"By following the story of my great-grandmother Isabella Ford's life, and adding to it with information from available sources, I have been able to get a better understanding of the circumstances of Lancaster's free blacks. Her story provides a sense of life in mid-nineteenth century Lancaster County and shows how free black families held their own, despite an environment that was often unfriendly and that restricted their opportunities by both law and custom."
The history and topography of Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Bedford, Adams, and Perry Counties; containing a brief history of the first settlers, notices of the leading events, incidents and interesting facts, both general and local, in the history of these counties, general & statistical descriptions of all the principal boroughs, towns, villages, &c. with an appendix, embellished with several engravingsj compiled from numerous authentic sources by I. Daniel Rupp
