François Andre Michaux, botanist and silviculturist, a traveller in America, and author of a work on the forest trees of North America, first came to America in 1787 with his father, Andre, who established two nurseries in the young United States and proposed an exploration of the Missouri River and the American West in 1793, ten years before the expedition of Lewis and Clark.
Joshua Gilpin, a well-to-do merchant, manufacturer, and capitalist of Philadelphia and Delaware, travelled through Cumberland County from Chambersburg to Harrisburg in 1809 on his way home from a business and pleasure trip to western Pennsylvania. As was his custom on journeys of this kind, he made a record of observations and events. Although not notably different in content from those of other travellers on the same road at the same time, its relevant portion is nonetheless worth reprinting as a source of information about the county at the beginning of the nineteenth century.
Interview of Richard Tritt by Susan Meehan on May 6, 2014. Tritt discusses his life in Cumberland County including Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, Boiling Springs, and Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.
When the Septennial Census of Carlisle was taken in 1814, it included the names and occupations of all the borough’s taxables. Nineteen of them, including two women, were identified as weavers, and at least half of them were born in Ireland.
Shippensburg, the second oldest town west of the Susquehannah river, was named for Edward Shippen, but the founding and naming of the town is much more than these simple facts.
"'Black Jack’ was a famous cook,” wrote Jeremiah Zeamer, editor of the American Volunteer newspaper. “He had a great reputation as a cook and caterer. Whenever in that part of the county there was a wedding, a dance, or a party of any kind for which a feast was to be prepared, ‘Black Jack’ was sent for to superintend the cooking and set the table, and so well did he do this that he was always in high favor with people who had appetites.”
Interview of Nicole Witmer by Alan Schultze on March 25, 2015. Witmer discusses growing up on a farm outside of Carlisle, Pennsylvania and the physical changes to the landscape as farms are replaced by warehouses in the area. She further talks about her school experiences including being home schooled, attending Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, and Shippensburg University.
Daniel Wright served with Company A of the 24th U.S.C.T. He was born in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania around 1843, to parents Stephen and Catherine Wright, and lived in Shippensburg with his family, including his siblings Samuel, Stephen, David, Phillis, Mary, Benjamin, William, and Sarah.1 He enlisted on January 12, 1865, in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, at 20 years old. He stood at five feet and three inches tall, and was described as having a yellow complexion, dark hair, and brown eyes. He was working as a laborer at the time.
Samuel Wright was born on October 5, 1836, in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, to parents Stephen and Catherine Wright. He was the oldest of eighteen children. At the time of the 1850 Federal Census, he was living with six of them, named Stephen, David, Daniel, Phillis, Mary, and Benjamin.1 He married his wife Louisa in 1862, and worked as a laborer until his time in the military. He enlisted on August 29, 1864, in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, into Company E of the 121st U.S.C.T.