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Politics, Corruption and Ethnic Rivalry in Cumberland County: The Duncan-Lamberton Duel of 1793

On Saturday morning last a duel was fought near this place by Messr. John Duncan and James Lamberton, when the former unhappily received a ball through his head, which instantly deprived him of his life. By this melancholy accident his wife has lost an affectionate husband, and his five children a tender parent, and society one of its most valuble citizens. He was honest, benevolent, generous, and brave.

A Portfolio of Artistic Genius: The Architecture of James W. Minick

On the evening of December 23, 1949, Floyd Rice's tractor-trailer engine broke down on the Camp Hill By-pass.It was a Friday, and traffic in the usual Christmas rush continued around the stranded vehicle. Not far from Rice's truck, a family gathered awaiting the arrival home of a husband and father. The table was set with the traditional Christmas dinner, and neatly wrapped presents lay beneath the decorated tree. 

The Public and Private in Writing History

History is, on the one hand, individual stories and, on the other, stories of groups, nations and cultures. In my recollection of classes I took when I was in college, the starting point was the latter, but in my recent experience of trying to write history, I began with individual stories I found in the Johnson Collection in the Cumberland County Historical Society - a collection of letters and papers of an African-American family in Carlisle.

Red, White, and Bonded: The Surprising Truth Behind the Experiences of Some White Captives Living Among the Indians

The rolling hills and wooded valleys of Central Pennsylvania, now so tranquil, were, a mere 240 years ago, the scene of dramatic, violent, and sometimes heartrending confrontations between the Native Americans and the incoming white European settlers. Cumberland County at that time comprised the western frontier, and Scots-Irish settlers were rapidly establishing a presence in lands that had long been home to the Delaware Indians.

Reminiscences

Grandfather was a sturdy little man with a voice that exceeded his size as Paul Bunyan towered over a pancake. "Four--by goshens" is one of my earliest memories. It was Grandfather's bid that he proclaimed in a tone ordinarily used by a mule driver in discussing the problem of forward ovement with his braying subordinates.

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