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Full-Text Articles in History
Black Labor At Pine Grove & Caledonia Furnaces, 1789-1860, Troy D. Harman
Black Labor At Pine Grove & Caledonia Furnaces, 1789-1860, Troy D. Harman
Adams County History
Black labor operating under various degrees of freedom found a suitable working environment, if not a safe haven, in several iron forges of South Central Pennsylvania, from the late 1790s through the 1850s. Primary accounts indicate that two in particular, Pine Grove Furnace of Cumberland County, and Caledonia Furnace of Franklin County, harbored runaway slaves to augment their work force. Pine Grove records, dating from 1789 – 1801, specify names of “negro” employees, verifying that black labor coexisted with white, but day books, journals, and ledgers do not denote status.1 Whether they were free men, or slaves rented out by …
Jack Hopkins' Civil War, Peter C. Vermilyea
Jack Hopkins' Civil War, Peter C. Vermilyea
Adams County History
In the 1862 Pennsylvania College album there is a photograph of John Hopkins, who that year was entering his fifteenth year of service as the college's janitor. In one student's book, the portrait of Hopkins jokingly refers to him as the school's "vice president." This appellation speaks volumes about the life of the African-American custodian, for while it was clearly made in jest as a token of the students' genuine affection for Hopkins, it symbolizes the gulf between the white students and the black janitor. It goes without saying that the students found the picture humorous because they understood that …
The Slave Birth Register Of Adams County
The Slave Birth Register Of Adams County
Adams County History
This record is from a book, deposited in the Prothonotary's office, which shows the dates of birth and registration of 109 children born to slave mothers between 1799 and 1820. Several pages at the beginning of the book are missing, including the page on which are recorded the names of slaveholders whose surnames begin with A. That register might not be the original record, however. [excerpt]
The Slaveholders Of Adams County
The Slaveholders Of Adams County
Adams County History
This catalog of slaveholder names includes all known slaveholders in Adams County both before and after its split from York County in 1800. Included with each name are the place or places of residence and the year or years of documented slave ownership. In order to achieve some conformity, in certain instances the spelling of surnames is arbitrary, based on experience with what the names actually were or have become.
Distribution Of Slaveholders In Adams County
Distribution Of Slaveholders In Adams County
Adams County History
This roster repeats the names of "The Slaveholders of Adams County," from this journal, separating them, however, by their places of residence. The aim is to give an idea of where in the county slavery was most prevalent and at the same time a glimpse at the national origins of settlers in different areas.
There is a considerable duplication of names, which reflects the movement of families within the county or the establishment of new townships and the incorporation of Gettysburg as a borough. An accounting is given for each distinct place an individual lived, whether by actual move or …
The Slaves Of Adams County
Adams County History
This compilation of named slaves surely does not represent anything near the total number who toiled in the county; without a doubt many are now irretrievable. Of those who can be isolated, a large number may be identified to some extent by age or sex or name of owner, or by a combination of those definers. This list, however, comprises only those slaves whose names are recorded. [excerpt]
Pennsylvania Legislation Relating To Slavery
Pennsylvania Legislation Relating To Slavery
Adams County History
The following acts have been taken, complete or in part, from the published volumes of The Statutes At Large of Pennsylvania and Laws of Pennsylvania. These extracts are not all-inclusive, but do cover the years 1725/6-1847, from the province's first general statement of the legal standing of blacks, full-blooded and mixed, and the treatment to be afforded them, up to the state's rewritten and strengthened prohibition of the kidnapping of free blacks and the seizing of fugitive slaves. Included are not only acts showing the status and the protection of slaves, whether residents or sojourners, but also those requiring resident …
Slaveholders And Slaves Of Adams County, Larry C. Bolin
Slaveholders And Slaves Of Adams County, Larry C. Bolin
Adams County History
A close study of the African-American community of Adams county waits to be written. By whatever standards adhered to, however, an in-depth investigation of the subject would be a daunting task at best, and in some areas an all but impossible one. Sadly, the early years, if seen at all, are often barely visible through the mists of repression and slavery. And yet, unfortunate and illogical as it might seem, slave owners very frequently offer the only glimpses of the downtrodden now obtainable....
This study consists of four lists, centered on the names of the county's slaveholders and designed to …
The Civil War Letters Of Jeremiah Mickly Of Franklin Township, Adams County, Eric Ledell Smith
The Civil War Letters Of Jeremiah Mickly Of Franklin Township, Adams County, Eric Ledell Smith
Adams County History
On December 2, 1862, just eleven days before the Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia, Jeremiah Mickly said goodbye to his wife and two children and reported for duty with the 177th Pennsylvania Infantry to become a Civil War chaplain. The only known photograph ofMickly shows him dressed in the standard chaplain's uniform of the day: a plain black frock coat with a standing collar and black buttons with plain black pantaloons. Like many other Civil War soldiers, Mickly re-enlisted for service after his stint with the 177th ended, becoming chaplain of the 43rd Regiment, United States Colored Troops. Impressed with the …
On The Trail Of Sidney O'Brien: An Inquiry Into Her Family And Status - Was She A Slave Or Servant Of The Gettys Family In Gettysburg? Was Her Daughter, Getty Ann, A Descendant Of James Gettys?, Elwood W. Christ
Adams County History
Like many Decembers in the greater Adams county area, the beginning of the winter usually is a collage of intermittent warm spells spliced amongst Arctic days with cold Canadian northwest winds. Amid the hoopla, as Gettysburgians prepared for the 1873 Christmas holidays during the week between the 17th and 24th of December, a person had, as Alfred Lord Tennyson so eloquently described, "Crossed the Bar." But in the local newspapers there had been no notice of declining health. No death notice appeared. Possibly the cost of five cents a line "for all over four lines- cash to accompany the notice" …