Carlisle

Joseph W. Swales

Joseph Swales date and location of birth is unknown. He may have served in Company G of the 83rd Pennsylvania Infantry, although that is unconfirmed, and it may be a different soldier of the same name.1 Nothing is known about his life after service in the military, besides mentions of an Edward Swales, who could be his son, arrested in 1882 for stabbing another boy.2

Swales died sometime before 1884, the cause and exact date are unknown.3 He is buried in Lincoln Cemetery, Carlisle, Pennsylvania.  

Ellie Sweet

Interview of Ellie Sweet for the Elizabeth V. and George F. Gardner Digital Library Memory Bank. Sweet talks about her life and the influence of St. Patricks Church.

A Tale of Two Towns: Divergent Views of Eighteenth-Century Carlisle

Founded in 1751 by Proprietor Thomas Penn, the town of Carlisle was erected to meet the mounting social, political, and economic needs of the ever-increasing number of people settling the rich agricultural hinterlands of Pennsylvania's Cumberland Valley. Once established, Carlisle served as both the official political and judicial seat of the newly-formed county of Cumberland and as one of the major social and economic focal points of backcountry  Pennsylvania—acting as a major transit point for many westward-bound travellers.

Jesse G. Thompson

Jesse G. Thompson was born around 1844, in Carlisle Pennsylvania, to parents Benjamin and Mary Thompson. In 1850 he was the youngest child in his household at six years old, with three older siblings named William, Richard, and Jane.1 In 1860 he was sixteen years old and working as a laborer, with two younger siblings named George and Mary.2 Thompson enlisted into Company A of the 32nd U.S.C.T. as a private, on February 17, 1864, in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.

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