Richard Martin’s son, Reverend Joseph Martin, wrote that his father’s daily book was the English Bible. “He read widely and of the best. He was a great admirer of Shakespeare and could recite passages by the page.
Lenore Embick Flower's History of Pine Grove Furnace was first presented in 1933 and is now in a 4th edition printed by the Cumberland County Historical Society. This seminal history of the local iron industry contains an apparent error: Flower's confusion about the destruction of the ironmaster's mansion at Pine Grove Furnace.
The photographs in the collection at the Cumberland County Historical Society (CCHS) that document the history of the Pine Grove Furnace Prisoner of War Camp at Camp Michaux during the Second World War come from several sources. The primary source is from a collection originally owned by Major Laurence Thomas, the camp’s commander that were taken by the Army Signal Corp. This collection contains pictures of German and Japanese POWs, usually working around the camp or in candid poses and photos of the camp during various seasons of the year.
Cumberland County has played host to Prisoners of War at times during its history, most notably during the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and during World War II.
On Sunday, 6 December 1942, just one year removed from the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor, 20-year-old German submariner Matrosengefreiter (Seaman, 2nd Class) Gerd Horn and 19-year-old Maschinengefreiter (Fireman, 3rd Class) Werner Rast were about to be questioned by U.S. Navy intelligence experts.