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.
George B. Stuart was born on July 31, 1912 in Carlisle to Walter and Laura J. Peffer Stuart Jr. Graduating from Carlisle High School, Stuart attended the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School and Dickinson School of Law to earn his law degree, where he practiced in Carlisle all his life.
James W. Sullivan was born on March 9, 1848, to Timothy and Elizabeth Hagan Sullivan. The family lived at 17-19 North East Street in Carlisle. Sullivan, a good student, finished all but his last year at Carlisle High School.
Many people assume that the history of Cumberland County began with the foundation of towns like Carlisle, Shippensburg, Newville, and Camp Hill by European settlers in the eighteenth century.
The current day Borough of Lemoyne is in eastern Cumberland County, Pennsylvania on the western shore of the broad Susquehanna River, across from the state capitol at Harrisburg. Lemoyne’s central location in the Susquehanna River Valley makes it an enticing place to live now.
Agnes Swansey was born on June 30, 1743, grew up on her parent’s farm in West Pennsborough Township, and in 1761 married John Steele a Carlisle tavernkeeper.1 Her husband died sometime between 1769 and 1776 when she appeared on Carlisle tax lists as Agnes Steel, widow.
You’ve recently sold a horse because you no longer want to pay for its upkeep. But a few days later, you find it back in your barn, eating your hay. Can you force the buyer to honor the sale and take the horse away?
In January 1773, merchant Samuel Wharton wrote the following observations about tea drinking in America.
"The use of teas, and of the black sort in particular, is so common and fashionable in America that it is usually drank twice a day, even by the Frontier inhabitants of all the colonies...
Throughout the nineteenth century and into the early twentieth century, temperance movements were prominent in Cumberland County.
In Carlisle’s Old Graveyard at the corner of East South and South Bedford Streets is located an eight foot Celtic cross commemorating the burial place of Brigadier-General William Thompson.
James Francis Thorpe was born in 1887 to Hiram Thorpe and Charlotte Vieux in a one-room cabin near Prague, Oklahoma. Hiram was a farmer and Charlotte, a Pottawatomie Indian, a descendant of the last great Sauk and Fox chief Black Hawk, a noted warrior and athlete.