Several notable paintings and portraits decorate the walls of the President's House of Dickinson College. Two favorites are the portraits hanging in the living room, of John McClintock and his first wife, Caroline Augusta. The portraits were given to the College by the Longacre family of Philadelphia, descendants of Caroline Augusta. Caroline's portrait was painted by Theodore Pine in 1850, when Caroline was thirty-six.
Known in town as “Bossy” Baker, Van Baker was born a slave in Virginia about the year 1820. When The Star and Enterprise newspaper reported that Mr.
John J. Butcher, remembered as “one of Carlisle’s most highly respected colored citizens,” was born enslaved five miles from Winchester, Virginia, around 1832. On his death certificate John Butcher’s father’s name was listed as Frank. His mother’s first and maiden names weren’t recorded. Both of his parents were also born in Virginia.
In 1805, Thomas Carothers purchased the large stone house on the north west corner of Carlisle’s Square and opened the “Sign of Columbus” tavern.1 The house had belonged to merchant John Montgomery, and it was there that President George Washington hosted a dinner for Governor Thomas M
The Carothers or Carruthers families (Carruthers in Scotland, Carothers in America) were among the first settlers in Cumberland County; in 1750 when the county was formed, there were seven established Carothers households in West and East Pennsborough Townships
Thomas Craighead’s slave Venus: Sister of the first published American Negro poet Phillis Wheatley. T.C. was Thomas Craighead (1789-1865) the son of John Craighead and his wife Jane Lamb. The “old Thomas Craighead” he refers to in his letter was his grandfather who died in 1807. In 1845, T.C. also contributed a history of incidents relating to his family that was published in I.D. Rupp’s History of Dauphin, Cumberland, Perry Counties…. p. 440-444.
A lecture delivered at the Hamiton Library, Tuesday Evening. January 17th, 1905.
Mr. President,Ladies and Gentlemen:- I am going to talk this evening about William Hazlett, otherwise called Harrison, who was supposed to be one of John Brown's men. Before coming to Hazlett, I desire to say a few words about slavery and John Brown, one of whose men Hazlett was supposed to be.
In the late summer of 1847 when Professor John McClintock was tried before the Quarter Sessions Court of Cumberland County, the only white man among 34 other Carlisle Pennsylvanians, all black, charged with inciting a riot, he seems to have reached a turning point in his career. His first book had just been published by Harper Brothers in the fall of 1846...
This transcript includes portions of the tape that relate to the migration of African-American families to Cumberland County or the Underground Railroad. Donald Owens stated that he heard many of these stories from his grandmother, who raised him. Other portions of the tape contain his memories of events in the 1930s, visits to his uncle’s farm where he helped with butchering, going to school, and jobs that he had.
"'Black Jack’ was a famous cook,” wrote Jeremiah Zeamer, editor of the American Volunteer newspaper. “He had a great reputation as a cook and caterer. Whenever in that part of the county there was a wedding, a dance, or a party of any kind for which a feast was to be prepared, ‘Black Jack’ was sent for to superintend the cooking and set the table, and so well did he do this that he was always in high favor with people who had appetites.”