The Adam Reigart Jr., John S. Murphy Collection contains correspondence between Adam Reigart, Jr. in Lancaster and Philip Wager in Philadelphia and their families. The letters are primarily from the early nineteenth century and provide information about family illness, travel, visits, business, and family chatter. The receipts and invoices show purchases made in Lancaster and Philadelphia, especially clothing, fabric, dry goods, and meat. The remainder of the collection is made up of newspaper articles, books, and an album of poetry and drawings. The items were housed in a gig trunk which is now in the museum collection.
Admin/Biographical History
Adam Reigart, Jr. (1765-1844) was born in Lancaster. He was the eldest son of Col. Adam Reigart, owner of the Grape Tavern which served as general headquarters during the Revolutionary War. Adam Jr. founded the Reigart Wine Store in 1785 and was in business with Philip Wager in Philadelphia and Philip's son Peter throughout his career. He was the first president of the Lancaster branch of the Bank of Pennsylvania, and was involved with the Conestoga Navigation Company and the Union Fire Company.
Adam Jr. married Mary Magdalena Wager (1772-1806) in 1791. Mary was the daughter of Philip Wager, a Philadelphia wine merchant. They had eight daughters and a son. Susan married Stephen C. Slaymaker and Margaretta married Henry Y. Slaymaker.
Preferred Citation: Title or description of item, date (day, month, year), Adam Reigart Jr., John S. Murphy Collection (MG0331), Folder #, LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Access Conditions / Restrictions
Restrictions are noted at the item level.
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.
Accession Number
2003.078
Other Numbers
MG-331
Classification
MG0331
Description Level
Fonds
Custodial History
Processed and finding aid created by KR. Added to database 8 March 2022.
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.