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.
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.
Collection of Ellmaker family papers, including original papers of the first immigrant, John Leonard Ellmaker of Germany. Papers include correspondence, genealogy charts, deeds and legal papers. newspaper clippings, photographs, articles on Jacob Eichholtz, and a diploma and teachers' certificate. There is also a blank book with paper made at Ephrata Cloister in 1796.
Preferred Citation: Title or description of item, date (day, month, year), Collection Title (MG#), Box #, Folder #, (or Object ID), LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. URL if applicable. Date accessed (day, month, year).
Access Conditions / Restrictions
No restrictions. Please request at Reference Desk or contact Research@LancasterHistory.org prior to visit.
Copyright
Collection may be photographed. Please direct questions to Research Center Staff at Research@LancasterHistory.org.
Permission for reproduction and/or publication must be obtained in writing from LancasterHistory. Persons wishing to publish any material from this site must assume all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants of copyright or other use restrictions. Publication fees may apply.
Credit
Courtesy of LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Classification
MG0071
Description Level
Fonds
Custodial History
Cataloged prior to 1997. Added to database 23 October 2018.
Collection contains the original and typed copies of correspondence describing life in the gold fields of California in the 1850s, an account of crossing the desert on the way west, and a journal describing the sea voyage home. Also, two newspaper images relevant to the gold rush and Mr. Hackman's obituary. He sent many letters home to his family in which he related the details of his experience, hardships of finding gold, the high prices and lack of provisions, observations of life in mining towns, his health, and asked for news from home. He also wrote letters to his sweetheart, Harriet B. Miller asking her to write him back, and his uncle, regarding family financial information.
Admin/Biographical History
David Baer Hackman (1827-1896) was the second child of David Heistand Hackman and Susanna Frantz Baer. He was a third cousin, once removed, of Milton Hershey. David left Lancaster in the fall of 1849 with the hope of finding gold in California. In the spring of 1850, he went to Ohio and joined others headed west. They boarded a steamboat in Cincinnati that was bound for St. Louis and then travelled by wagon train to Sacramento City, where they arrived in September 1850. David found enough gold to buy food and supplies, and then had modest success in 1853. In 1854, he decided to return home, this time travelling by steamer and train from San Francisco to New York via Panama.
The adventure of travelling westward and his life in the gold fields of California are described in detail in David's journal and correspondence. He sent many letters home to his family in which he related the details of his experience, hardships, the prices and lack of provisions, observations of life in mining towns, and asked for news from home.
David also wrote to his sweetheart, Harriet B. Miller (1829-1870), the daughter of Adam and Rebecca Miller of Manheim. Although he did not receive any letters from her, they reunited upon his return to Lancaster in 1854 and married soon after. They had one son named Augustus, who became a minister. Harriet passed away in 1870. David later married Ella C. (1851-1907) and they had five children, Frank, Mabel, Harry, Walter, and Edith.
David's obituary shows that he was involved in the grocery, clothing, hat, and shoemaking businesses. In the 1860 Census he is listed as a hatter, and in 1880 as a saloon keeper. He was well-liked and respected in the community. David and Harriet are buried in Manheim Fairview Cemetery.
Collection of materials from three hospitals in Lancaster: St. Joseph Hospital, Lancaster General Hospital, and Community Hospital of Lancaster (formerly the Osteopathic Hospital). Consists of histories, programs, in-house magazines and newsletters, annual reports, and fund-raising campaign materials.
The Lancaster General Hospital Scrapbook, 1916 contains typed and handwritten letters, staff lists, committee lists, and newspaper clippings. The items in the book discuss the financial, administrative and public state of the hospital in 1916. The book covers the Lancaster General School for nurses, staff lists, debts, and lists of committees and members. Individuals who supported the institution include Milton T. Garvin, F. L. Suter, Lilliam F. Wardell, Hugh R. Fulton, Elam H. Risser and William Shand.
Admin/Biographical History
Lancaster General Hospital opened in December 1893 with the mission to deliver the best possible care to anyone in need, regardless of ability to pay. In 1903, the hospital established the Nurses' Training School with the first graduating class of 1905. The hospital purchased its first motorized ambulance in 1916. The Department of Physical Therapy was started in the early 1950s. During 1970, Dr. Nikitas Zervanos developed the Family Practice Residency Program. Seven years later, Lancaster General Hospital received the equipment to make CAT scans possible. The Women's Health Pavilion, which was located inside Lancaster General Hospital, was completed in 1986. After many years of development and construction, the Lancaster General Health Campus was completed in 1994, and Women and Babies' Hospital opened in 2000; both are located on Harrisburg Pike.
Note: The Lancaster General Hospital Scrapbook was cataloged and preserved with funding from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. ME60112.
System of Arrangement
Arranged by hospital name.
A. St. Joseph Hospital
B. Lancaster General Hospital
C. Community Hospital (formerly Osteopathic Hospital)
The John Wise and History of Ballooning Collection contains material about John Wise, a pioneering balloonist from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and the history of ballooning. Articles written by and about John Wise provide information about the man and his career. The bulk of Series 1 is correspondence, research notes, and drafts of "The John Wise Story," by John H. Andrews. Series 2 contains material about the ballooning hobby, other early aircraft, and the history of air mail.
Admin/Biographical History
As an adventurous and inquisitive young boy, John Wise was drawn to the skies above his native Lancaster County. He was fascinated by aerial pursuits and began to conduct experiments. He tied his cat to his homemade parachute and observed the cat's safe descent from a local church steeple.
A keen interest in ballooning developed and Wise became a famous aeronaut. Although balloon ascensions were common at county fairs and carnivals he had never observed an ascension before he made his first one in Philadelphia in 1835. John Wise completed 462 balloon ascensions including Lancaster ascensions from Penn Square and the prison yard.
In the nineteenth century many ascensions were made just for the novelty of the event, but John Wise's approach was from a scientific perspective. Each ascension gave him a chance to conduct scientific investigations of the atmosphere, pneumatics and hydrostatics.
It also gave him the opportunity to develop a more advanced flying machine. Wise was the first to observe the "great river of air which always blows from west to east" in the higher regions of the atmosphere. Today we call this phenomenon the jet stream. He also developed the ripcord safety mechanism.
John Wise promoted the advantages of balloon transportation. In 1843 he conceived a project for crossing the Atlantic Ocean and asked Congress to appropriate $15,000 for the project. Congress rejected the appropriation. Wise suggested a plan to bomb the Castle at Vera Cruz during the Mexican War and during the Civil War the Bureau of Topographical Engineers requested his services as a balloonist. He is credited with the first airmail transportation in 1859.
Detailed descriptions of his ascensions and experiments are found in his book, Through the Air, published in 1873. The last ascent of John Wise took place on September 29, 1879 from St. Louis, Missouri. This flight ended disastrously in Lake Michigan where his balloon fell and his remains lie.
Prepared by the Lancaster County Historical Society, ca. 1995.
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.
The Willie Siple Collection includes photographs, postcards, correspondence, and newspaper clippings about Siple and related to his business and boxing career.
Admin/Biographical History
Wilbur "Willie" Siple (1904-1966) was the operator of Siple's News Stand for many years. He was originally a professional boxer when he was younger, and he had a successful, but short, boxing career. During those six years, Willie fought in 131 exhibitions with 71 wins, 9 losses, 22 draws and 29 KO's. Willie was what was called a "flyweight," weighing only 102 pounds in his heyday. However, Willie's boxing career was cut short after a 1925 automobile accident. Although many people speculated that Willie's loss of his eyesight was because of his boxing career, Willie explained the accident to a local newspaper. According to a sports news article that can be found in the Willie Siple Collection here at LancasterHistory.org, Willie was attempting to fix a car when a car tire exploded in his face, damaging his eyesight beyond repair and blinding him.
However, despite this tragedy, Willie didn't let the accident and blindness take over his life. On September 28, 1935, during the Depression, Willie made a brave move and opened his news stand in the Lancaster City Post Office, and named it Siple's News Stand. Due to an act of Congress, the Rudolph-Sheppard Act of 1935, Willie became "one of the first blind operators to set up shop in Federal Buildings," according to an article in the Willie Siple collection. Willie's news stand featured free news and weather reports, and sold newspapers, magazines, and candy. Rare coins and stamps, a personal passion of Willie's, were also available for purchase. Willie would travel far and wide in order to acquire rare stamps to be sold to stamp collectors. Willie would travel to places like Washington, D.C. Princeton, New Jersey, and Philadelphia in order to buy what were then called "first day issues" of stamps. One newspaper article even calls him a "philatelist," or a stamp expert, much to Willie's surprise. Siple was also extremely passionate about coin collecting, and could identify and appraise coins without needing to see them. Willie also loved to travel, and had even traveled to Canada and all around Pennsylvania with the help of friends.
Willie then became a well-known public figure. He was known for his friendly, talkative personality, and his eye-catching and "loud" shirts. WDAC-FM radio, then a Christian radio station, featured an editorial on Willie, which was subtitled "the personification of good humor." In this editorial, Willie is said to have had a "flamboyant and winning personality," as well as a "belief in man's basic honesty." Despite the fact that Willie was often taken advantage of because of his blindness, and that he "was the victim of an average of $40 worth annually in pilfered stock or dishonest dealings," Willie held on to the belief in the goodness of mankind all his life. This is not to say that Willie was completely dependent on the honesty of his customers. He was able to read dollar bills with his hands, and could tell the difference between each, much to the wonder of skeptical customers, and probably to the dismay of the rare customer who would try and take advantage of him.
Willie became a well-loved figure in the community, and anyone looking through his collection will be able to see just that. Siple was a philanthropist who supported the Tuberculosis Society with the proceeds from sales of Christmas seals (or stamps) for their charity. Willie would also dress up like Santa Claus every year, and would visit infantile paralysis victims. There are also multiple thank-you notes from school classes and the local boys club for his generous gifts of candy.
Many of Willie's friends also willingly helped him with his business, helping him with bookkeeping, driving him to and from work, taking him to lunch, helping take over the stand during lunch, and much more. He called these people his "assistants," and most of them were local business men and women who would take time out of their days to help. These people were unpaid friends, just willing to give Willie a hand. Their kindness, as well as Willie's generosity, show the kinship and kindness in the community that surrounded him in Lancaster city.
This material was part of the Johnny Hauck Collection, MG-63. Because of the specific nature of the material, it was extracted to create a separate manuscript group.
Photographs transferred to the Photograph Collection, 3 November 2017.
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.
Other Numbers
MG-6
Classification
MG0006
Description Level
Fonds
Custodial History
This material was part of the Johnny Hauck Collection, MG-63. Because of the specific nature of the material, it was extracted to create a separate manuscript group.
Cataloged prior to July 1997; added to database 8 February 2018.