1840s: October 2008 Archives

Lewis Miller drawing of 1840 W.H.Harrison campaign headquarters.
In 1840 Democrats derisively campaigned that the Whig candidate for President, William Henry Harrison, would be more at home in a log cabin. The Whigs seized the idea and used it as a symbol, giving the idea that Harrison was one of the common people.

That wasn't exactly correct, seeing that Harrison was the son of a Virginia planter, college educated and a career army officer before he got into politics.

The log cabin image was so striking, however, that Whigs all over the country built log cabins to use as campaign headquarters. Did York?

John Hetrick's Strawberry Surprise

Ice cream and oysters have each enjoyed a long popularity in York County eateries. A recent post quoted an 1845 ad announcing the grand opening of Gray's ice cream parlor, and ads for oysters abound. Click here for the ice cream post.

York folk artist Lewis Miller illustrated nineteenth century York County in detail. His drawing above catches a local citizen about to make a culinary mistake at Gray's restaurant. Miller accompanies the illustration with the following explanation:

Tom Thumb ad illustration makes him look really small.

I recently noted that people in York County have always seemed to turn out in droves for whatever entertainment came to town.

In May 1849 the biggest little sensation to hit the circuit appeared at the York County courthouse. He was none other than Tom Thumb, nicknamed "The Little General," and being promoted by the fantastic showman P.T. Barnum.

The lengthy ad in the York Gazette described the little man as one "Who has been received with the highest marks of ROYAL favor by Queen Victoria, and all the principal Crowned Heads of Europe, and who has performed before 6,000,000 or persons during the last six years..."