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.
Browse Encyclopedia
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.
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.
Letters between George Washington and John Armstrong of Carlisle
John Armstrong was born in County Fermanagh, Ireland about the year 1717 or 1720. A surveyor, he settles in Pennsylvania, first in York County and then in the recently created county of Cumberland.
Lewis the Robber
From a likely fictional confession written a day before his death, Pennsylvania’s Robin Hood tells the story of David Lewis, better known as Lewis the Robber from his birth on Hanover Street in Carlisle on March 4, 1790 to his capture and eventual death in jail in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania on July
Clarence Isaac Lewis (1898 – 1959)
Clarence I. Lewis, a decorating painter, was born in St. Clair, Pennsylvania. He left high school his sophomore year to apprentice as decorating painter. In 1917 he joined the military as an insignia painter where he would later he paint equipment.
Archibald Loudon (1754-1840)
Printer, publisher, postmaster, bookseller, paper manufacturer and author, Archibald Loudon was “the most interesting of the early printers and publishers of Carlisle.” Archibald, son of James and Christiana Loudon, was reportedly born at sea on August 24, 1754 during his parent’s emigration from Scotland.
J. P. Lyne (1800-1862): Coppersmith and Hardware Merchant
Fifty years after J. P. Lyne went out of business, an elderly man reminiscing about the Carlisle of his youth still remembered that “a mammoth wood and gilded sign of a padlock stood in front of J. P. Lyne’s hardware store.” Lyne worked as a coppersmith in Carlisle in the 1820s and 1830s, but by 1838 he had become a hardware merchant. The 1838 Triennial tax assessment listed “J. P. Lyne & Co., merchants.” A partnership with George W. Sheaffer was dissolved in 1845.
Miss Margaret MacDonald (1760-1844)
Margaret MacDonald was born on June 22, 1760, one of Duncan and Sarah MacDonald’s four children.1 Her father, described as “the old Scotch highland piper,”2 likely served in one of the British regiments sent to Carlisle during the French and Indian War.
Mail Delivery in the 18th Century
When Post Masters received letters, they listed the names in the newspapers of those to whom the letters were addressed. If the letters were not picked up by a specified date, they went to the Dead Letter Office.