After decades of introducing Dickinson students to the fascination of the history of Carlisle and Cumberland County, four years ago I at last had the opportunity to explore the topic myself, first in a book on leisure in the nineteenth century, and then, after retirement, on the important but ignored phenomenon of migration out of the Cumberland Valley.
As a genealogist, Lenore Embick Flower was very much aware of her ancestry. It may be proper, therefore, to begin with a mention of her immediate ancestors: John Dunbar and Agnes Waugh Greason Dunbar. A tombstone marks their grave at Carlisle's First Presbyterian Church-Meeting House Springs Cemetery. On the reverse side of the headstone are the names of six of their children who died of diphtheria during the 1850s.
Interview of Harold L. Lesher for the Elizabeth V. and George F. Gardner Digital Library Memory Bank. Lesher discusses his time in the Carlisle High School Band.
Alexandria, [District of Columbia], 25 February 1810. Thomas Cruse sat down, opened his desk, took out a clean sheet of paper, dipped his pen in the bottle of ink and wrote “Dear Sir.” He was writing to his brother-in-law, Judge James Hamilton of Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
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.
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 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.
Interview of Barbara Lillich for the Elizabeth V. and George F. Gardner Digital Library. Lillich discusses growing up in Cumberland County, PA, her family's relationship with Frank Masland, and meeting her husband David.
Interview of Cassie Line for the Elizabeth V. and George F. Gardner Digital Library. Line discusses her early life growing up at Greystone and Pomfret Street as well as the many friends and family she has known including stories of her husband Jim Line.
Interview of J. Matthew Lissner for the Elizabeth V. and George F. Gardner Digital Library. Lissner discusses his time in the United States Army and in the Army Reserves.