Lathe-turned wooden tar bucket with fitted lid and remnants of leather straps. Cylindrical vessel has slight taper inward toward middle. Decorated with two double score marks below center. Above center are shoulders jutting outward with vertical holes through which straps of leather handle pass. Handle also passes through lid of conforming shape, although one strap broken off at shoulder while the other is broken off 3 inches above shoulder.Center hole in lid apparently accepted a now-missing stick used to apply tar to wheels. Broken-off 5-inch length of leather strap rests inside. Tar residue in bucket.
Lancaster County or region.
Provenance
Donor believes bucket descended from family members to his parents who displayed it on their mantle. Donor inherited it from parents.
Handmade rectangular grater crudely fashioned with tinned sheet iron and having 14 staggered slits of 1.25" width and raised edges for cutting. All four edges are folded to back, but the two long sides are rolled over wire to stiffen length of tool.
Crudely fashioned tin tool has wear and imperfections at blades and back corners. Abrasions and corrosion scattered overall. Peeling paint or corrosion.
Hanging balance scales with two brass dishes. Attached tag: "Miss Emma H. Ranck". Listed in original accession notes as "Assayers Scales" used specifically for weighing metals.
Photograph of cased image of man in Civil War military uniform. Slip of paper with image stated "taken before I left for Washington ? June 6, 1861". Possibly a member of the Kendig family.
Photograph- Carte de visite. Andrew Gregg Curtin. Written on back: "Thanks from A. G. Curtin, January 25, 1864" and "Photograph of Gov. of Pa., 1861 - 1867."
Photograph- Carte de visite. Andrew Gregg Curtin. Written on back: "Thanks from A. G. Curtin, January 25, 1864" and "Photograph of Gov. of Pa., 1861 - 1867."
Description
Carte de visite. Andrew Gregg Curtin. Written on back: "Thanks from A. G. Curtin, January 25, 1864" and "Photograph of Gov. of Pa., 1861 - 1867."
Hong Neok Woo, a young Chinese immigrant who lived in Lancaster from 1855 to 1864. He was brought here by Dr. John S. Messersmith, naval surgeon on the frigate Susquehanna, flagship of the squadron which had opened the ports of Japan to the world's commerce. Commodore Peary's vessels had stopped at Shanghai during their voyage. Woo lived for a time with Dr. Messersmith at his home, 40 North Lime Street. He learned the printing trade at the Lancaster Examiner and Herald office. There he met Walter Kieffer, a reporter on the paper (and later City Editor), and became a friend of him and of the Kieffer family. On Sept. 22, 1860, Woo became an American citizen, the first Asian to be naturalized in Lancaster. He served briefly as a member of Comapny I, 50th Regiment, PA Volunteers. In 1864, Mr. Woo returned to China and was ordained to the diaconate and priesthood in China. While in Lancaster he had been a faithful attendant at the sevices of St. James Episcopal Church. He died on August 18, 1919, and was buried in Westgate Cemetery, the oldest Christian burial ground in Shanghai.
