Relics: Lost and Found
Relics are fragments or objects that have survived from the past, and in the case of relics found in Cumberland County, they are gold and silver coins, buttons, silver spoons, and cannonballs.
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.
Jane Deeter Rippin
Born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on May 30, 1882, Jane Deeter was the middle child of five and the youngest of the daughters.1 She lived in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania with her mother while her father worked in Harrisburg, but came home on the weekends.
Mrs. Elizabeth Ross: Shopkeeper/Feme Sole Trader
Mrs. Ross, as her name was written on the “Applyers of Lots” in Carlisle in 1751, may have been the wife of John Ross, keeper of the Blue Rock Ferry in Hempfield Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, who according to court records, turned his wife Elizabeth out of his house in 1737. In 1741, he was ordered to pay her 3 shillings and 6 pence per week for her support.
Judge Sylvester Sadler
Sylvester Sadler, local lawyer, judge and later Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court was born in Carlisle on September 29th, 1829.[1] Sylvester was the second out of 4 sons of local judge Wilbur F.
Artist Maximillian M. Sappelt (1857-1930)
Maximillian Sappelt and his parents Joseph and Ottillia Sappelt left the port of Hamburg, Germany on June 1, 1867 aboard the ship “Cimbria” bound for America.1 They settled in New York City where Joseph Sappelt practiced medicine, and Max went to school.2
Schimmel Wood Carvings-Tidbits
Wilhelm Schimmel (1817-1890) was a German itinerant who lived in Cumberland County during the last quarter of the 19th century. In exchange for food and lodging, often in people’s barns, he made wood carvings for them.
Wilhelm Schimmel: The Wood Carver with a Bad Temper
Wilhelm Schimmel was a German-born itinerant who traipsed Pennsylvania’s Cumberland Valley doing odd jobs. In payment for food and sleeping quarters in the barns and lofts of local families, he carved and painted eagles and animal figures of various sizes.
Scots-Irish Influence in Cumberland County
Upon ascending the throne in 1603, James I of England (James VI of Scotland) desired to “civilize the uncontrollable, autonomous Irish.” His plan was to displace English Protestants, Presbyterian Scots, French, and German Protestants from their homelands and into Ireland.
Runaway Servants
Servants played an important role in the economy of colonial and post-Revolutionary War America.
Shippensburg
The Shippensburg borough lives in two Pennsylvania counties, mostly in Cumberland but also in Franklin. In 1730, twelve Scots-Irish families traveled the Virginia Path Indian trail (now U.S.