/Biographical History
John Hubley and Joseph Hubley were Lancaster attorneys.
System of Arrangement
The legal papers are arranged chronologically. Case papers are arranged
alphabetically by surname of the plaintiff or defendant. Family papers are grouped by the family member's name and chronologically within that name. Box 6 is arranged chronologically.
Collection includes waste books and an account book from the Salisbury Store, Justice of the Peace dockets, child's school exercise books, receipts, summons, letters, and other papers.
Collection contains personal and business papers of John H. Hook. His 1906 diary is a record of his family and social life, business meetings, local baseball games, weather and Lancaster businesses, such as Long's Park, the Stevens Industrial School, Ann Street School and Federal Cigar Co. The billhead is an example of purchases made by his customers.
Admin/Biographical History
Copied from Biographical Annals of Lancaster County, Pa., 1903 by J. H. Beers & Co., page 746-747:
JOHN H. HOOK, who is a prominent citizen of Lancaster, Pa., and one who has long been identified with the material improvement and growth of the city, was born April 5, 1858, in Lancaster, a son of John and Catherine (Klaus) Hook, natives of Greiss, Gross-Gerau, Hessen Darmstadt, Germany, although they met and were married in Lancaster, Pa. John Hook emigrated to America in 1831, while the date of his wife's emigration was one year later. They have their pleasant home in Lancaster, where he is employed as a stone-mason and stonecutter. He was born in October, 1823, a son of Jacob and Christiana Hook, natives of Hessen Darmstadt, Germany, the former of whom was born on April 14, 1804, came to America in 1831, and died March 2, 1871. Mrs. Christiana Hook died in Germany, in 1850, aged fifty-six years, four months and twenty days. Mrs. Catherine (Klaus) Hook was a daughter of Ernest and Margaret Klaus, of Dreiburg, Hessen Darmstadt, Germany, who came to Lancaster county, in 1834, where he died, and was buried at Strasburg, Pa. John and Catherine (Klaus) Hook are members of the German Lutheran Church. In politics he is a supporter of the Democratic party. They had born to them these children: John H.; Elizabeth, who married Frank Witmer, of Lancaster; Henry, who resides at home, unmarried; Adam P., who died of yellow fever in Havana; Catherine, who married William Zercher, a tobacco merchant of Lancaster; Frederick, who is a barber; and William F., unmarried, who lives at home.
John H. Hook was reared in a home where he was early taught the value of industry. Until he was thirteen years of age, he attended school and then became water boy on the railroad, retaining his connection with railroad work, from 1871, when he made this humble beginning, until 1898, when he quit the road. From 1884 to 1889 he was master stone-mason for the Frederick Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad Co. In October, 1889, he made his beginning in contracting with J. F. Kellar and until his health failed, in June, 1898, he continued at that work. During that time Mr. Hook was engaged in building and contracting on a large scale, in Lancaster City, and in 1898, in association with Dr. M. L. Davis, began the building of garbage crematories, and in 1898 built a 100-ton crematory for the United States Government at Havana. Cuba. It would be a task to name all the work which has been completed by Mr. Hook in the building line, but a few of the notable constructions are: No. 13 bridge over the Juniata River, near Altoona, Pa., containing 10,700 cubic yards of masonry, built at a cost of $107,000, on the Middle Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and for the same, a bridge over Stone Creek, at Huntingdon, Pa., containing 4,000 cubic yards of masonry; also a bridge for the same over Shaver's Creek, at Petersburg, Huntingdon Co., Pa., containing 3,500 yards of masonry. It was at this point that Mr. Hook was stricken with paralysis, the heavy demands made upon his physical strength being more that he could endure. His present business includes contracting and grading, and probably there is no more competent man in his line in Lancaster county.
In September, 1884, Mr. Hook was united in marriage with Mary E. Boud, who was born at Barren Hill, Montgomery Co., Pa., a daughter of James and Sarah ( Fisher) Boud, natives of that county. The former was a son of James and Elizabeth Boud, natives of New Jersey. Mrs. Hook's father was a contractor and builder, and he died in 1879, at the age of sixty-seven years. Her grandfather was a cooper. The maternal grandparents of Mrs. Hook were George and Elizabeth Fisher, farming people of Montgomery county. Mrs. Hook's mother was born in January, 1821, and now resides at Audubon, Pa. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Boud were: William H., who keeps a hotel at Audubon; Kate F., who married Clinton Caster, and lives at Audubon, where he is engaged in brick manufacturing; Mary E., who became Mrs. Hook; and Margaret, who died unmarried. The children born to Mr. Hook and wife were: Adam, deceased; Henry B.; Irene M.; Josephine; Mary F. L.; John F.; and Paul R.
Mr. Hook has led too busy a life to have taken a very active part in politics, although no citizen of this locality is better qualified. For six years he consented to be judge of elections, but finally resigned the office. Until the silver question agitated the Democratic party, he had always adhered to its principles, but since that time, has been identified with the Republican party. For the past twenty-three years he has been an Odd Fellow, and also be longs to the order of Seven Wise Men. Mr. Hook was reared in the Lutheran Church, and is a most liberal contributor to its support, his family being regular attendants on its services and active in its work.
Although somewhat hampered by ill-health, Mr. Hook has retained in a very remarkable degree his energy, and still is the active and intelligent head of his business. It is to Mr. Hook that the city is indebted for the very satisfactory electric plant, erected at Slack Water, which supplies Lancaster with its light. He is also president of the South Mountain Kaolin Co., capitalized at $250,000, and president of the Cline Stock Car Co., capitalized at $100,000. Mr. Hook is one of the reliable, energetic and progressive citizens, who leave worthy monuments behind them, when called from life, and who can be but illy spared. He enjoys the esteem and confidence of his fellow citizens, and also has a large circle of personal friends.