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The American genealogist; a monthly magazine of genealogy and local history

https://collections.lancasterhistory.org/en/permalink/lhdo19815
Date of Publication
1899-1900.
Call Number
905.29 AGM
Responsibility
Edited ... by Thomas Allen Glenn.
Place of Publication
Ardmore, Pa
Publisher
T. A. Glenn,
Date of Publication
1899-1900.
Physical Description
cover-title, 351 p. ; 25 cm.
Dates of Publication
Vol. 1, no. 2 (April 1899)-v. 1, no. [12] (Feb. 1900).
Notes
Title from caption.
Subjects
Genealogy - Periodicals.
United States - Genealogy - Periodicals.
Additional Author
Glenn, Thomas Allen,
Additional Title
American genealogist (Ardmore, Pa.)
Location
Lancaster History Library - Book
Call Number
905.29 AGM
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Author
Diffenderffer, Frank Ried,
Date of Publication
1901
not enter into the purposes of this article. Nowhere does the author give credit to any other man in surveying or design- ing the Capital City of the United States. While half a dozen handsome illustrations accompany it, the plot or survey of this French engineer, if he ever made one, is nowhere in
  1 document  
Responsibility
by F. R. Diffenderffer.
Author
Diffenderffer, Frank Ried,
Place of Publication
Lancaster, Pa
Publisher
Lancaster County Historical Society,
Date of Publication
1901
Physical Description
[57]-67 p. ; 23 cm.
Series
Journal of the Lancaster County Historical Society ; v. 5, no. 3/4
Summary
This journal article addresses sureveyor Andrew Ellicott's role in the laying out of the District of Columbia as well as many other later other projects he led.
Subjects
Ellicott, Andrew, - 1754-1820.
United States Capitol (Washington, D.C.)
Capitals (Cities)
Washington (D.C.)
United States - Capital and capitol.
Contained In
Journal of the Lancaster County Historical Society. Volume 5, number 3/4 (1901), p. 57-67Lancaster History Library - Journal974.9 L245 v.5
Documents

vol5nos3&4pp57_67_303261.pdf

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Andrew Ellicott, his life and letters

https://collections.lancasterhistory.org/en/permalink/lhdo4666
Author
Mathews, Catharine Van Cortlandt.
Date of Publication
1908
Call Number
925 E46m
  1 website  
Responsibility
by Catharine Van Cortlandt Mathews.
Author
Mathews, Catharine Van Cortlandt.
Place of Publication
New York
Publisher
The Grafton press
Date of Publication
1908
Physical Description
x, 256 p. front., plates, ports., maps (1 fold.) plans, facsims. 23cm.
Notes
"One thousand copies of this book have been printed from type and the type distributed."
Summary
A U.S. surveyor who resided in Lancaster County. He helped map many of the territories west of the Appalachians, surveyed the boundaries of the District of Columbia, continued and completed Pierre Charles L'Enfant's work on the plan for Washington, D.C., and served as a teacher in survey methods for Meriwether Lewis.
Contents: 1. Parentage and early life 1754 - 1784. 2. Baltimore and the western boundary of Pennsylvania 1785. 3. Three boundaries and the first measurement of Niagara 1786-1790. 4. The city of Washington in the Territory of Columbia. 5. The road to Presqu' Isle Fort. 6. The Florida boundary 1796 - 1800. 7. The Florida boundary (continued). 8. The Florida boundary (continued). 9. The land office of Pennsylvania 1800 - 1812. 10. West Point and the last surveys 1812-1820. The book contains footnotes and an index.
Subjects
Ellicott, Andrew, - 1754-1820.
Atlantic States - Surveys.
Southern boundary of the United States.
Washington (D.C.) - Surveys.
Pennsylvania - Boundaries.
Location
Lancaster History Library - Book
Call Number
925 E46m
Websites
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An early letter by Thaddeus Stevens

https://collections.lancasterhistory.org/en/permalink/lhdo910
Author
Hensel, W. U.
Date of Publication
1906
maintained under the auspices os the Chicago University, and Henry Clay acknowledged that in his efforts to organize a United States bank he drew largely on Merrill's ideas. It was this Samuel Merrill to whom Thaddeus Stevens, besore he had de- termined to locate in Pennsylvania, wrote the sollowing letter
  1 document  
Responsibility
by Hon. W. U. Hensel.
Author
Hensel, W. U.
Place of Publication
Lancaster, Pa
Publisher
Lancaster County Historical Society,
Date of Publication
1906
Physical Description
396-401 p. ; 23 cm.
Series
Journal of the Lancaster County Historical Society ; v. 10, no. 10
Subjects
Stevens, Thaddeus, - 1792-1868 - Correspondence.
Merrill, James, - 1790-1841.
Merrill, Samuel.
Contained In
Lancaster History Library - Journal974.9 L245 v.10
Documents

vol10no10pp396_401_164345.pdf

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Collection
Collateral Appraisements
Title
Collateral Appraisements
Object ID
Coll App 1892 F007 H
Date Range
1892
Collection
Collateral Appraisements
Title
Collateral Appraisements
Description
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.
Date Range
1892
Date of Accumulation
1849-1913
Year
1892
Creator
Register of Wills
Storage Location
LancasterHistory, Lancaster, PA
Storage Room
Archives West
Storage Container
Box 0007
People
Hobart, Henrietta W.
Subcategory
Documentary Artifact
Search Terms
Collateral appraisement
Collateral statement
Correspondence
Place
None
Extent
16 boxes (8 cubic feet)
Object Name
Appraisal
Language
English
Condition
Fair
Object ID
Coll App 1892 F007 H
Box Number
007
Additional Notes
Only: two correspondences and collateral statement.
3 items, 3 pieces
Access Conditions / Restrictions
Request at research desk. Photocopy made by staff member.
Classification
RG 03-00 0312
Description Level
Item
Less detail
Collection
Collateral Appraisements
Title
Collateral Appraisements
Object ID
Coll App 1912 F002 M
Date Range
1912
Collection
Collateral Appraisements
Title
Collateral Appraisements
Description
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.
Date Range
1912
Date of Accumulation
1849-1913
Year
1912
Creator
Register of Wills
Storage Location
LancasterHistory, Lancaster, PA
Storage Room
Archives West
Storage Container
Box 0011
People
McCullaugh, P. J.
McCullagh, P. J.
Subcategory
Documentary Artifact
Search Terms
Collateral appraisement
Lancaster
Letters
Affidavits
Place
Lancaster
Extent
16 boxes (8 cubic feet)
Object Name
Appraisal
Language
English
Condition
Fair
Object ID
Coll App 1912 F002 M
Box Number
011
Additional Notes
Or McCullagh, P. J.
Included letter and affidavit.
3 items, 1 piece
Access Conditions / Restrictions
Request at research desk. Photocopy made by staff member.
Classification
RG 03-00 0312
Description Level
Item
Less detail
Collection
Yeates, Lancaster County Historical Society Collection
Title
Yeates, Lancaster County Historical Society Collection
Object ID
MG0205
Date Range
1699-1934
Ledger Collection, Series 10 Estate Records on 20 March 2009. Folder 36 Restricted access—please use transcription in the library. Letter copybook of Jasper Yeates. Contains copies of his correspondence to friends, family members and colleagues13 and is indexed. The letters are on a variety of topics as
  1 document  
Collection
Yeates, Lancaster County Historical Society Collection
Title
Yeates, Lancaster County Historical Society Collection
Description
Yeates, Lancaster County Historical Society Collection provides insight into the Yeates family, local social history, and details of legal business from 1743-1870. These documents have been collected by the Lancaster County Historical Society over many years. Collection includes letters, receipts, articles, eviction notice, advertisement, estate inventories, wills, deeds, treaty, court transcript, drawings, photographs, copy of house plan, post road distances, daybook, letter book, catalog of books in Jasper Yeates' library, and an alphabetical catalog of law books.
Date Range
1699-1934
Year Range From
1699
Year Range To
1934
Date of Accumulation
1699-1934
Creator
LancasterHistory (Organization)
Storage Location
LancasterHistory, Lancaster, PA
Storage Room
Archives South
Storage Wall
Side 05
People
Atkinson, Matthew
Bausman, William
Bond, Phineas
Bowman, Valentine
Bradford, W.
Brien, Edward
Burd, Edward
Carson, John
Coates, Samuel
Conyngham, David
Conyngham, Elizabeth Yeates
Conyngham, Redmond
Dallas, George M.
Davis, Jonathan
Davison, Benjamin
Dickey, Robert
Duncannon, Thomas
Edward, Thomas
Erter, Henry
Ewing, John
Ferguson, John
Fohren, Michael
Gibson, John
Gillchrist, John
Godcharles, Frederic A.
Graff, Conrad
Gregg, Andrew
Grubb, Peter
Hamilton, Charles
Hamilton, James
Hamilton, John
Hamilton, William
Hand, Edward
Hand, Jasper
Hayes, A. L.
Henry, John
Hess, David
Jago, John
Javin, William
Keeportz, Daniel
Kittera, William
Kremer, Philip
Krug, Jacob
Kurtz, William
Lindsay, William
Loudersmith, Wendel
Lyon, Joseph Barnet
Magaw, David
Marshall, J.
McClellan, John
McKean, Thomas
Millar, John
Miller, Michael
Minich, Henry
Muhlenberg, William Augustus
Nesbitt, John
Nissley, Martin
Ord, John
Philips, David
Postlethwaite, John
Poultney, Thomas
Price, Eli K.
Probst, John
Ramsey, Robert
Rawle, William
Riegart, Adam
Rine, Widow
Ross, George
Ross, J.
Scott, James
Sergeant, Thomas
Shippen, Edward
Shippen, Evans Wallis
Shippen, Robert
Simpson, John
Smith, Charles
Smith, Mary Yeates
Stein, Charles
Steinman, Fredrick
Stevenson, Henry
Stewart, Charles
Sturmii, Johannis Christophorus
Thomas, John
Tilghman, Benjamin C.
Tilghman, E.
Tilghman, Edward
Tilghman, William
Tilghman, William B.
Towson, William
Underwood, John
Wallace, George
Wallace, William
Waln, Nicholas
Warden, J.
White, William
Wickersham, Elijah
Willson, Samuel
Yeates, Catharine
Yeates, Jasper
Yeates, Jasper, Jr.
Yeates, John, Jr.
Yeates, John, Sr.
Yeates, Margaret
Yeates, Sarah Burd "Sally"
Zantzinger, Paul
Subjects
Business records
Deeds
Family records
Law libraries
Letters
Library catalogs
Wills
Search Terms
Business records
Correspondence
Deeds
Family records
Finding aids
Letters
Manuscript groups
Wills
Extent
6 boxes, 49 folders, 13 books, 6 cubic ft.
Object Name
Archive
Language
English
Object ID
MG0205
Location of Originals
LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Copies
LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Related Item Notes
Yeates, Aungst Collection (MG0206)
Yeates, Carson Collection (MG0207)
George M. Steinman Collection (MG0184)
Jasper Yeates Colonial Law Library
Objects in the Curatorial Collection
Notes
Preferred Citation: Title or description of item, date (day, month, year), Yeates, Lancaster County Historical Society Collection (MG0205), Folder #, LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Access Conditions / Restrictions
Restrictions noted at the item level. The letter copybooks in Folders 31 and 36 are restricted--please use the transcriptions available in the library.
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.
Other Numbers
MG-205
Classification
MG0205
Description Level
Fonds
Custodial History
Folders 1-34 and Books 1-2 were processed and finding aid prepared prior to 1997. Added to PP on 26 March 2022.
Documents
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Collection
Archive of Alice P. Fordney
Title
Archive of Alice P. Fordney
Object ID
HC0001
Date Range
1905-1974
built Wheatland in 1828 and later sold the property to President James Buchanan. Colonel William Bush Fordney, her �230 North President Avenue • Lancaster, Pennsylvania 17603-3125 717.392.4633 • www.LancasterHistory.org paternal grandfather, was a prominent lawyer in Lancaster. He served as district
  1 document  
Collection
Archive of Alice P. Fordney
Title
Archive of Alice P. Fordney
Description
This collection contains ephemera related to Alice Potter Fordney, antiques dealer and rugmaker. Items in the collection include business correspondence with Armstrong, F. Schumacher & Co., and the Montclair art museum; personal correspondence with friends and family; hooked rug patterns; and antiques sale flyers from the early 20th century. Also included in the collection are newspaper clippings, including the obituary of Fordney's sister Ellen Franklin; reference material for rug making and interior design (informational sheets, books and patterns); several items related to the Yeates School, which Fordney's brother William Bush Fordney attended; several photographs of unidentified persons; and a statement related to the will of William J. Fordney, her uncle.
Admin/Biographical History
Alice Potter Fordney was born June 21, 1887 in Lancaster, the daughter of Ida Cox and Thomas Potter Fordney. A prominent antique dealer from the late 1920s to her retirement in 1965, Fordney also made and sold hooked rugs.
Fordney's family features prominently in Lancaster County history. Her maternal great-grandfather was John Michael, who owned the historic Grape Hotel from 1805-1839. Fordney's paternal great-grandfather William Jenkins built Wheatland in 1828 and later sold the property to President James Buchanan. Colonel William Bush Fordney, her paternal grandfather, was a prominent lawyer in Lancaster. He served as district attorney from 1839-1845 and negotiated for the loan that enabled Lancaster city to build the "water works" in the 1830s. Sarah Cox, her maternal grandmother, was a known philanthropist and for years helped to manage the Home for Friendless Children in Lancaster. Her sister, Ellen Fordney Franklin, was a "pioneer" in the industry of women's knit suits, opening her first shop in 1929 in Philadelphia.
Fordney never married. She kept in contact with her nieces and nephews, as evidenced by letters in the collection. According to notes provided by Wendell Zercher, Sarah Ellmaker McIlvaine Muench, her niece and the donor of the collection, recalled her as "warm and artistic," and "a character." She died April 17, 1973, at the age of 85.
Works Cited:
"Mrs. Franklin, pioneer of women's knit suits, dies." Daily Intelligencer Journal [Lancaster, PA], 10 May 1963, p. 2.
"Accident Fatal to Mrs. Sarah A. Cox." Daily Intelligencer Journal [Lancaster, PA], no date, page unknown.
"Miss Fordney, Antique Dealer, 85, Succumbs." Daily Intelligencer Journal [Lancaster, PA], 18 April 1973, p. 2.
"One of Lancaster's Most Prominent and Venerable Citizens Passes Away." Daily Intelligencer Journal [Lancaster, PA], 29 July 1889, p. 1.
Date Range
1905-1974
Year Range From
1905
Year Range To
1974
Date of Accumulation
1905-1974
Creator
Fordney, Alice Potter, 1887-1973
Storage Location
LancasterHistory, Lancaster, PA
Storage Room
Archives North
Storage Wall
Side 28
People
Appel, Charles Rengier
Bohlen, Sidney Franklin
Bowman, Mrs. Edward J.
Boyer, R. J.
Brenneman, Mary Rue Bard
Brown, Hazel Dell
Chiarell, Fred P.
Clark, George W.
Daugherty, Harvey P.
Demuth, Charles
Dodge, Arthur B.
Embsweiler, Ruth
Erb, Edna
Fordney, Alice Potter
Fordney, William Bush Jr.
Fordney, William Jenkins
Franklin, Ellen Julia Fordney
Gibbons, Alice McIlvaine
Gilbert, L. J.
Gingrich, Milton E.
Graybill, John M.
Griest, Charles J.
Higby, Everett
Hostetter, A. K.
Howe, John
Irvine, Blanche
Kent, William Winthrop
Knodle, Edward
Krone, Herbert B.
Lindenmuth, J. D.
Long, Yvonne
Maclay, Helen Hurley
Malone, Clarence
Morris, Charles R.
Morris, Grace M.
Nauman, Gertrude Colson
Orr, Barclay
Pennypacker, Charles A.
Pennypacker, James G.
Randall, Meda
Rannels, Paul
Stokes, Agnes M.
Strickler, Belle
Wolf, Emily
Other Creators
Muench, Sarah Ellmaker McIlvaine, d. 2006
Subjects
American newspapers--Sections, columns, etc.--Women
Antique dealers
Armstrong Cork Company
Armstrong World Industries
F. Schumacher & Co.
Farm Journal Media
House & Garden
Interior decoration
Letters
Montclair Art Museum
Patterns for crafts
Rugs
Rugs, Hooked
Student newspapers and periodicals
Woman's world magazine
Search Terms
Albert Steiger Company
Antique dealers
Antique sales
Armstrong Cork Company
Armstrong World Industries, Inc.
Berlinwork patterns
Blue and Brown (Yeates School)
Cheney Silks
Cheney Weaves
Christmas
Correspondence
Cricket Club
Dickinson Presbyterian Church
Estate sales
F. Schumacher and Company
Farm Journal Media
Fiber arts
Finding aids
Gilbert's store
Griest Homestead
Guernsey Sales Pavilion
Hager's Department Store
Hershey Fire Hall
Hooked rugs
House & Garden
Interior decoration
Kleinfelter's auction rooms
Letters
Manuscript groups
Montclair Art Museum
Odd Fellows Hall
Olson Rugs
Patterns for crafts
Rossmere Hotel
Rug patterns
Rugs
State Armory Hall
V-mail
Woman's World Magazine
Yeates School
Extent
3 boxes, 37 folders, 333 items, 1,015 pages to scan, 4.5 cubic ft.
Object Name
Archive
Language
English
Object ID
HC0001
Location of Originals
LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Associated Material
Sarah McIlvaine Muench Family Papers, MS 44 at Archives and Special Collections, Shadek-Fackenthal Library, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA.
Related Item Notes
See photograph collection.
See curatorial collection for examples of rugs.
Fordney Family Diaries (MG0539)
Notes
Preferred Citation: Title or description of item, date (day, month, year), Archive of Alice P. Fordney (HC0001), Box #, Folder #, LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Access Conditions / Restrictions
The kraft paper patterns in Folders 33-37 are restricted. Please make an appointment with the Director of Archival Services to view these items.
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
G.04.23.52
Classification
HC0001
Description Level
Fonds
Custodial History
From the Heritage Center of Lancaster County collection, G04.23.52.
Processed and finding aid prepared by MJ, June 2018.
Documents
Less detail
Collection
Edward Hand Reunion and Genealogy Collection
Title
Edward Hand Reunion and Genealogy Collection
Object ID
MG0116
Date Range
1805-1984
  1 document  
Collection
Edward Hand Reunion and Genealogy Collection
Title
Edward Hand Reunion and Genealogy Collection
Description
Collection consists largely of information on the descendants of Edward Hand and on the Hand Family Reunion. Contains correspondence, genealogical materials, family charts, photographs, and commemorative booklet 1912, on Lancaster County in the Revolutionary War. Also, three documents concerning the settling of the Hand estate.
Date Range
1805-1984
Year Range From
1805
Year Range To
1984
Date of Accumulation
1805-1984
Creator
Hand family
Storage Location
LancasterHistory, Lancaster, PA
Storage Room
Archives South
Storage Wall
Side 03
People
Hand, Edward
Lear, Robert H.
Brien, Edward
Brien, Dorothy Hand
Hand, Jasper
Subjects
Genealogy
Family records
Letters
Search Terms
Genealogy
Family records
Family reunions
Rock Ford
Correspondence
Letters
Manuscript groups
Finding aids
Extent
1 box, 27 folders, .5 cubic ft.
Object Name
Archive
Language
English
Object ID
MG0116
Access Conditions / Restrictions
No restrictions.
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
Edward Hand Reunion and Genealogy Collection (MG-116), Folder #, LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pa.
Other Numbers
MG-116
Classification
MG0116
Description Level
Fonds
Custodial History
Added to database 1 May 2019.
Documents
Less detail
Collection
Haldeman Family Papers and Business Records
Title
Haldeman Family Papers and Business Records
Object ID
MG0736
Date Range
1814-1957
South, Side 15 Scope and Content Note: The Haldeman Family Papers and Business Records collection contains correspondence between various members of the Haldeman family—the majority of which were sent or received by Samuel Haldeman or his daughter Eliza. The first sets of letters are between Samuel’s
  1 document  
Collection
Haldeman Family Papers and Business Records
Title
Haldeman Family Papers and Business Records
Description
The Haldeman Family Papers and Business Records collection contains correspondence between various members of the Haldeman family-the majority of which were sent or received by Samuel Haldeman or his daughter Eliza. The first sets of letters are between Samuel's parents and other family and acquaintances, then progress to Samuel and his family. The content includes Paris Haldeman's life during the California gold rush; Eliza's studies in Philadelphia and France; the Civil War; Carsten Haldeman's severe throat illness; and Samuel's travels throughout Europe. The letters span from 1814 to 1883. Mentioned in many of the letters to and from Eliza is her friend Mary Cassatt, an American Impressionist artist. As for the letters sent by Samuel, their content tends to be extremely detailed, sending home as good a description of his travels as he could with locations ranging from Philadelphia to Pompeii. Also included in the collection are several newspaper clippings concerning the Haldeman mansion and Chickies Rock as well as a ledger from the E. Haldeman and Co. furnaces at Chickies.
Admin/Biographical History
Samuel Steman Haldeman (1812-1880) born at the mansion in Bainbridge on August 12, 1812, was the oldest of seven children of Henry Haldeman (1787-1849) and his wife Frances Steman (1794-1826). His father, who appreciated culture, endeavored to foster a love of learning in his children. His mother, an accomplished musician, died when Samuel was fourteen years of age.
Samuel was educated in the public schools, at the classical academy in Harrisburg and at Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA. He found college routine irksome and left after two years at the age of eighteen saying, "I cannot learn from others, I must see for myself." Thereafter he educated himself by attending lectures, recording observations of bird habits, learning to stuff birds and mammals from a traveling Methodist minister, resulting in a large collection of specimens in natural history and also a scientific and linguistic library.
As a child Haldeman had a penchant for collecting specimens from nature and Native American stone implements found on and near the mansion site, keeping them in his own museum. His collection included skeletons of rabbits, opossums, muskrats, and field mice, which he prepared by boiling the carcasses. It also included fresh-water shells from both banks of the Susquehanna River and its islands. A letter from Samuel to a friend, dated 1844, says, "I collected shells on the banks of the Susquehanna long before I knew the meaning of genus and species." We'll see later what an influence these early shell-collecting days on the Susquehanna River had on Haldeman's scientific scholarship.
After his marriage in 1835 to Mary A. Hough of Bainbridge, he moved to a new residence at the base of Chickies Rock, Marietta. Not only did he design the stately home built by his father, he laid out the grounds with native specimens of trees and shrubs gathered from the surrounding woods, and some foreign varieties, all of which were planted with his own hands.
Not having a particular fondness for business, he continued his studies of nature, but did assist his father in a saw mill and later became a silent partner in the iron business with his brothers. He wrote articles on anthracite furnaces for Silliman's Journal, and contributed sound and practical suggestions for improvements to both the mill business and construction of the blast furnace.
At the age of twenty-three, Samuel contributed to the Lancaster Journal an article refuting Locke's "Moon Hoax". From then on, his life was devoted to science. For forty-five years he spent most of the time in his library, many times working sixteen hours a day. In 1836, Professor Haldeman became an assistant on the State geological survey of New Jersey, and was later transferred to a similar position in Pennsylvania. During extensive geological work, he discovered a new genus and species of fossil plant. Geology did not engross his whole attention, as he was now busy collecting and studying shells, and made substantial contributions in this field through an expertly illustrated massive work of copperplate engravings, drawn and colored from the original shells and living animals. This was finished in 1845.
One professional association of Samuel Haldeman during this period of 1840 to 1850 is particularly significant for his scientific development as well as for the development of American science. In 1844 he became a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a fledgling organization just beginning to function. At the request of this organization, he prepared a paper entitled "Enumeration of the Recent Freshwater Mollusk Which are Common to North America and Europe, with Observations on Species and their Distribution." Fifteen years later, an obscure British scientist had the following to say about this paper, "In 1843-44 professor Haldeman (Boston Journal of Natural History, United States, Vol. IV, pg. 468) has ably given the arguments for and against the hypothesis of the development and modification of species: he seems to lean towards the side of change." This scientist was Charles Darwin and he was writing in the preface to his Origin of Species, one of the most influential and controversial science books ever published. Samuel was said to have been the only American Naturalist with whom Charles Darwin corresponded, and whose opinion Darwin regarded as authoritative."
Samuel continued to write important and prize-winning essays and articles in philology, phonography, ethnology, natural history, and archaeology. His writings in all fields of science are literally innumberable, with well over one hundred articles on such scientific subjects as conchology and crustacea (the study of mollusks and shells), entomology (the study of insects), arachnidae (the study of spiders), annelids (the study of earthworms, leeches and related animals ), geology, chemistry and archeology.
He became professor of zoology at Franklin Institute of Philadelphia in 1841; chemist and geologist of the Pennsylvania Agricultural Society in 1852; professor of natural history at the University of Pennsylvania from 1850-1853; and the same position at Delaware College at Newark, Delaware from 1855-1858; and professor of comparative philology at the University of Pennsylvania from 1876 until the time of his death. This university conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws. Professor Haldeman was among the first to undertake the spelling reform of English words. He corresponded with Noah Webster, who credited him with many words and definitions in his dictionary, also contributing to Worchester's Dictionary, the National Dictionary, and Johnson's Cyclopedia. He studied the languages of our Indian tribes, and of various nations and tribes of other parts of the world. He considered his most outstanding accomplishments to have been his investigations in philology (the study of the evolution of speech sounds).
Dr. Haldeman was elected to twenty-eight honorary scientific societies, both in this country and abroad. With others, he formed the Entomological Society of Pennsylvania and was president of the American Philological Association. Letters of inquiry from all parts of the world came across his desk; publishers asking opinions of books; writers begging information; teachers with a pronunciation to be settled; naturalists forwarding packages of shells, insects, or minerals for identification; farmers and others sending clays to be analyzed; requests for lectures; requests for data from scientific newspaper articles; request for reviews from editors, and so on.
Samuel Steman Haldeman died on September 10, 1880 at the age of sixty-eight, at his study table, of heart paralysis. He left a wife, two sons, and two daughters. He is buried beside his wife in the Haldeman family plot in the Marietta Cemetery. At a meeting of scientists following his death, this remark was made of him, "He was no ordinary man whom you might compliment with a passing respectful obituary notice - in science and letters he was a great man." - HMPS Records www.haldeman-mansion.org/samuelstemanhaldeman.htm
The biographical information was provided by the Haldeman Mansion Preservation Society. www.haldeman-mansion.org
Date Range
1814-1957
Creation Date
1814-1957
Year Range From
1814
Year Range To
1957
Creator
Haldeman family
Storage Location
LancasterHistory, Lancaster, PA
Storage Room
Archives South
Storage Wall
Side 15
People
Haldeman, Samuel Steman
Figyelmessy, Elisa Jacobean Haldeman
Haldeman, Henry
Haldeman, Paris
Haldeman, Mary Ann Hough
Haldeman, Carsten N.
Haldeman, Victor Macholski
Haldeman, Horace
Haldeman, Preston Elder
Black, Mira H.
Black, Harry "Pep" Crawford
Figyelmessy, Loyos Philip Haldeman
Cassatt, Mary Stevenson
Solis-Cohen, Jacob da Silva
Subjects
Business records
Letters
Search Terms
Letters
Correspondence
Business records
Manuscript groups
Finding aids
Extent
1 box, 73 folders, 291 items, 1,115 pages to scan, .5 cubic foot
Object Name
Archive
Language
English
Object ID
MG0736
Location of Originals
LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Associated Material
Haldeman Mansion Preservation Society https://www.haldeman-mansion.org/
Related Item Notes
Curatorial Collection
S. S. Haldeman Papers, MG0344
Notes
The following notes, including a partial Haldeman Family tree, document only those who authored and/or received the letters:
Henry Haldeman (18 Dec 1787 - 21 Mar 1849)
m. (1) Francis Steman (1 Mar 1794 - 15 Feb 1826) on 1811
Children: Samuel Steman Haldeman; Horace Haldeman
m. (2) Margaret Armstrong (15 Aug 1804 - 17 May 1867) on 1830
Children: Paris Haldeman
Samuel Steman Haldeman (12 Aug 1812 - 10 Sep 1880)
m. Mary Ann Hough (12 Dec 1812 - 6 Jul 1883) on 1835
Children: Carsten N. Haldeman (13 Oct 1837 - 14 Apr 1892); Eliza (Itty) Jacobean Haldeman (5 Nov 1843 - 10-Dec 1910); Frances H. Haldeman (9 May 1840 - 20 Oct 1904); Victor M. Haldeman (29 Jul 1854 - 12 Aug 1924)
Horace Haldeman (14 Aug 1820 - 10 Sep 1883)
m. Annie Breneman Haines (1823 - 16 Jan 1892)
Paris Haldeman (30 Jan 1831 - 13 Aug 1893)
Preston Elder Haldeman was Eliza Haldeman's cousin
Mira/Myra H. Black (1847-1895) and her brother Harry (Pep) Crawford Black (14 Mar 1846 - 22 Mar 1921) were second cousins to Eliza Haldeman.
Loyos Philip Haldeman Figyelmessy (2 Sep 1877 - 8 Apr 1889) was Eliza Haldeman's son. Eliza was married to Col. Philip Figyelmessy (1822-1907).
Mary S. Cassatt (May 22, 1844 - June 14, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker. She lived much of her adult life in France, where she first befriended Edgar Degas and later exhibited among the Impressionists. Cassatt often created images of the social and private lives of women, with particular emphasis on the intimate bonds between mothers and children. She was a close friend of Eliza Haldeman.
J. Solis-Cohen had a private medical practice in Philadelphia, where he concentrated on diseases of the throat and chest. www.collegeofphysicians.org
Access Conditions / Restrictions
No restrictions.
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
2014.MG0736
Other Numbers
MG-736
Classification
MG0736
Description Level
Fonds
Custodial History
The letters and record book in this collection were kept by Eliza Haldeman and later sold by her son, S. Haldeman Figyelmessy, to his cousin and the donor's father, Guy K. Haldeman.
Processed and finding aid prepared by RR and SM in Summer and Fall 2015; and SW in Spring 2016. Added to database 23 May 2021.
Documents
Less detail

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