"Pulled from local news headlines, court records, trial transcripts, and land records, this story weaves together the history of the Accomac river crossing, the town of Marietta, and the untimely death of an innocent young girl. Against a rich historical backdrop, the murder and ensuing legal proceedings provide a compelling account of life Across the river."--P. [4] of cover.
256 pages : illustrations, maps, facsimiles ; 22 cm
Notes
Includes index.
Summary
This is the diary of James McCullogh, a Scot-Irish immigrant farmer who settled on the Pennsylvania frontier in the mid-1700s...In its 116 pages, he jots notations from his daily life, from planting to business accounts to the secret places where he hid his tools during bloody Indian raids. The book records life-altering events such as the loss of his brother John and the kidnapping of his two small sons -the younger of which he never saw again- at the hands of Indians. He includes Bible verses and writes some entries in code, somewhat curiously, since he also provides the key. [book jacket]
In this annotated volume, there are facsimiles of the diary's pages, along with a transcription for clarity...and useful commentary providing context and background.
"One of the best known legends from York County, Pennsylvania, is Toad Road and the Seven Gates of Hell. What is the real story? Where are the Seven Gates of Hell? Where is Toad Road? Extensive research and on site exploration is combined to dispel urban legends while revealing stranger truths. Journey beyond the Seventh Gate and into other weird places in York, Lancaster, and Adams Counties. Explore Hex Hollow, Chickies Rock, lonely graveyards, and old iron forges. Read true tales of bigfoot creatures, witches, ghosts, werewolves, and flying phantoms. Sometimes they haunt the woods behind you. Sometimes they are in your own back yard." [from the publisher]
Introduction: Remembering -- Leavening, 1786-1819 -- Hardening, 1820-1834 -- Messing, 1834-1840 -- Wooing, 1840-1844 -- Ministering, 1844-1848 -- Running, 1848-1853 -- Presiding, 1853-1868 -- Epilogue: Preserving -- Washington residences of James Buchanan and William Rufus King (1834-1853) -- Percentage correlation of roll call votes of James Buchanan with senators of the Bachelor's Mess, 23rd to 28th Congresses (1834-1844) -- Calendar of correspondence of James Buchanan / Harriet Lane Johnston and William Rufus King / Catherine Margaret Ellis (1837-1868.
Summary
"Politicians James Buchanan (1791-1868) of Pennsylvania and William Rufus King (1786-1853) of Alabama has excited much speculation through the years. Why did they never marry? Might they have been gay, or was their relationship a nineteenth-century version of the modern-day 'bromance'? Then, as now, they have intrigued by the many mysteries surrounding them. In Bosom Friends : the Intimate World of James Buchanan and William Rufus King, Thomas Balcerski explores the lives of these two politicians and discovers one of the most significant collaborations in American political history. Unlikely companions from the start, they lived together as messmates in a Washington, DC, boardinghouse. There developed a bosom friendship that blossomed into a significant political partnership. Before the Civil War, each man was elected to high executive office, William Rufus King the vice-presidency in 1852 and James Buchanan as the nation's fifteen president in 1856. This book offers a dual biography of James Buchanan and William Rufus King. Special attention is given to their early lives prior to elected office, the circumstances of their boardinghouse friendship, and the juicy political gossip that has circulated about them ever since. In addition, the author traces their many contributions to the Jacksonian political agenda, manifest destiny, and the debates over slavery, while finding their style of politics to have been disastrous for the American nation. Ultimately, Bosom Friends demonstrates that intimate male friendships among politicians were, and continue to be, an important part of success in American politics"-- Provided by publisher.
"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]
Collects two hundred letters from readers of Mark Twain to the author himself, offering a glimpse into the lives and sensibilites of nineteenth-century children, preachers, con artists, inmates, and other fans of the author's work.
