This collection contains papers and local government records related to Black history in Lancaster County, including an index to Lancaster County's register of enslaved persons, Mayor's Register of Coloured Persons or Negro Entry Book, and a biographical account of Rev. James William Charles Pennington. There are official records for enslaved persons and their children in Lancaster County, as well as freemen within Lancaster City. The collection also contains a manumission paper from the state of Virginia, a certificate for free persons of color, and letters from anit-slavery societies.
System of Arrangement
Series 1 consists of the "Slave Registers," official county records registering enslaved women and their children after 1780.
Series 2 contains the "Mayor's Register of Coloured Persons," a manumission paper, correspondence, and other records.
1 box, 33 folders, 128 items, 1,178 pages to scan, .5 cubic ft.
Object Name
Archive
Language
English
Object ID
MG0240
Location of Originals
LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Related Item Notes
Black History Collection (MG0240) https://collections.lancasterhistory.org/en/permalink/2b3d42c6-a313-4ebc-966f-516114048136
Notes
Preferred Citation: Title or description of item, date (day, month, year), Black History Collection (MG0240), Object ID, LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. URL. Date accessed (day, month, year).
LancasterHistory is committed to preserving and providing access to materials chronicling Lancaster County's heritage. As a historical resource, this collection reflects the racial prejudices and actions of the era. In order to maintain the historical integrity and context of collection items, LancasterHistory does not censor historical documents or edit language, titles, or organization names when transcribing original content.
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. Restricted access for the Mayor's Register of Coloured Persons found in Series 2, Folder 2: Use transcript in Folder 3 or microfilm.
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-240
Classification
MG0240
Description Level
Fonds
Custodial History
The collection was formerly called "The Slave Records of Lancaster County Collection." Name changed to "African American Records Collection" and arrangement changed on 13 June 2007. Name changed again in 2022 to "Black History Collection."
This record group contains canceled orders that were issued by the county commissioners for payment to be made by the county treasurer. The orders show date, order number, amount, name of payee, purpose, and signatures of the county commissioners. In the case of "poor children," teachers were reimbursed by the county for tuition and/or the supplies purchased for students whose parents were unable to pay. Orders include: Poor Children, Almshouse, Bridges, Coroners Inquests, Prisons, Roads, Court House, and Tax Exonerations.
System of Arrangement
The record group is organized chronologically, then arranged by order number within each year.
Smedley & Clark Prospect Mills Daybook contains an itemized list of their profits and expenses and the employees of the mill and what they were being compensated for as well as an account of the money borrowed for the mill. The profits list ranges from selling corn, wheat, bran, oats, and flour, as well as sawing boards and planks. The recorded expenses for the mill include employee wages and transportation costs.
Admin/Biographical History
Joel Smedley was born in 1799 to parents Joseph Smedley and Rebecca Lewis Smedley. Joel married Martha Wildman and fathered six children including Charles, Mary, John, Lewis, Anne, and Ellwood. Joel inherited the mill from his father in 1833 and expanded it by building a sorghum factory. Joel died in 1872.
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. Original documents 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 for permission for reproduction and/or publication must be obtained in writing from LancasterHistory.
Credit
Courtesy of LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
This record group contains canceled orders that were issued by the county commissioners for payment to be made by the county treasurer. The orders show date, order number, amount, name of payee, purpose, and signatures of the county commissioners. In the case of "poor children," teachers were reimbursed by the county for tuition and/or the supplies purchased for students whose parents were unable to pay. Orders include: Poor Children, Almshouse, Bridges, Coroners' Inquests, Prisons, Roads, Court House, and Tax Exonerations.
System of Arrangement
The record group is organized chronologically, then arranged by order number within each year.
The Dr. George B. Kerfoot Collection contains medical lectures, mostly given by Dr. Kerfoot. Topics include surgery, epilepsy, colds, injuries of the head, digestion, the senses, phrenology, and morality and science.
Admin/Biographical History
"Dr. George Barrett Kerfoot, M.D., returned to Lancaster to establish a practice in medicine in the Spring of 1830 after graduating from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. That year he also married Elizabeth B. Reed.
From 1830 to 1843, Dr. Kerfoot expressed strong sympathy in lectures for such pseudo sciences as phrenology & Mesmerism, also promoting lectures and courses at his Anatomical Hall. Dr. Kerfoot opened a drug store and placed advertisements for the patent medicines which he sold there. In 1838, Kerfoot conducted a much publicized, sensational electrotherapy experiment on the body of Henry Kobler, a convicted killer, hanged for the murder of Lazarus Zellerbach. An April 1843 newspaper advertisement stated that Dr. Kerfoot was ending his drug and patent medicine business in order to concentrate on "the practice of medicine, surgery and obstetrics." Three weeks after the April 1843 advertisement, Eliza opened a millinery shop, with "Spring fashions" and a "supply of bonnets."
In 1843 the Kerfoot family resided on Center Square next to the Lancaster Bank. George was then aged 35; Eliza (Reed) Kerfoot, 36; children: Ann Louisa Kerfoot, 12; George Kerfoot, Jr., 9; William Dale Kerfoot, 6; Eliza Reed Kerfoot, 4; Emma Kerfoot, 2; and the family's live-in servants. In 1847 a daughter Sweetie H. Kerfoot was born and in 1848 their daughter Emma Kerfoot died.
In the 1840's Dr. Kerfoot served on the City Council, as a Democrat, and on the School Board. Dr. Kerfoot provided expert testimony in Lancaster criminal court in the 1847 Haggerty trial in which the insanity defense was used, and also in the 1851 Knepley trial at Harrisburg.
Dr. Kerfoot was a recording secretary for the Pennsylvania State Medical Society and charter member of the Lancaster City & County Medical Society. He was a Mason and became District Deputy Grand Master; was a member of the Odd Fellows Lodge and a promoter of the Lyceum movement; held membership in the Temperance Society; St. James Episcopal Church; allegedly wrote some for The Lancaster Intelligencer. Dr. Kerfoot practiced medicine until his death in 1851.
>Most of this information, quoted verbatim or paraphrased, is from: "Competing in the Medical Marketplace in Jacksonian America: The Creative Strategy of Dr. George Barrett Kerfoot," by Thomas R. Winpenny. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/106207258/george-barrett-kerfoot
This record group contains canceled orders that were issued by the county commissioners for payment to be made by the county treasurer. The orders show date, order number, amount, name of payee, purpose, and signatures of the county commissioners. In the case of "poor children," teachers were reimbursed by the county for tuition and/or the supplies purchased for students whose parents were unable to pay. Orders include: Poor Children, Almshouse, Bridges, Coroners' Inquests, Prisons, Roads, Court House, and Tax Exonerations.
System of Arrangement
The record group is organized chronologically, then arranged by order number within each year.
This record group contains canceled orders that were issued by the county commissioners for payment to be made by the county treasurer. The orders show date, order number, amount, name of payee, purpose, and signatures of the county commissioners. In the case of "poor children," teachers were reimbursed by the county for tuition and/or the supplies purchased for students whose parents were unable to pay. Orders include: Poor Children, Almshouse, Bridges, Coroners' Inquests, Prisons, Roads, Court House, and Tax Exonerations.
System of Arrangement
The record group is organized chronologically, then arranged by order number within each year.
This record group contains canceled orders that were issued by the county commissioners for payment to be made by the county treasurer. The orders show date, order number, amount, name of payee, purpose, and signatures of the county commissioners. In the case of "poor children," teachers were reimbursed by the county for tuition and/or the supplies purchased for students whose parents were unable to pay. Orders include: Poor Children, Almshouse, Bridges, Coroners' Inquests, Prisons, Roads, Court House, and Tax Exonerations.
System of Arrangement
The record group is organized chronologically, then arranged by order number within each year.
This record group contains canceled orders that were issued by the county commissioners for payment to be made by the county treasurer. The orders show date, order number, amount, name of payee, purpose, and signatures of the county commissioners. In the case of "poor children," teachers were reimbursed by the county for tuition and/or the supplies purchased for students whose parents were unable to pay. Orders include: Poor Children, Almshouse, Bridges, Coroners' Inquests, Prisons, Roads, Court House, and Tax Exonerations.
System of Arrangement
The record group is organized chronologically, then arranged by order number within each year.
