The Judge Joseph Wissler Collection documents his fifty-five year career as a lawyer and judge. He recorded and categorized criminal court cases in a handwritten volume. Two scrapbooks contain his certificate of admittance to the Lancaster County Courts, letters, photographs, and newspaper clippings about criminal cases.
Admin/Biographical History
Joseph Buch Wissler was born in Clay Township, Lancaster County on 7 August 1892. Wissler attended Lititz High School and later graduated from Franklin and Marshall College. He earned his law degree from Harvard University. Wissler became a member of the Lancaster Bar Association, of which he was president in 1964 and 1965. He returned to practicing law as a local attorney after holding the position of District Attorney of Pennsylvania from 1924 to 1928. In 1941, Wissler was elected Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and served in that position for twenty-nine years. Judge Wissler served in the law profession for over fifty-five years. Phi Beta Kappa of Franklin and Marshall College made Judge Wissler an honorary member in 1950 and the college presented him with an honorary Doctor of Laws in 1952. He was also a member of the Lancaster Tucquan Club from 1949 to 1969.
Collection consists of family records of Mary Leaman Schlemm. Includes Sunday school booklets, property deeds, military booklets, invitations, telegrams, flower pictures and photographs, baptismal and marriage certificates, telegrams, and a Stehli Silk Mill booklet.
Admin/Biographical History
Debra Smith, former Executive Director of the Lancaster County Historical Society, conducted an interview with Mrs. Schlemm and compiled this biographical information:
Mary Leaman Schlemm's father, Isaac D. Leaman, Sr., came from England. He had 11 children, five died at birth including two sets of twins. Her siblings who were still living at the time of the interview were Alverta Leaman Miller, Isaac Leaman, F. Pauline Leaman, and Lester Leaman.
Mary was born in 1900. Her brother, Lester, was born in 1895 and was a member of the 42nd Rainbow Lodge. She started working at the Conestoga Cotton Mill No. 1 at the age of 13. Her father let her quit school to begin working there, under the condition that she continue her education in the evenings at Wade's Business School. She was a good friend of Wade's daughter so she was able to go to school free of charge. Young workers at the Cotton Mill were required by Pennsylvania law to take a minimum of two hours of schooling until age 16. Mary took four every evening at Wade's school in order to get her high school diploma. She met her husband, Raymond A. Schlemm, at the Cotton Mill. He later worked 33.5 years at the Stehli Silk Mill, and then at Dewalt.
Mary worked at the Cotton Mill five years and then married in 1918. She left when she became pregnant and went to work at Leinbach's Department Store after the birth of her son, James. One of the pictures in this collection is of the Leinbach employees at a company picnic at Accomac Park in 1921. Mr. Leinbach is in the center of the picture with his girlfriend at his right shoulder. His wife is down the line above the "D" in Darmstaetter, the girl wearing white nylons.
Mary's son, James, served during World War II. The orientation lecture and WW II photo are his. Several pictures are of conventions of the Golden Eagle Lodge, an auxiliary which met across from the Moose Lodge on E. King Street. The family was a member of First Reformed Church in Lancaster and the Sunday School papers in this collection were her children's.
Signers of petition: James Fulton, John Fryberger, Joseph T. Sample, J. F. Miller, R. E. Cochran, John Felix, Evan Green, Peter Haldeman, J. W. Cottrell, Michael Strein, W. F. Caruthers, Thomas V. Caldwell, John H. Brooks, William Atkins, John Arms, Henry B. Eagle, John Evans, Jacob [Luthmore], Christian Mayer.
1 item, 2 pieces
Access Conditions / Restrictions
Request at Reference Desk; photocopy made by staff member.
Signers of petition: G. Morison, Samuel Morisson, James Barnes, [ ] Bair, John Watson, Joseph Elliott, John B. McCrabb, Peter Sides, James M. Hopkins, David Bair, Philip Housekeeper, J. W. Housekeeper, Gardner Furness, John McSparran, James M. Steele, Joseph P. Hutton, Fleming McSparran.
1 item, 1 piece
Access Conditions / Restrictions
Request at Reference Desk; photocopy made by staff member.
Signers of petition: David Bair, John Bair, George Clark, Alexander Gordon, John W. Kennedy, Charles T. Todd, William E. Smith, William Northamer, William R. Ralston, Jacob Leaman, Gardner Furness, T. W. Housekeeper, William W. Steele, Joshua M. Deaver.
1 item, 1 piece
Access Conditions / Restrictions
Request at Reference Desk; photocopy made by staff member.
This collection of Strasburg Pharmacy Records contains business records including receipt, prescription, price, and account books; a poison register; formulas for medication and other treatments; invoices and receipts; and advertising blotters.
Admin/Biographical History
The pharmacy was first operated by Dr. Samuel Keneagy and was known as Keneagy & Bros. The pharmacy was called Weaver's Drug Store under the ownership of W. J. Weaver and J. G. Weaver. In 1949, Kenneth W. Hood purchased the business, which was renamed Hood's Pharmacy until his retirement in 1962. The business was most recently known as Strasburg Pharmacy.
