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.
The Union Fire Company was organized on April 6, 1789 by a group of citizens that had joined together to order a fire engine after a devastating fire in the fall of 1788. By January of 1790 the engine was housed in a shed built to the west of the Court House in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Born in Williamsport, Pennsylvania in 1936, Pat attended William Penn High School and graduated from the Harrisburg Hospital School of Nursing in 1957. Afterwards she worked as a pediatric surgical nurse at the Harrisburg Hospital and then later held a position as Charge Nurse in a long-term car
In 2015, the Cumberland County Historical Society purchased Christopher Vanlear’s tavern ledger.1 The entries in his ledger provide a new source of information about the Colonial and Revolutionary War eras in Carlisle, a town of major importance on the Pennsylvania frontier.2
Velocipedes were all the rage in Paris, and by November 1868 they had made their appearance on the streets of New York and were causing a sensation.
George N. Wade, longtime State Senator representing Pennsylvania’s 31st district, was born on August 13, 1893 in Washington, Pennsylvania.1 One of 9 children, Wade started work in the oil and coal industry at sixteen years of age.
A former resident wrote reminiscences of his school days in Carlisle in the 1820s and of his teacher Henry Wales. He sent them to the editor of the Carlisle Herald for publication.
Jonas E. Warrell was born April 3, 1896 in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania to Albert and Anna Daley Warrell. He graduated from Conshohocken High School in 1913 and attended Drexel University.
Born on May 9, 1801 in Carlisle, Watts was one of 12 children born to David and Juliana Miller Watts. Watts’ Cumberland County roots extended to nearly its founding when his grandfather Frederick Watts emigrated from Wales purchasing a large tract of land in 1760 on the banks of the Juniata River in present day Perry County. Watt’s father, David was a well-known lawyer in the county and a member of the first graduating class of Dickinson College in 1787.
For Marcia Dale, the daughter and namesake of father, Dale Weary, the developmental motor sequence from birth, to crawl, to walk, to run and dance took only three years. Dale, the father of Marcia, Sandra, and Rosemary, provided everything – a home, protection, a nurturing environment, and fun.
When the Septennial Census of Carlisle was taken in 1814, it included the names and occupations of all the borough’s taxables. Nineteen of them, including two women, were identified as weavers, and at least half of them were born in Ireland.