Vance McCormick – Businessman, Politician, Publisher
Vance Criswell McCormick was born in Silver Springs Township in 1872 and was part of the sixth generation of McCormick’s in Cumberland County.
Browse Encyclopedia
The Cumberland County Historical Encyclopedia is an expanding publication on the history of the Cumberland County. Covering a wide range of topics and the entire Cumberland County geographic region, the Encyclopedia seeks to be an initial entry point to those interested in the County's history. Entries seek to provide a list of resources available as well as showcasing some of the Cumberland County Historical Society's own collections.
Letter: Dr. Samuel Allen McCoskry to his brother, 1817
Dr. Samuel Allen McCoskry (1751-1818) was one of the first children born in Carlisle. He was a physician, Revolutionary War surgeon, member of the Society of the Society of Cincinnati, Trustee of Dickinson College, and son-in-law of its first president Charles Nisbet. He writes to his brother Dr. William McCoskry (1763-1831) that he and his wife are concerned about their son William’s debts and conduct as well as the impaired heath of the family.
Emma Louise Thompson McGowan
Emma Louise Thompson McGowan was born in Winchester, Virginia in 1876. When she was thirteen years old, McGowan moved with her family from Winchester, Virginia to Carlisle, Pennsylvania escaping the devastation of the South and seeking a new life in the North.
William McHose (1769-1826): Silver Spring Township Stone Mason
Salem Church on the Carlisle Pike in Hampden Township, the three-span stone bridge at Fisher’s Fording (Houston’s Mill), and many substantial stone houses east of Carlisle were built by William McHose and his brother John between the years 1810 and 1826.
The McKeehan’s Bound and Gagged by Four Masked Men
It was bitter cold on the evening of January 20, 1879. Farmer George McKeehan and his elderly sisters were sitting in the kitchen keeping warm when four masked men wielding clubs burst into the house and threatened to harm them if they made any noise.
Dorothea McKenzie (1737-1805)
Dorothea McKenzie, the daughter of a Quaker ironmaster, became a widow at the age of 38, never remarried, and, until her death, ran a genteel boarding house in Carlisle with the help of her slaves. Dorothea’s father, Thomas Maybury, established the Green Lane Forge in the Perkiomen Valley in what is now Montgomery County, Pennsylvania as well as the Hereford Furnace. Her mother, Sophia Rutter, was a descendant of Pennsylvania ironmaster, Thomas Rutter.[1]
Cormick McManus: Irish Tailor
Although Cormick McManus, a tailor, was one of a number of Irish Catholics who immigrated to America, settled in Carlisle, and was naturalized in the early decades of the nineteenth century, he was memorable enough to be written about in the reminiscences of several Carlisle natives. The tailor shop of Cormick McManus on West High Street, wrote James Miller McKim, was:
Letter: To Mr. James McManus, Merchant from H. W. Peterson
A gentleman squires young ladies around the State Capitol.
Map Maker Captain William McMurray
In 1916, P. Lee Phillips, Chief of the Division of Maps and Charts at the Library of Congress, wrote to the editor of the Carlisle Evening Herald newspaper seeking information. The editor printed the letter under the following headlines.
Mechanicsburg
Mechanicsburg is situated about midway between Harrisburg and Carlisle. Due to this location, it was a reasonable place to build an inn and tavern which resulted in the beginning of the town.