Our story begins at eleven o'clock in the morning on July 17, 1866, when 24 Cumberland County physicians arrived at the Court House in Carlisle. This was the largest gathering of physicians in the county up to that time and, in addition to seven doctors from Carlisle, included practitioners from Shippensburg, Newville, Mechanicsburg, New Cumberland, West Fairview, and a number of other smaller points in the county.
It is indeed an Unalloyed pleasure to have the privilege of appearing before the Hamilton Library Association this evening to turn back to the period when I first became a resident of Cumberland County. Although forty years have elapsed since that period, and fifteen years have passed since I removed from your midst, I am sincere when I state that nowhere else have I made and retained better and warmer friends than those I left in the Cumberland Valley. There is something in your charming landscape. In your beautiful scenery and in your romantic history embalmed "In Old Bellaire" and its setting that must be the secret you have in retaining the affection and esteem of those who have been residents in your midst.
As a source of manpower, leadership, and vital supplies, Carlisle and its vicinity played a significant role in the Revolutionary War effort. Nevertheless, and notwithstanding the fact that much of its present population has roots reaching well into the era of America's struggle for independence, the eastern region of Cumberland County has not until recently had its own chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution. Instead, interested and eligible residents affiliated with groups centered on Harrisburg, York, Gettysburg or Shippensburg.