Letter: To Mr. James McManus, Merchant, Carlisle
from H. W. Peterson, Lancaster, PA, 1823
A gentleman squires young ladies around the State Capitol
Dear Sir: Your compliments as forwarded to me by my friend Ephraim Steel have been received, but no other communication. I acknowledge my obligation for the expressions of friendship and regard of the young ladies of Carlisle provided they are expressions of sincerity and provided also those complimentary expressions were not the offspring of your own prolific brain.
I do not know whether or not I have written you since I had the pleasure of seeing the amiable Miss Mary Hiteshu, of the city of Lancaster,1 but lest I should not, I now communicate the same, together with the request as expressed by Miss Hiteshu [sic Heitshu ] that Miss Armor and the Miss Thomsons would occasionally let her hear from them. The very amiable Miss Hoffmeyer (daughter of the Rev. Mr. H.) of Lancaster was also at Harrisburg. I had the honor of gallanting these two and six others to the State Capitol where we examined everything worthy of notice. Miss Hiteshu occupied (for a few moments) the Chair of the State, by placing her “human form divine,” in the Governor’s Chair. In a week or ten days I will be at Harrisburg.
I am truly yours, H. W. Peterson
H. W. Peterson appears frequently in the Lancaster and Harrisburg newspapers in 1823 in connection with the elections. He actively supported Andrew Jackson and also Andrew Gregg for Governor of Pennsylvania. He tried to start a newspaper in Harrisburg in 1824 but did not find enough encouragement. We discover where he has been when the Lancaster Intelligencer runs the following article in its March 20, 1827, edition of the newspaper.
“We regret to learn that H. W. Peterson, editor of the “Christian Herald and Rochester Telegraph,” has been reduced to the necessity of relinquishing the publication of that valuable paper for want of sufficient encouragement. He is now making arrangements to quit the province of Upper Canada, and wishes to establish himself, as soon as possible, in some village of the United States which will support a printer with a small family and calls on any of his brother editors who may know of such a situation, to inform him of it by mail. Address H. W. Peterson, York, Upper Canada, via Lewiston, New York.”
Privately owned letter
In January 1773, merchant Samuel Wharton wrote the following observations about tea drinking in America.
"The use of teas, and of the black sort in particular, is so common and fashionable in America that it is usually drank twice a day, even by the Frontier inhabitants of all the colonies...
1 Miss Mary Heitshu, daughter of Philip Heitshu, Esq.,555t of the city of Lancaster was married to Daniel Keller of Lebanon [PA] by Rev. Henry Hoffmeier. Lancaster Intelligencer, August 22, 1826. In 1829, Dr. Frederick Augustus Muhlenburg of the city of Lancaster sold the southern half of Lot #165 on South Hanover Street in Carlisle to Philip Heitshu of Lancaster. (Deed 1-PP-406). Philip willed the lot in 1846 to his daughter Mary, wife of Daniel Keller. She sold it in 1871. (Deed 3-D-457)