“Carlisle’s strongest white man was “French George” who had a brother “French Ory,” and a sister who was the wife of Jimmy McCarter the carpet weaver. Rathgueb was the family name. We question if the old town has since boasted of male citizens of equal strength.”1
Conrad Reep, his wife Catharine (Lizman) and their two young daughters emigrated from Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany in 1848. Reep’s brother-in-law, John Lizman, also from Hess-Darmstadt, had immigrated earlier and was a cabinetmaker in Carlisle. Reep settled in Mount Holly Springs, six miles south of Carlisle. In 1856, he declared his intent to become a citizen and was naturalized on November 10, 1858.
Relics are fragments or objects that have survived from the past, and in the case of relics found in Cumberland County, they are gold and silver coins, buttons, silver spoons, and cannonballs.
Mrs. Ross, as her name was written on the “Applyers of Lots” in Carlisle in 1751, may have been the wife of John Ross, keeper of the Blue Rock Ferry in Hempfield Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, who according to court records, turned his wife Elizabeth out of his house in 1737. In 1741, he was ordered to pay her 3 shillings and 6 pence per week for her support.
Maximillian Sappelt and his parents Joseph and Ottillia Sappelt left the port of Hamburg, Germany on June 1, 1867 aboard the ship “Cimbria” bound for America.1 They settled in New York City where Joseph Sappelt practiced medicine, and Max went to school.2
Interview of Merri Lou Schaumann for the Elizabeth V. and George F. Gardner Digital Library Memory Bank. Schaumann discusses growing up in Euclid, OH before coming to Carlisle, PA. During her time in Carlisle she became a prolific researcher of local history leading to the publication of numerous books and volunteering with the Cumberland County Historical Society.
Wilhelm Schimmel (1817-1890) was a German itinerant who lived in Cumberland County during the last quarter of the 19th century. In exchange for food and lodging, often in people’s barns, he made wood carvings for them.
Wilhelm Schimmel was a German-born itinerant who traipsed Pennsylvania’s Cumberland Valley doing odd jobs. In payment for food and sleeping quarters in the barns and lofts of local families, he carved and painted eagles and animal figures of various sizes.
Servants played an important role in the economy of colonial and post-Revolutionary War America.
In 1899, Chinaman Sing Gee, planning to make a trip to China, sold his laundry business at 120 West High Street to Lewie Sing for $160. Lewie paid Sing Gee $100 and agreed to pay him the balance when he returned from China.