The Many Names of Huntsdale and Mt. Holly Springs
Doing research into the history of a place can be a confusing exercise because county and township boundaries changed over the decades as well as the names of towns and villages.
Recent
Henry M. Rathgueb aka French Ory: Marble Cutter
“Carlisle’s strongest white man was “French George” who had a brother “French Ory,” and a sister who was the wife of Jimmy McCarter the carpet weaver. Rathgueb was the family name. We question if the old town has since boasted of male citizens of equal strength.”1
George M. Brandt of Brandtsville, Monroe Township
George Brandt’s elegant brick mansion house stood just across the Yellow Breeches Creek at a bend in the road to Dillsburg (present day Route 74). Mature trees were set against the backdrop of the mountain to the south and a covered bridge which crossed the creek to the north.
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.
The 1912 European Adventure of Mrs. G. H. Stewart and her sons of Shippensburg in their Cadillac
Mrs. George H. Stewart and her sons Alexander and George, Jr.1 left New York on May 30, 1912 aboard the Carpathia.
Hickorytown: An 1880s Snapshot of a Village on Trindle Road
Newspaper editors encouraged residents of towns and villages in the county to send them items of interest for publication. The editor of the Carlisle Weekly Herald included a letter from a resident of Hickorytown in its December 20, 1883 issue.
German Bakers of Carlisle
The 1861 “List of Retailers” in Carlisle included five bakers. At least three of them were German immigrants who had settled in Carlisle in the 1830s and 1840s; John Sellers, John Schmohl and George Grossman.
Dave Ditenhafer
Interview of Dave Ditenhafer for the Elizabeth V. and George F. Gardner Digital Library. Ditenhafer discusses his long history with the Second Presbyterian Church in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Harry Stickler and his Sister Kate of Boiling Springs
Harry Strickler was in possession of a relic from the battlefield at Gettysburg. It was a six-pound bombshell charged with powder and bullets.1 It nearly cost him his life.
The 1880s Roller Skating Craze
A roller skating craze swept the country in the 1880s. Opinions were divided on whether roller skating rinks provided the public with “healthful amusement” or were “pits of perdition” as some preachers claimed.1 Regardless, roller skating was so popular that rinks were built in Carlisle, Mechanicsburg, Mt. Holly and Shippensburg.