The Lancaster Crematorium: First in the USA By John W. W. Loose in the spring of 1884 a group of Lancastrians met at the Intelligencer newspaper office to discuss the feasibility of organizing an association for the reform of funerals. On 27 May 1884 the Lancaster Cremation and Funeral Reform

northwest corner of what is now North Duke and East Walnut streets, Lan- caster, now the site of First United Methodist Church, no detailed description of the facility has been available until recently. Mr. Albert G. Overton, Florissant, Missouri, discovered a scaled plan of the barracks drawn in 1777 by

. Transportation was important, for coal does not occur in Lancaster County. Anthracite coal was brought to Lancaster County by canal boat, as was steam coal from southwestern Pennsylvania. The newer furnaces had to be located on or near canals, and along railroads for delivery of pig and wrought iron to the

The Mathiot Family of Lancaster County BY JACK WARD WILLSON LOOSE One may wonder why a family named Mathiot is significant enough to merit research beyond the private confines of genealogy. Although the Mathiot family is observing its two hundredth anniversary in America and Lancaster County this

erected in America was built in 1612 on Manhattan Island by Dutch settlers, but Columbus discovered on his fourth voyage to the New World that the natives of Central America were brewing a beer produced from maize. Ac­ cording to a diary kept by a Mayflower passenger the Pilgrims land­ ed at Plymouth Rock

A History of Sin and Vice: Lancaster—The Fallen Angel By John W. W. Loose, FLCHS in a community remarkable for its many churches and the reputed piety of its citizenry, the very thought of sin and vice is improbable. In this time of social disintegration and family dysfunction, it is not uncommon