"On April 17, 1865, eighteen year old John Rakestraw left the family farm in Bart Township, Lancaster County, to attend Unionville Academy, a small Quaker boarding school in Chester County. During the time he was away his two older sisters wrote to him regularly. Ten of those letters have survived and they provide a candid and often painfully honest glimpse of life on a Lancaster County farm in the 1860's. Diaries and ledgers kept by John's father, William I. Rakestraw , provide additional insight into that that time and place." [excerpt from the text]
Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography ; v. 142, no. 2
Summary
"This article discusses the 1809 conviction of Susanna Cox for first-degree murder following the death of her newborn son. It uses sources from history and oral tradition in order to examine the case's long- and short-term ramifications for political and social interpretations of capital punishment within Pennsylvania. I explore the impact one case could have on legal history, the treatment of accused and convicted women, issues of linguistic separation within the courtroom, and changing legislative patterns within the commonwealth. These factors contributed to the case's ongoing impact on regional and ethnic social memory."