Historical papers and addresses / Lebanon County Historical Society ; v. 2, no. 11
Contents
The Pennsylvania-German and his English and Scotch-Irish neighbors / By M.D. Learned -- The educational works of Lebanon County / By H.U. Roop -- Jacob Weidle : a biographical sketch of Hon. Jacob Weidel, Reading, Pa. -- In memoriam-William Coleman Freeman.
[Contributions to the historical literature of Dauphin County ; v. 1]
Contents
Ecclesiastical history of Dauphin County / by Thomas H. Robinson -- The Revolutionary soldiers of Dauphin County / by A. Boyd Hamilton -- Historical review of Dauphin County / by William H. Egle.
Address in commemoration of the inauguration of George Washington as first president of the United States, delivered before the two houses of Congress, December 11, 1889
199 p. front., illus., plates, ports., maps (1 fold.) facsims. 28 cm.
Summary
A 1909 tour of the towns and places near the west branch of the Brandywine Creek, it includes Honey Brook and the railroad that once ran through it, Coatesville, Hibernia, Icedale, West Chester, Chadds Ford, and many other sites in Chester County, northern Maryland, and Delaware.
This record provides a link to this resource on the publisher's official online repository.
Summary
HISTORIANS HAVE TRAPPED William Henry of Lancaster (1729–86) in the identity of gunsmith. Though meant as a compliment— most accounts portray Henry as the most important gunsmith in the "rifle-making hub of colonial America," Lancaster County— - this confinement is ironic, since Henry escaped this occupation as soon as he was able. The term gunsmith, then as now, could describe men who repaired guns, who produced specialized gun parts (such as barrels or locks), who created an entire gun from scratch (lock, stock, and barrel), or who ran a factory that employed other men. Henry seems not to have engaged in any of these activities after 1760. By the last decade of his life, Henry had achieved a level of financial security (and apparently embodied the virtuous independence thought to derive from it) that led his peers to entrust him with positions of responsibility and that left Henry free to accept them. He served first in local and state governments and was later appointed an administrator and financier for the Continental army and elected twice to the Continental Congress. We have failed to register the shape of his career, the magnitude of his transformation; instead, historians have imagined that during all these varied activities, Henry continued to work as a gunsmith. Indeed, the belief that Henry "was engaged in the manufacture of firearms for over thirty years," that he produced the rifles or muskets carried by soldiers from the French and Indian War through the Revolution, has been central to stories about him. [abstract]
Includes bibliographical references (pages 357-361).
Summary
Examines how the spiritual beliefs and vision of America's founders shaped the country's history and culture and assesses the influence of the spiritual traditions of African slaves, Native Americans, and early mystical communities on colonial America.
"An eclectic mixture of autobiography, U.S. intellectual history, philosophical inquiry, and spiritual wonderment, this extended meditative essay examines "America as an Idea" by uncovering the latent wisdom of many of its shining lights: Benjamin Franklin, William Penn, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, and Walt Whitman. Needleman, a philosophy professor and author of Money and the Meaning of Life, reinterprets the lives of each of these leaders in the context of their strong spiritual beliefs and their contributions to unifying a deeply divided body politic. The author liberally quotes classical philosophers, historians, biographers, and the subjects themselves, and he often interjects his own life experiences and spiritual beliefs into his loosely structured narrative. Needleman also tackles what he considers to be America's two most grievous historical blemishes: the murder of Native American culture and slavery and suggests how America should confront these wrongs." [from the "Library Journal"]
