Signers of Petition: James L. Reynolds, William B. Fordney, Elliote E. Lane, James B. Lane, Frederick Kline, [Meichel Earman], William Hensel, George Bechey, John Lind, Martin VanStyke, J. Albright, Ehrman Huber, Owen Hopple, George T. Hambright, Benjamin Foltz.
1 item, 1 piece
Access Conditions / Restrictions
Request at Reference Desk; photocopy made by staff member.
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.
Signers of petition: John Harnish, John Hartman, Henry Weise, George Walter, Benjamin Kegereis, Peter K. Walter, Joseph Leisey, Daniel L. Lutz, Reuben Bucher, Jacob Bucher, John Weinhold, Benjamin Leisey.
3 items, 3 pieces
Access Conditions / Restrictions
Request at Reference Desk; photocopy made by staff member.
A Lancaster schoolboy views the Civil War : (diary of Immanuel C. Pehrson, 1862-1863. Collection of the Fackenthal Library, Franklin and Marshall College)
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.
Signers of petition: William P. Pusey, Fleming McSparran, Clarkson Jefferis, Miller Hutton, George Brown, Francis B. Groff, James D. Malone, Mark Showalter, Joseph Smith, William R. Ralston, James McCrabb, William W. Steele, Mordecai Hammond, Clemingham Atchison.
1 item, 1 piece
Access Conditions / Restrictions
Request at Reference Desk; photocopy made by staff member.
Signers of petition: Samuel Trimble, Robert W. Moor, Miller Hutton, G. J. Hildebrand, [ ] Zell, Francis McCrabb, Francis B. Groff, [Patteric] Smyth, Thomas R. Johnson, [Amos] Groff, Michael Shea, Samuel Newport, John C. Stone, Ephraim Potts, George Bellamey, Newton Egan, James W. Malone, William Morrison, Thomas McMorrison, Dennis Malone, T. W. Waters, Cheyney H. Pusey, Oliver Caldwell, R. M. Caldwell, Robert W. Moore, Jonathan McMichael, Emanuel D. Waters, James Barnes Jr., Thomas M. Gryder, John B. Hess, John Kennedy, J. S. Jordan, Jeremiah Herr, Jackson Towson, John Findley, Thomas Arnold, Edward J. Hewes, Allen S. Steele, Henry Harner, John W. Fisher, William A. Towson, Enos Evans, James Barnett, William Barr, John Tennant, N. N. Heneil, Edward F. Heneil, J. H. Bryan, Samuel Fisher, Henry M. Ewing, [Elihu] H. Wells, Benjamin H. Witmer, Henry McCann, A. B. Stone, Samuel Broome, Samuel L. Fisher, John Trimbel, Robert W. Moore, Edward McCaa, John Rogers, Anthony Deaver, Cuningham Atikson, Henry Rogers, Lewis Hilton, R. L. Wharton, William T. Wilson, Samuel Cuming, Benjamin Burgess, Christopher M. Hess, George Aument Jr., John Lutz, Daniel D. Hess, Jonathan M. Bushong, James Lowry, James Shank, Benjamin Musser, Westly Philips, William J. Steel, David Stefel, A. Bear, Andrew Lee, Vincent Burkins, Robert M. Cohick, Charles T. Todd, M. Watson, Eli Moore, John Burgin, A. J. Ferguson, Benjamin Brooks, [unknown signature], Jacob Hauk, Daniel R. Hilton, Vincent Reynolds, Thomas Moderwell, Thomas Cully, J. McMichael, William Wescott, Elias Hess, Lewis Jefferis, Mortica Hamond, Isaac Moris, Benjamin F. Sides, S. J. Hamilton, James Duncan, Peter Smyth, Jacob L. Kirk, Archibald Brown, William P. Pusey, H. D. Hildebrand, William Miller, Benjamin Finley, Richard Ward, G. S. Savery, Lewis Todd, Benjamin Brogan, William K. Brown, Hezekiah Freeston, [unknown signature], Samuel C. Marshall, John McKinley, John Steward, Thomas McKinley, John Gallighar, John M. Bishop, Samuel Seipel, Edward Buckman, William Bear, [Wayne Mohr], [unknown signature], Allen Kline, William C. Buckman, John Brown, James W. Allen, John Hoover, Peter Caldwell, James McKinley, Felix W. Sweigert, [Jeremiah] Kirk, S. McConkey, H. J. McIntire, Harrison Hammond, [Elwad H. Done], Clark Philips, john Harveston, James Trimble, Samuel McMichal, Michel Philips, John Hiltibrand, John McColgen, B. R. Watson, Jacob Bear, M. Pharoah, Jacob Hecklar, Thomas Pusey, William Moore, John Harrar, Nathan Watson, George Wishower.
1 item, 1 piece
Access Conditions / Restrictions
Request at Reference Desk; photocopy made by staff member.
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.
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.
