Letter: John Armstrong Jr., 1829
Dear Sir, I sincerely regret that I am so little able to give you information with regard to that part of your father’s life, which from being least known to yourself, becomes most the object of your enquiries.
Recent
Letter: Margaret Currey to her brother William Currey, 1840
Margaret Currey1 writes to her brother William and describes her work days at Carlisle’s Mansion House Hotel. She receives several letters from people in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania asking her to work for them, and she is contemplating the merits and drawbacks of each request.
Letter: Mary Parker Moore Describes Carlisle after the Rebel Invasion of 1863
Mary Parker Moore had a privileged life. She was the daughter of Carlisle Attorney Isaac Brown Parker and his wife Maria Ross Veazey. When Mary was 24 years old, she married Johnston Moore from an old and prominent Cumberland County family.
Miss Esther Lamberton (1799-1880)
Esther Lamberton and her twin brother Christopher James were born six years after their father James Lamberton killed John Duncan of Carlisle in a duel in June 1793.1 Esther wrote her will on September 23, 1878.
“Washingtoniana” on display in Carlisle in 1944
George Washington’s birthday on February 22 was commemorated in different ways in Carlisle in 1944.
Antiques Going, Going, Gone: Local Sales in the 1940s and 1950s
Collectors and dealers of antiques have often talked about the old days when there were so many good pieces of furniture and “smalls” for sale at auctions. The following are examples of some of those sales.
Carlisle the “Athens of Pennsylvania,” or Not
In 1844, a Mr. Richards of Reading, Berks County Pennsylvania, having heard from some residents of Reading that Carlisle was called the “Athens of Pennsylvania,” he decided to visit it and see for himself. When he returned to Reading his impressions of Carlisle were published in the April 17, 1844, edition of the “Reading Journal.” The “Carlisle Weekly Herald” published it for “the curiosity of its readers” in the April 24, 1844, edition of the newspaper.
John Pollock and the Philadelphia newspapers
Carlisle tavernkeeper John Pollock was a man with many irons in the fire including providing Philadelphia newspapers to those in Carlisle and the hinterland.
Jefferson Worthington and the Colonial Court House
The year was 1834 and the County Commissioners wanted to spruce up the cupola on the Court House. They made the following agreement with Jefferson Worthington that detailed the work they wanted done.
Peter Whitmore, Blacksmith of Boiling Springs, PA
Peter Whitmore was born circa 1784. He was married twice, had eleven children and made his living as a blacksmith at the Carlisle Iron Works in Boiling Springs. We get a glimpse of his life from a series of Cumberland County court records.