The Frederick S. Brown Collection contains tax receipts, bonds, and letters belonging to Mr. Brown. Also, an agreement for the sale of land along the Susquehanna River.
Preferred Citation: Title or description of item, date (day, month, year), Frederick S. Brown Collection (MG0085), Folder #, LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Access Conditions / Restrictions
No restrictions.
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 Hager Store Collection contains anniversary booklets, invoices, advertisements, family papers, and newsletter of the Hager Department Store which was founded in Lancaster. The collection includes a children's book that was distributed by the store and a Christmas catalog. Among the Hager family papers are deeds, land patents, and probate records.
2 boxes, 37 folders, 1 framed document, 1 cubic ft.
Object Name
Archive
Language
English
Object ID
MG0104
Location of Originals
LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Notes
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
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 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.
Other Numbers
MG-104
Classification
MG0104
Description Level
Fonds
Custodial History
Recataloged by MM, Summer 2011. Added to database 7 February 2019.
The Military Records for Charles A. Meisenberger contain the military materials and paperwork, documenting the career Charles A. Meisenberger had in the Army, from 1898 to 1938, when he was last discharged. Meisenberger served in the Spanish American War, the China Insurrection, the Mexican War, and World War I. This collection contains, letters from the War Department, photographs of Meisenberger and his gravestone, Honorable Discharge certificates, obituaries, and other military information.
Admin/Biographical History
Charles A. Meisenberger was born on December 18, 1874. He served in the military for 40 years, and served during the Spanish American War, the China Insurrection, the Mexican War, and World War I. Meisenberger was married to Mary E. Buch before they eventually divorced. Together they had three children: Charles A. Jr., Vintage, Paul A. and Catherine Mary. He passed away on October 5, 1941 at the age of 66.
World War I Papers of Thomas, James, and Victor Kegel, MG-798
Charles E. Schuler Papers, MG-780
William Barlow Papers, MG-781
William Raymond Elbert Papers, MG-784
Diary Collection, 1836-1978, MG-247
William J. Buch Papers, 1917-1958, MG-658
Access Conditions / Restrictions
No restrictions.
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
Military Records of Charles A. Meisenberger (MG-782), Folder #, Insert #, LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pa.
Other Numbers
MG-782
Classification
MG0782
Description Level
Fonds
Custodial History
Processed and finding aid prepared by EM, February 2019.
The William Raymond Elbert Papers collection contains the military materials belonging to William R. Elbert. This includes postcards, military booklets and manuals, certificates and identification. This collection also includes the naturalization paperwork for William R. Elbert's father, Leopold Elbert.
Admin/Biographical History
William Raymond Elbert was born around 1896 to Leopold Elbert and Annie M. Seifert Elbert. He had three siblings, Leopold, John, and Clara. William R. Elbert fought in World War I and survived the war, before coming home in 1919. When he returned, he married Mary Driendl Elbert (1900-1974). Together they had two children, William and Rose. William R. Elbert passed away at the age of 78 years in 1974.
Items in folders 1, 2, 3, and 4 are fragile and need staff supervision.
Object ID
MG0784
Related Item Notes
Medal, Victory banner, insignia, and VFW member cap are in the Curatorial Collection.
World War I Collection, 1916-1972, MG-45
World War I Papers for Frank Schober, MG-797
World War I Papers of Thomas, James, and Victor Kegel, MG-798
Charles E. Schuler Papers, MG-780
William Barlow Papers, MG-781
Military Records for Charles A. Meisenberger, MG-782
Diary Collection, 1836-1978, MG-247
William J. Buch Papers, 1917-1958, MG-658
Additional Notes
Items in folders 1, 2, 3, and 4 need staff supervision.
Access Conditions / Restrictions
Items in folders 1, 2, 3, and 4 need staff supervision. Restrictions noted at the item level. Items in Folders 1, 2, 3, and 4 require staff supervision. 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.
Other Numbers
MG-784
Classification
MG0784
Description Level
Fonds
Custodial History
Processed and finding aid prepared by EM, February 2019.
Appraisements of real estate for inheritance tax. Some personal property appraisals are also included. Appraisals include: name of decedent; location and description of real estate; description of personal property; valuation of real estate and personal property; and assessed tax. May also include names of heirs. Arranged chronologically by year, then alphabetically by first letter of decedent's last name. Handwritten; from 1886, handwritten on printed forms.
System of Arrangement
Arranged chronologically by year, then alphabetically by first letter of decedent's last name.
This collection contains documents and record books from the Elizabethtown Insurance Company. Items include records of new policies issued, policies cancelled, reinsurance policies, and books documenting taxes owed to the Elizabethtown Insurance Company. The collection also contains receipt books, personal agent books, and various notes and documents inserted into the lager record books. All documents are handwritten by multiple individuals and some books have missing, or broken spines. Many items are fragile, and caution should be used when turning pages to avoid further tearing and damage.
Admin/Biographical History
The Elizabethtown Insurance Company was formally chartered on December 23, 1843 as Farmers' Mutual Insurance Company. They started doing business January 31, 1844 and by June 1844 had applications from prospective policy holders for enough insurance to issue their first policy. The company was originally developed to insure against loss or damage by fire, but eventually began insuring other types of property damage. Farmers' Mutual Insurance Company moved multiple times; finding homes in Lampeter and Conestoga Townships, as well as Lancaster City. The company moved to Elizabethtown in 1925, and in July of 2009, Farmers' Mutual changed their name to Elizabethtown Insurance Company. In 2011 Elizabethtown Insurance Company stopped accepting new applications, and in 2012, the company relocated to Delaware.
This collection contains letters from Private Peter Wolpert to his brother during the Civil War. In addition here are records of Peter Wolpert's military service including the Company E, Regiment 1, Pennsylvania Reserves Infantry Muster Roll, plus that unit's Casualty Sheet and an information card from the Pennsylvania State Archives, all which indicate he died in action at Antietam. And the collection also has a Lancaster Intelligencer Journal newspaper article about Peter Wolpert's son, Charles, as he remembers President James Buchanan's funeral.
The Alice Ferree Todd Papers collection contains 119 letters and documents created by, sent to, or kept by Alice Ferree Todd (1845-1930). The majority of the letters are from Alice Ferree Todd to her husband Moses Hampton Todd (1945-1935). The remaining are correspondences between Alice and her family (sisters and other relatives) as well as mortgages/deeds signed by James Barr Ferree, Alice's father.
Admin/Biographical History
Elizabeth, Martha, Mary, and Alice were the daughters of Mr. and Mrs. James B. Ferree, a prominent merchant in Philadelphia and a descendent of Daniel and Marie Ferree.
Herr, Neff and Kauffman Family (Manor Twp.) Papers
Description
This collection contains mostly deeds and releases for property in Manor Township between the Herr, Kauffman, and Neff families. The dates for the deeds and releases are 1791-1792, 1804-1808, and 1841-1865. It seems that there are three main properties that all of the documents are mentioning within Manor Township. There are also nine bonds between Tobias H. Herr and Henry Herr Sr. that were all made in 1864. There are two Cyrus Neff's mentioned in this collection, Cyrus Neff and Cyrus L. Neff. One of the documents is Cyrus Neff's Certificate of Election for the Lancaster County Auditor in 1887. The documents pertaining to Cyrus L. Neff are his policy with the Pennsylvania Threshermen & Farmers' Mutual Casualty Insurance Company in the early 1920's. Towards the end of the collection there are two newspapers from 1929 and 1947, pertaining to the Herr family farm and house as well as what seems to be instructions on how to make animal feed.
Admin/Biographical History
John Herr came to Pennsylvania in 1710 with four of his five sons. His oldest son, Abraham Herr came with his father in 1710, and was the only one to settle west of the Conestoga River in Manor Township.
Francis Neff came to America from Switzerland in the early 1700's. One of his sons, Henry Neff, was the first to live in Manor Township. One of Henry Neff's four sons, Henry Neff Jr., was the only child that stayed at the homestead in Manor Township. He and his wife, Susannah Neff, had a son named Benjamin Neff who, in turn, married Anna Hostetter, daughter of Ulrich Hostetter and had two sons, Cyrus and Benjamin H. Neff. Cyrus Neff attended common schools till he was 18 years old then farmed for 11 years, after which he taught in schools for three terms. He was very active in the school board for six years and then was elected as Lancaster County Auditor in 1887. He married Kate Lehman, a daughter of Reverend Benjamin Lehman, of Manor Township, and together they had eight children. Cyrus died in 1890 at the age of thirty-eight years.
The donor, Ethel Huber, is related to the Neff and the Herr families on her mother's side and may be a descendent of Abraham Herr, the brother of Christian Herr.
Collection consists of records by Cassius Emlen Urban, a Lancaster architect. He supervised the construction of the Lancaster Post Office at 120 N. Duke St., Lancaster. Many letters from James H. Windrim, supervising architect of the Treasury Department, Washington, D. C. Book of correspondence contains details of the construction. Also includes letters he wrote to his son, Rathfon, dated February 14-29, 1939, while on the Italian liner, Roma.
Admin/Biographical History
C. Emlen Urban
Throughout Downtown Lancaster numerous iconic buildings make up the city's landscape giving it its unique and ornate character. Landmark buildings such as the Greist Building, the Watt and Shand Department Store, Hager Building, Southern Market, along with many more churches, residential units including the facade of the Fulton Opera House were the design of Cassius Emlen Urban. Urban was Lancaster's first architect and one of the most significant influences on the city. 1 Urban modernized the city's landscape as he designed buildings in a new era where technologies never before available to architects made it possible for himself to leave such a grand impression.
Urban was born on February 20, 1863 in Conestoga Township to a Civil War veteran Amos Urban, a distinguished citizen known for his modesty and community service. Urban finished high school in 1880 and would get his architectural training through an apprenticeship with Scanton, PA architect E.L. Walter. Later in 1884 Urban would move to Philadelphia where he served as a draftsman to Willis G. Hale. Upon returning to Lancaster roughly a year later Urban would open his own practice in Lancaster.2
Only a few years after Urban opened his practice through a family connection he would receive a commission to design Lancaster's Southern Market. Urban's career would take off leading him to design many more iconic buildings in Lancaster and Hershey as well. Urban, through his membership at the Hamilton Club made acquaintance with Milton Hershey who hired him to design such buildings as Hershey Chocolates original company offices and even his own mansion.3
Urban spent the majority of his life in Lancaster with the exception of his time studying as a young man. Urban is remembered for his buildings designed in Queen Anne and Beaux style architecture.4 Shenk in his A History of Lancaster County wrote of Urban, "Few men of Lancaster county can point to a finer array of useful and beautiful work than can Cassius Emlen Urban."
Nicole O. Sturla, "Cassius Emlen Urban: Lancaster's First Native Architect," Susquehanna Monthly Magazine, September 1980.
2 History of Lancaster County, ed. E.M.J. Klein (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company Inc., 1924), 443.
3 "Urban, C. Emlen; 1863-1939," Hershey Community Archives, accessed September 30, 2014. http://www.hersheyarchives.org/essay/details.aspx?EssayId=34&Rurl=%2Fresources%2Fsearch-results.aspx%3FType%3DBrowseEssay.
4 "Introduction," To Build Strong and Substantial: The Career of Architect C. Emlen Urban, (2009): 2-3.