Appraisements of real estate for inheritance tax. Some personal property appraisals are also included. Appraisals include: name of decedent; location and description of real estate; description of personal property; valuation of real estate and personal property; and assessed tax. May also include names of heirs. Arranged chronologically by year, then alphabetically by first letter of decedent's last name. Handwritten; from 1886, handwritten on printed forms.
System of Arrangement
Arranged chronologically by year, then alphabetically by first letter of decedent's last name.
Muddy Creek Lutheran and Reformed Church Collection
Description
The Muddy Creek Lutheran and Reformed Church Collection contains church records, property records, legal documents, a songbook, and a liturgy book.
Admin/Biographical History
Peace United Church of Christ was formed in the late 1960s by the joining of St. Paul's United Church of Christ in Adamstown and Muddy Creek United Church of Christ. Muddy Creek UCC is one of the earliest German Reformed churches in the area, its founding marked with the first recorded baptisms in January of 1731.
Collection contains material pertaining to pageants, festivals, and celebrations in Lancaster County. The majority of the collection pertains to the "Pageant of Liberty," celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence (1776-1926), and the "Pageant of Gratitude," commemorating the 200th anniversary of the formation of Lancaster County (1729-1929). Included are scripts, minutes, programs, invitations, correspondence, financial records, tickets, photographs, blueprints, and sheet music.
The Hubley Collection contains legal documents, case papers, family and military papers, wills, deeds, bills and receipts, indentures for servants and enslaved persons, correspondence, petitions, and church-related information.
Admin/Biographical History
John Hubley and Joseph Hubley were Lancaster attorneys.
System of Arrangement
The legal papers are arranged chronologically. Case papers are arranged
alphabetically by surname of the plaintiff or defendant. Family papers are grouped by the family member's name and chronologically within that name. Box 6 is arranged chronologically.
Collection includes waste books and an account book from the Salisbury Store, Justice of the Peace dockets, child's school exercise books, receipts, summons, letters, and other papers.
Collection includes the United Church Women of Lancaster's organizational minutes, reports, financial records, and records pertaining to the Crispus Attucks Project.
Collection consists of records of the Grand Army of the Republic and allied organizations. Most papers are from G.A.R. Post 478 (Mount Joy) and Post 84 (Lancaster). Included are minute books, burial records, membership applications, correspondence, national and state G.A.R. orders, encampment information, and Post correspondence. Many records are in book form.
Soldiers and sailors honorably discharged from the Army, Navy or Marine Corps of the U.S. who fought in the cause of the Union from Apr. 12, 1861 to Apr. 9, 1865 were eligible to become members of the Grand Army of the Republic. Allied Orders include: Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic, Woman's Relief Corps, Sons of Veterans U.S.A. (later Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War) and their Auxiliary, as well as the Daughters of Veterans (later Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War).
On 10 January 1950, Marian L. Baker was brutally murdered by Edward Lester Gibbs. This collection contains W. Hensel Brown's copies of the clerk's file, transcripts, appeal briefs, and other court records from the murder trial of Edward L. Gibbs, 1950. Newspaper articles report on the 1950 trial and his 1951 electrocution.
Admin/Biographical History
Edward Lester Gibbs (1924-1951), veteran (98th Bombardment Group, 15th Air Force) and husband of Helen Woodward, was from Gloucester County, NJ. In 1950, he was a student at Franklin and Marshall College. (1)
Marian Louise Baker (1928-1950), the daughter of Walter M. Baker and Helen Beatrice Soule Britcher, was originally from New Bloomfield, Perry County, PA. (2) She had spent much of her childhood in Conestoga, PA with her aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. LeRoy O'Donel. (3) In 1950, she worked as a cashier and secretary in the treasurer's office at Franklin and Marshall College (4) and was engaged to Edward Rankin. (5)
W. Hensel Brown was the attorney chosen to defend Gibbs.
"On January 10, 1950, Marian Louise Baker was brutally slain by being
beaten to death with a lug wrench. Eight days later Edward Lester
Gibbs, defendant, confessed the killing. Thereafter, he was indicted in
Lancaster County, tried by a jury, and convicted of murder in the first
degree with the penalty fixed at death. Prior to his bringing this appeal, his motion for new trial was denied and sentence was imposed in accordance with the verdict.
At the time of the killing, defendant, a married war veteran twenty-five years of age, was a student at Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. *185 In the early afternoon of January 10, 1950, he was in downtown Lancaster when he saw Miss Baker, an employee of the college. He offered to drive her back to the campus in his car and she accepted. However, instead of returning directly to the college, they rode out of town and into the open country. When they reached an isolated spot several miles from the city she commented on the view and defendant stopped the car so that they both might enjoy it. While sitting there he suddenly reached over and began choking her. She broke away and got out of the car. He followed her and after choking her again, he returned to the car, unlocked and opened the luggage compartment, removed the lug wrench, and beat her over the head with it until she was dead. He then left but later returned to hide the body and remove any incriminating evidence. The body was not discovered until four days later.
On January 18, 1950, defendant admitted committing the crime and on that same day he signed a statement setting forth the facts as we have synopsized them here. Neither at the trial nor at any other time did he deny the truth of that confession and substantially all of the facts contained in it were verified by the independent investigation of the Pennsylvania State Police." (6)
1 "Edward Lester Gibbs," Find A Grave, accessed November 27, 2018, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/76555590/edward-lester-gibbs.
2 "Marian Louise Baker," Find A Grave, accessed November 27, 2018, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/76632108/marian-louise-baker.
3 "Vintage photos, the 1950 murder of an F&M secretary," PennLive.com, last modified January 8, 2016, https://www.pennlive.com/news/2016/01/vintage_photos_the_1950_murder.html.
4 "Marian Louise Baker," Find A Grave, accessed November 27, 2018, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/76632108/marian-louise-baker.
5 "Vintage photos, the 1950 murder of an F&M secretary," PennLive.com, last modified January 8, 2016, https://www.pennlive.com/news/2016/01/vintage_photos_the_1950_murder.html.
6 "Opinion by Mr. Chief Justice Drew, November 20, 1950," Justia, accessed November 27, 2018, https://law.justia.com/cases/pennsylvania/supreme-court/1950/366-pa-182-0.html.
Contains pamphlets, booklets, and annual reports from various water and power companies on the Susquehanna River. They include information about dams, hydroelectric projects, and how electricity is generated; maps and history of the region; and pictures of the river and hydroelectric stations.