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July 3, 2008

More on the Princes of York

The Prince family, that is. A few days ago I wrote and that I thought there were two contemporary David Princes in York. I based that assumption on that two different women married David Prince, and that one David Prince moved to Baltimore and another taught at the York County Academy for around forty-five years.

Click here to read the previous Prince post.

A further search at the York County Heritage Trust Library/Archives of transcribed original records shows that they were indeed the same person, and he did all the things listed above.

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June 29, 2008

1837 York Newspaper "Takes the Cake"

Among the marriages announced in an April 1837 York newspaper was that of David B. Prince and Elizabeth Sandoe, on April 6th.

The editors remarked that "accompanying this notice was a liberal slice of the most delicious pound cake for the printer. It was the sweetest communication that we have received for many months, and we inserted it with as much pleasure, as we now do the sincere hope that they, who thus remembered the printer, may long enjoy undisturbed and unalloyed connubial felicity."

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June 4, 2008

The Barnitz York and Baltimore Brewing Dynasty

I was asked, in response to my recent post about the Barnitz brewers of York, if they were related to brewer J. C. Barnitz of Harrisburg. Click here to read about the York brewers.

Good question, and the answer is Yes. It turns out that brewing was a traditional occupation in the Barnitz family during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

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April 23, 2008

Pennsylvania Man Leaves Wife and Children, Runs Off with Another Woman

We tend to think of our ancestors and their contemporaries as very strait-laced. Sometimes nothing can be farther from the truth. That’s what is so fascinating about using original documents as historical sources. Those letters, diaries, and newspapers they left behind sometime fairly sizzle with crime, intrigue, and scandal.

For example, take a look at the following advertisements from the April 1777 Pennsylvania Gazette.

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March 23, 2008

What is York County, Pennsylvania’s Connection with Galion, Ohio?

You know my theory that all roads lead back to York? Here is another example. The small city of Galion, with about 11,500 people, sits in the northern part of Ohio, about half way across the state.

They are on U.S. Route 30, like York. They have an industrial past, like York. In fact, they are known for manufacturing road building machinery, just like we used to be.

Galion, however, has an even closer association with York County.

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March 9, 2008

From York County to the Wider World

York County is part of what is known as a “cultural hearth,” an area from which ideas and culture spread throughout much of the country as settlers moved on.

In a recent post, I showed how the Great Wagon road, shown on the 1751 Fry-Jefferson map, carried pioneers to the south and west. Click here for that post.

That was only the beginning.

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March 2, 2008

How Did They Get There from York?

Click here for the Library of Congress zoomable 1751 Fry-Jefferson map.

I recently wrote about York County residents being recruited to move to Virginia in the 1870s. Click here to read that post.

There were several paths, following very early roads, from South Central Pennsylvania to less populated lands.

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