Preserving Hallowed Memories:

Black History & Public Archaeology in Conestoga Township

Emily Rutherford

Department of Anthropology

Anthropology 490: Independent Study

Project Submitted: 27 April 2020

Graduation Date: 16 May 2020 Rutherford 2

Abstract

The following is the product of eight months of independent anthropological

research into the nineteenth- and early twentieth-century population of African Americans

in Conestoga Township, and acts as a case study within the larger history of African

American settlement in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. This archaeological analysis

was informed by archival documents, oral histories, secondary analysis, and the surviving

site of the Conestoga African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Cemetery (c. 1846-1946),

located in Conestoga, Pennsylvania. The objectives, methodology, and interpretative

analysis presented in this independent study followed the theoretical teachings of

historical, post-processual, and public archaeologists dedicated to studying historically

oppressed minority groups (see Delle 2019; Levine & Delle 2009; Rotman 2015; Baram

2015, Scott 1994; Spector 1993). This thesis seeks to enrich the narrative of African

American history in Lancaster county, and provide new details and interpretations of the lived experiences of rural African American Lancastrians whose existence and impact on

Lancaster’s civil rights history remain relatively unknown to current Lancastrians.

Additionally, by forming research partnerships with the living familial descendants of the

Conestoga AME Cemetery, two historical societies, and the Bethel AME Church community in Lancaster city, this study transformed into an active public archaeology project that effected increased public knowledge, engagement, and ongoing interest in studying and preserving the neglected cemetery site. Suggestions for future research and community education projects are also presented. Rutherford 3

Acknowledgements

This thesis and the resulting public archaeology project would not exist without the near-constant encouragement, support, teaching, and advising I received during the

2019-2020 academic year by several kind and gracious people, and a proper thank you is necessary before proceeding to the research.

First and foremost, I would like to thank Dr. Leroy Hopkins, Ms. Darlene Colón, and Mr. Gerald Wilson, who collectively gifted several days of their personal time to teach me about their wonderful family histories and the Conestoga AME Cemetery, answer my unending list of questions, and listen to my many interpretive speculations. Your dedication to your families is unquestionable, your passion for researching and educating the public on Lancaster black history is awe-inspiring, and your approval and sponsorship of this project is deeply gratifying. It is site descendants like you that make historical archaeology so personally rewarding, and your guidance and perseverance in this culturally significant work serves as a wonderful example for future public archaeology projects to follow nationwide.

Next, I give a heartfelt thank you to Reverend Edward Bailey and Mrs. Helen

Jackson of Bethel AME Church in Lancaster city, for welcoming me at Bethel with open and curious hearts. Rev. Bailey was critical in approving the non-invasive field work of the

site, including the geophysical testing, and provided critical feedback for current and

future community research projects involving the Conestoga AME property. Mrs. Jackson

was instrumental in introducing me to Rev. Bailey and providing access to Bethel’s

documentary records. I thank both for their kindness and assistance during my visits to

Bethel and with my research throughout the year. Rutherford 4

My next expression of unending gratitude goes to John Forewood, John Stehman,

and the Board of the Conestoga Area Historical Society, who provided crucial primary

documents and oral history lessons free of charge, granted me exclusive access to the

Historical Society during the winter off-season, and gifted me with a platform to share my

thesis research to the site descendants and the general public of Conestoga Township. I

will never forget your eagerness and dedication in assisting an out-of-towner with her research, and your gratitude, curiosity, and willingness to grapple with hard questions upon hearing the results.

Thank you to the research librarians and Vice Curator of LancasterHistory, who helpfully answered my questions, provided documents, granted me close-up inspections of artifacts not on display, and put up with my last-minute dash to scan as many pages as possible before closing. Many of the primary sources for this thesis were accessed at the Research Center, and thus LancasterHistory was invaluable to my work.

Thank you to my parents, Lorene and Doug Rutherford, for eagerly listening on the phone to all my lectures on Conestoga black history; for cheering on my work from afar; for helping with the painstaking task of combing through hundreds of census pages, and loving and supporting me during the unexpected change in circumstances accompanying the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thank you to the professors on my thesis committee, Professors Smith and Billig

(Anthropology), Gosse (Africana Studies & History), and Kourelis (Art & Art History), for aiding me during all stages of the research and writing process. My gratitude for your assistance, feedback, and encouragement to pursue my work is impossible to encapsulate with a simple thank you, but I must say it anyway. Thank you for your support Rutherford 5

of my successful application to the Franklin & Marshall Committee on Grants. Without

you all, the proposal likely would have been rejected. A special thank you goes to

Professor Kourelis for first introducing me to Dr. Hopkins. This whole project blossomed out of that introduction.

I would also like to thank F&M Professors Bechtel (Geosciences) and Hart

(Anthropology), and Professor Jim Delle (Associate Provost, Millersville University) for

their assistance with fieldwork at the site. Professor Bechtel and his students graciously

offered to perform magnetometry testing, and Professors Hart and Delle provided cleanup

assistance during the December 16th field day. Having Prof. Delle see and survey the site, as a renowned African American historical archaeologist, was a dream-come-true.

From the bottom of my heart, I thank my thesis advisor, Professor Mary Ann

Levine, for the two years of teaching and mentoring needed to produce this thesis. Thank you for your constant encouragement, great positive energy, and unending words of wisdom and advice during the research process and throughout my college career.

Thank you for igniting my love and passion for archaeology as an ANT102 student and changing the overall trajectory of my life. Thank you for helping me find my life’s larger purpose.

Finally, I would like to thank Harriet Sweeney, the church founder and powwow doctress whose inspirational story and legacy helped me persist through the many difficulties encountered during the research and writing process. This thesis is dedicated to her, and to the historic black community of Conestoga Township.

Rutherford 6

Introduction

I have loved cemeteries since I was a young child. My first memory of them comes from a popular collection of children’s horror stories, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by

Alvin Schwartz, which I read avidly in elementary school. Several of the tales in this

beloved book series involve cemeteries or graveyards as their setting. One example is

“The Girl Who Stood on a Grave,” and I think the first few lines of the story summarize

Schwartz’s tone on cemeteries quite succinctly:

Some boys and girls were at a party one night. There was a graveyard down the street, and they were talking about how scary it was. “Don’t ever stand on a grave after dark,” one of the boys said. “The person inside will grab you. He’ll pull you under” (1981).

I found the ending of this story slightly humorous, since the girl who stood on a grave died not from the hands of a zombie or the vengeance of the grave’s ghost, but from

accidentally scaring herself to death from a panic attack, after her fears of the cemetery

spiraled out of control. In this case, the cemetery and its deceased occupants did not

inflict any harm. Rather, it was the clumsiness and irrational fears of the (once) living

visitor, who ends up unknowingly punishing herself for desecrating the space.

While I clearly recognized cemeteries’ place in popular horror culture, I became

fascinated with the historical value embodied in cemeteries as I grew older. During the

day I found burial grounds to be peaceful, contemplative spaces, where gravestones and

memorials taught me about past people. I liked learning their names, ages, and any

monikers they held in life. I enjoyed seeing different stylistic choices for their memorials,

and any other mementos left by surviving families. If I came across a person my age, I

sympathized with the individual. “How did they die? How did they live?” I wondered. Rutherford 7

I discovered that this type of analytical engagement with sacred spaces are normal occurrences for many historical archaeologists (see Blakey 1998; Rainville 2014; Barnes

2011; Hughes Wright, Hughes & Misiroglu 1996; Scott 1994; Spector 1993). A forgotten

cemetery and these two questions, on life and death, ultimately became vital to my

independent research.

For an entire academic year, I engaged in archaeologically based research that aimed to investigate the changing settlement patterns of African Americans in Lancaster

County from the mid-nineteenth to early twentieth century, which remain poorly understood by scholars apart from the basic recognition of movement from numerous rural black enclaves to the segregated 7th ward in Lancaster city at the turn of the century

(Delle 2019). I initially wondered how well the African American Lancastrian population followed the established historical trend of large-scale African American migration from

rural agricultural areas into newly industrialized (and segregated) urban centers near the

turn of the twentieth century (Rotman 2015: 87). This thought generated the following

research questions:

1. Where did rural African American communities form in Lancaster county?

2. Which of these rural communities have not been heavily researched?

3. What activities did these little-known rural communities participate in?

4. What did African Americans do to grow or maintain their communities?

5. Did any community members significantly contribute to county civil rights groups

during their lives?

6. How long do black and mulatto families remain in the countryside and what does

migration out of the countryside look like? Rutherford 8

7. Did this community embrace or subvert this trend of outward migration?

8. What are the main reasons for leaving and moving to Lancaster or other major

Northern cities?

9. Do any of their living descendants remain in Lancaster county?

Finding Focus

Once I identified these research questions, I wondered how to focus my analytical

gaze. While I read plenty about nineteenth-century Christiana and Columbia, courtesy of

the Lancaster Historical Society and my advisor’s husband, Jim Delle (2019), I wanted

to find another rural black enclave that was not as thoroughly studied by scholars.

Specifically, I wanted to analyze a community that survived long enough to evaluate its

“becoming,” maintenance and eventual dissolution, with specific attention paid to

examining its migration patterns to identity any similarities and differences from the

pattern of African American migration from rural countryside to segregated city ward

(Rotman 2015; Hopkins 1983).

While pondering where to start looking within the county, I one day I had a chance encounter with Professor Kostis Kourelis, professor of architecture at Franklin & Marshall

College and an enthusiastic architectural archaeologist whom I met in 2018 while taking an archaeological methods course. He was eager to hear about my research and asked thorough questions as we walked together toward the Anthropology department office. I responded honestly, explaining that the initial research questions were formed and that I was now looking for focus points in the county. He suggested that I read two articles by

local historian, Dr. Leroy T. Hopkins Jr., who he worked with in the past. Professor

Kourelis said he would forward me the two articles and an additional web link to the Rutherford 9

Common Hour talk Dr. Hopkins gave in 2017 on emancipated African Americans in

Lancaster County. Though I was still in the beginning phases of research, I had read

several key articles written by Hopkins by this point and mentioned this to Professor

Kourelis. Kourelis smiled brightly and declared that he would email Dr. Hopkins later that

day to discuss my research questions with him. I received a response the next afternoon,

with a portion of Dr. Hopkins’ reply to Kourelis pasted for me to see. Dr. Hopkins asked what I was interested in researching, and happily offered to meet with me at the Lancaster

Historical Society the following week, where he is a board member. I eagerly responded

to Professor Kourelis, asking for a formal email introduction to Dr. Hopkins, since the two

are friends and have a working relationship. The turnaround was nearly instant. The

following are portions of two email messages, both written by Dr. Hopkins. The first is

directed to Professor Kourelis, the second directed to me:

Maybe we could find some funding to do some digs outside of the City. My mother was born in Conestoga (the house was at the foot of Valley Road). Back in 1980 I visited a Mrs. Mylin there (her husband was F&M’s comptroller). She showed m[e] the remains of a house that had belonged to Harriet Sweeney, the well known pow wow doctor. As far as I know there has been no archaeological work done in the area around Valley Road. At one time about 275 people lived there. On the left side of the road is the site of two churches. The first was organized ca. 1837 by my great-great-grandparents and two others from that community. It was replaced by a new building gifted to the community by Harriet Sweeney in 1875. Sometime after 1895 it was destroyed by arson. My aunt remembered playing in the ruins as a child. Her dates were 1895-1899. When I looked at the cemetery in 1980 there were a couple of tombstones visible. Most were vandalized in subsequent years but I have a lot of family buried there (Hopkins 2019: October 1). … I just finished a rather lengthy e-mail to Prof. Kourelis about projects that I would like to see done outside of Lancaster City...Rather than look at Christiana I would suggest Conestoga as most interesting area for research. My mother was born there, the last of 13 children. There was a sizable African American community there of about 275 individuals. My great-great-grandparents were among the Rutherford 10

founders of the Conestoga A.M.E. Church (ca. 1837). I found a number of Conestogans who moved into Lancaster City. Members of my family moved into town for economic reasons before World War I. Sometime after 1895 the church building in Conestoga was destroyed by arson. One of my aunts told me that after they moved into town, the house which my grandfather had rented was also destroyed by arson. Perhaps not so coincidentally, according to Don Cronower who wrote an essay on the local Klan in the Journal of the Lancaster County Historical Society, Conestoga was one of the places of origin of the local Klan. As far as arson goes, there has been a history of burning African American churches in Lancaster County. In 1861 the A.M.E. Church in Marietta as well as the schoolhouse and some residences were torched. The next year the A.M.E. Church in Columbia was burnt and my church, Bethel A.M.E. in Lancaster, was destroyed by arson in April 1879. I have no proof that these crimes were related. I think it is just a sign of animosity towards African Americans that smolders below the surface in our County.... If you decide on Conestoga as a focus point I would suggest that you read my article “Hollow Memories” in LancasterHistory’s journal (Vol. 101, No. 4) and Don Cronower’s article on the local Klan which appeared I think in the late 1960’s... For the period that you have chosen the church was the anchor for the community. Civic organizations such as the Odd Fellows (begun 1885), freemasons (Mt. Horeb Lodge #14, F&AM moved from Marietta to Lancaster soon after World War I), and little researched groups such as the Afro- American Republican League agitated for change. In 1890 Rev. Cromartie, the pastor at Bethel A.M.E. Lancaster protested publicly about the unequal conditions in the almshouse where the Black poor lived in misery and the white, rather comfortably... Good luck and I would be glad to offer advice at other points (Hopkins 2019).

‘What a lucky break!’ I thought as I reread the emails excitedly. Not only did Conestoga

Township have an active African American community in the target period, but a neglected cemetery, church arsons, a pow-wow doctress, black civic organizations, and a living descendant who also happens to be a noted black historian and wants to archaeologically study the area? The research potential for Conestoga was too enticing to pass over. Rutherford 11

Digging into ‘Hollow Memories’

Upon meeting Dr. Hopkins at the Lancaster

Historical Society, Dr. Hopkins proceeded to take at least 10 volumes off the archive shelves, while I asked a nearby librarian for information on the black Conestoga cemetery. The volumes Dr. Hopkins pulled were several of his research articles on

African Americans in Lancaster county, a gold mine of information. We opened all three historical county atlases to look at the maps of Conestoga, looking for the cemetery and the African Methodist Map detailing the approximate location of the AME Cemetery in Conestoga Episcopal Church that once stood with it. Dr. Township in red.

Hopkins pointed out his family’s properties, Harriet Sweeney’s property, and other African

American family residences on these atlas maps. The Lancaster County record of churches and cemeteries contained a single paragraph of information on the church, a newspaper article about the forgotten cemetery from the 1970s, and a map with the cemetery’s approximate location marked with a circled red target (pictured above). We also discovered that the related church in question remained standing until at least 1899, since it was marked on that year’s atlas, shown below (Graves & Steinbarger 1899: 72).

I later searched the Lancaster County Recorder of Deeds Office’s digital archives and found a tax inquiry on the cemetery property. The inquiry notes the property’s sales Rutherford 12 history, and recorded the transfer of ownership of the tax- exempt cemetery to the

Bethel A.M.E. Church in

Lancaster city on

January 1st, 1900, listing the deed area as Sub-plan for the village of Conestoga Center in 1899, with the structure titled “A.M.E. CH.” marked with a red circle. “0.92” acres, 40,075 square feet, and the sale price as “$0” (Lancaster County Treasurer 2019). I will return to this inquiry later to discuss it alongside other documents, since they demonstrate important connections between the historic black Conestogans and black urban

Lancastrians. Though the estimated time of the Conestoga church arson was later than

Dr. Hopkins’ hypothesis, his aunt’s memory could still be correct, if the church burned in the later months of 1899, by which point several black Conestogans and former congregants already lived in Lancaster city and could assume responsibility for the cemetery through Bethel A.M.E. This is one possible explanation for the property’s sales history.

An excerpt in the county’s cemetery records details how no obvious signs of the church’s ruins remain, and the only hint to the church’s presence other than the cemetery are a couple of boxwood trees that still grow in the area today (Rineer 1983: 215A;

Sigman & Walton 1980: 6-7). This discovery, while conflicting with another report that the stone foundations of the church were used as foundations for one of the current houses Rutherford 13 on Valley Road, piqued my curiosity (Johnson 2006: 1). Not only were these living physical stamps from the historic community, but their status as location markers provided additional interest. I wondered aloud: “What if we could find the church foundations?”

Although 120 years had passed since its destruction, stone foundations would likely remain in the area, unless reused for a nearby house as inferred in the report above. Dr.

Hopkins said it was very possible. With his affirmation, I decided to go to the cemetery to see the boxwoods for myself, just to see if they were still there.

Finding the Forgotten Cemetery

After class on Wednesday, October 16th, I travelled to Conestoga to satisfy my curiosity about the boxwoods. My paleoethnobotany professor wished me luck in my search and insisted I inform him of what I found. I grew more excited as I got closer, passing a neat hillside cemetery of the Methodist Episcopal Church, I imagined what the contemporaneous African Methodist Episcopal cemetery would look like. When I turned right off Main Street, I drove up and down Valley Road several times, looking for an area that resembled a cemetery parking lot, or a road sign designating the space. I found neither and no obvious signs of any cemetery. I rechecked my maps and my sources. I was now on what felt like a personal scavenger hunt and did not want to give up. So, I drove back to Main Street and parked in the lot of some adjacent businesses. I proceeded to enter two establishments to ask the local workers/residents if they knew anything about the cemetery. Luckily, this method paid off, and I received the cell phone number of a local who had lived on Valley Road for the last forty years. The locals seemed interested and excited when they heard why I wanted to see the cemetery and told me to contact them if I needed any research project volunteers. I called the phone number I was given, Rutherford 14 and Ben Vonderheide answered. After introductions, he proceeded to explain how to get to the cemetery. I needed to pull over off Valley Road, then hike up a hill (for about ten minutes) into the forested hollow, along an old dilapidated trail (pictured below) made by the local Boy Scout troop (Vonderheide 2019). In my haste to get out of the car and find

Figure 1a. Topographical map of Valley Road area (right). The Conestoga AME property is highlighted by the blue rectangle, and each thick red line represents a ten-foot change in altitude. the trail, I wandered into a service dead zone, and the call with Ben dropped. ‘Damn it. I don’t want to go back to the car” I remember thinking.

I panted at the hill’s incline, regretting leaving my water bottle in the car as

I scanned the area for the continuing Figure 1b. USGS Topographical map of Valley Road area, with each thin red line representing a trail. At several points during the short twenty-foot change in altitude. The center clearing of Conestoga AME Cemetery is highlighted by the hike, the trail faded and became harder blue square, with the small white square in the middle corresponding to the DMS coordinates in to trace through the overgrowth and the lower left corner. Rutherford 15 fallen trees (depicted by the green stripe in Figure 1a), but human garbage littering the sides of the trail helped keep me on track. Ten minutes later, about eighty feet up the hill from Valley Road, I stopped to rest and scan the thicket, looking for anything resembling a grave marker, when I saw it: an American flag, partially occluded in the distance, and close to ground level. Before I could work my way along the trail to where the flag was, I walked right between the boxwood trees.

I beamed, happy that these plants still lived and appeared to be thriving. They stood out compared to the other resident trees and vines, with their brilliant dark green leaves. After walking past the bushes, I entered the main cemetery clearing (pictured right). I walked around the cemetery, Center clearing of the Conestoga AME Cemetery. One of the entrance’s boxwoods is pictured in the background. looking for as many grave markers as I could. The stones in best shape still possessed their lettering, including names, military regiments, and birth/death dates. The veterans had American flags,

Grand Army of the Republic Stars, and damaged white wire fencing around their stones (likely placed there for

Memorial Day). However, nearly all identifiable grave markers were otherwise molded and damaged to some Possible grave of Washington Cooper. Rutherford 16 degree. The markers in the worst condition were in small, broken pieces, the lettering long erased, or were missing entirely. Many, I suspected, lay buried just a few inches beneath my feet. The trail through the cemetery was nearly inaccessible, with downed tree branches, hanging vines, and overgrown patches of exceedingly sharp thorns poking, prodding, and piercing me. I encountered many collapsed grave shafts, learning later this was likely the work of a local burrowing animal, probably a groundhog. At that point, I felt overwhelmed. I felt like crying. I had found the cemetery and the boxwood trees, but the place looked so sad and neglected. It looked forgotten. It was not right, seeing burials in this state, especially of Civil War soldiers. “I have not forgotten Grave of Abram Warner (top left), grave of one of the Martin men you,” I said aloud, walking back through the (top right), and grave of unidentified individual (bottom). cemetery. The place was a peaceful one but needed serious care. I left the cemetery shortly before twilight, knowing I would be back soon. Rutherford 17

The dead in that sacred space deserved to be remembered and respected, and I knew I

wanted to learn more about the people buried in that silent hollow.

Physical Description of Conestoga Site

Other than the noted steepness of the

cemetery’s hillside location, listed below are select

geographical properties of the Conestoga AME

Cemetery. The following information was gathered

by triangulating the location of the cemetery based

on its measured distance from listed nearby

townships on Google Earth and on geological and land cover surveys of the Conestoga River and

Pequea Creek watersheds. The cemetery sits Figure 2. Geology by Rock Type, with approximate location of AME Cemetery approximately 4.4 miles southwest of Willow Street boxed in red. township, and 3.77 miles southeast of Millersville borough. The underlying geology of the cemetery includes a combination of limestone and quartzite, covered with “moist soil with high clay content,” as seen in Figures 2 and 3 (Susquehanna River

Basin Commission 2005). Land cover is primarily deciduous forest with the AME community’s addition of the two evergreen boxwood shrubs

(SRBC 2005; Sigman & Walton 1980: 7). Today Figure 3. Soil Type for Conestoga River there are two ways to access the cemetery: the Watershed, approximate location of AME Cemetery boxed in red.

Rutherford 18

way I came when I first found the

cemetery, via the foot trail off Valley

Road; and via the backyard of Mr.

and Mrs. Hall, located off Main

Street. The Halls are required by the

terms of their deed to allow access to

the cemetery through their property

for any cemetery visitors, including Aerial photograph of Conestoga, 1940. The “coffin trail” is marked with red dashes and the AME family descendants (Colón 2019). Cemetery, and the suspected location of the Conestoga AME Church are marked with blue This is likely because the old “coffin crosses.

trail,” used by funeral processions coming from the funeral home on Main Street to the cemetery, ran through their yard. This trail visible in aerial and Lidar imaging of the cemetery site.

Descendant Dedication

While Dr. Hopkins served as my first descendant research partner, my advisor

recommended that I contact Darlene Colón, the former president of the African

American Historical Society, to see if she might be interested in offering information on

the area and partnering in a research project on the cemetery. I ended up contacting

her by complete coincidence.

When researching the individuals buried in the cemetery, I noticed that nearly all

the burial entries posted on Find a Grave (a nationwide gravesite information platform)

originated from a registered contributor named “Quamonyqueen.” The entries contained

very detailed information, including quoted notes from the personal journals of Andrew Rutherford 19

J. Zercher, the local undertaker operating during the cemetery’s use (c. 1846-1946).

Zercher’s notes usually included dates of birth, death, and funeral services for the

burials, the name of the AME minister or stand-in who presided over the service, the

Bible verses quoted by the minister, the weather conditions at the service, and any

transactions that surviving family members engaged in with Zercher (e.g., payment

plans for coffins, funeral clothing, flowers, etc.). Cause of death was often listed as well.

Not satisfied to use the information on the platform without securing credibility for the

source, I messaged Quamonyqueen on the platform, explaining who I was and asking

whether their detailed information came from the Zercher journals. She responded a few

days later with the following:

Hi Emily R.

Yes, I transcribed all the entries regarding the Conestoga AME Cemetery from the Zercher Journals who was the funeral director at the time. I have about 20 family members buried in that cemetery as my great great grandparents were born in Conestoga. I'm actually writing about the families that lived there [in Conestoga and Safe Harbor] during the latter 19th century and early 20th century. Fascinating stories, including my family. Darlene C (Colón 2019: November 6).

Darlene C…I recognized that name. It had to be Darlene Colón. The odds of another

Darlene C. knowing so much about a black cemetery in Lancaster County were infinitesimally small! I wrote back excitedly, providing my email address and asking if she was indeed Darlene Colón. She responded via email this time, affirming her identity, and describing her interest in and previous work on the cemetery:

I have worked on cleaning up that cemetery for years but haven't been able to get Rutherford 20

back down there for about two years now. I had ground penetrating radar done of the burial area which came up with about 75 to 100 graves. I still have that report. I would love to know more about the work you are currently doing. That cemetery needs a lot of work…I'm not just writing about my family but taking stories from the journals and constructing the lives of the African Americans that lived there (which also included Leroy's family). May take me a minute or so, but I'm determined to get it finished. Hopefully will make for an interesting read and flush out some of the other descendants of the families that lived there. Keep me posted (Colon 2019: November 7).

Just as with Dr. Hopkins, I was astounded by my luck. Another living descendant of the

black and mulatto community in Conestoga, who not only knows about the cemetery but

has actively tried to better its condition and study her ancestral families’ experiences in

the area. I discovered that the namesake of Ms. Colón, Find a Grave username,

Quamonyqueen, is the Quamony family, one of her four ancestral families buried in the cemetery. She took the name specifically in honor of Fanny Quamony, 1848-1865, likely the daughter of Abram Quamony and Mary Ann Miller, who died at 16 and whose gravestone was highlighted in a 1971 Lancaster Sunday News article for its touching inscription: “Short were my days – Long is my rest – God Called Me home – He thought

it best” (Klinedinst 1971).

Deciding to Act: Embracing Community Archaeology

After connecting with Dr. Hopkins and Ms. Colón, I recognized the opportunity laid

in front of me. From this point, my initial investigation into the cemetery evolved into a

project following the model of community archaeology. This model “involves communities

in the planning and carrying out of research projects are of direct interest to them” and

produces altruistic differences at the site and in the descendent community (“Community

Archaeology” 2019; Trigger 2007). There are four cases of community archaeology that Rutherford 21

act as foundations for this Conestoga project to build on. Each case demonstrates a

successful decolonization of the archaeological process, with archaeologists working with

and for the descendants of historic African and Native Americans to recover forgotten

history and produce beneficial “memory work” to display on the landscape. First is the

work of Janet Spector and the Dakota tribe on a historic Wahpeton Dakota village in Little

Rapids, Minnesota. Second is the famous case of the African Burial Ground, a colonial

slave cemetery located in lower Manhattan, New York that attracted global attention and

significance. The last two projects, Mary Ann Levine and James (Jim) Delle’s public archaeological investigation of the Thaddeus Stevens and Lydia Hamilton Smith site in downtown Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Delle’s excavation of the William Parker House near Christiana, Pennsylvania, form the precedent for researching urban and rural African

American sites in Lancaster county, and will be discussed in the following chapter.

What This Awl Means: Connecting Historic and Descendant Dakota Through

Archaeology

In discussions of community archaeology, Native American tribes are often the highlighted minority group. This is unsurprising, given that the first community archaeology projects involved Native American sites and more importantly, Native

American bodies. The colonization and devaluation of the Native American body is well known to current descendants of historic tribes, driven off their land by manipulative treaties, their people slaughtered, and their burial mounds later desecrated by artifact collectors and European medical and university institutions (Spector 1993; DiChristina

2018). Given this and archaeology’s racist past, many Native Americans still view

archaeology as the equivalent of graverobbing (Rothschild 1996; Patterson 2013). Rutherford 22

Spector tackles these moral issues relating to her occupation as an archaeologist and

applies them to her academic study of a historical Dakota village in Little Rapids, MN,

involving the descendent tribal community to oversee planning and control of the project.

This includes ideas of when and where not to excavate. For example, Spector is

prevented by the Dakota council from excavating a space historically used for a dance

ritual, despite the amount of data promised in that area (Spector 1993: 121). In this case,

Spector yields to the will of the descendent community tied to the site, in sharp contrast to past practice. According to the precedent set by previous projects, Spector could have ignored the tribal council’s request by choosing to excavate and study wherever and

whatever she wished.

However, Spector and her field supervisor recognized that this precedent, set by

historic university and anthropological agendas, was wrong, since this pattern of

investigation encouraged attitudes of ethnic superiority over, and racist disregard for, the

minority communities exploited by it. Through her involvement of the local descendant

community, Spector and her Native American partners garnered a richer, deeper

interpretation of the material artifacts found at the site by incorporating the oral histories

concerning ritual dances, the crafting of clothing and ornamentation, and gendered rites

of passage. This allowed them to create a vivid believable narrative about a young

Wahpeton girl honing her tanning and sewing skills, using the signature awl handle to

mark her progression to womanhood after she completes clothing items that serve to test

her abilities (Spector 1993). The narrative they created remained free of confusing

technical jargon, the hallmark of typical archaeology reports at the time, and it provoked

the reader to empathize with the historical characters. Rutherford 23

This case served as my first encounter with community archaeology, and I connect

deeply to it because of its location. I am a proud Minnesotan, born, raised, and living in

the metropolitan area west of Minneapolis. My lifelong home is only a thirty- minute drive

away from the site. Learning about Spector’s project and its proximity to home prompted

a moment of realization for me: my home may have been someone else’s home once. By

“home” I do not mean the literal structure of the current house or the last person who

owned it. I thought of the land my home sits on, the nearby pond in front of it and the

forested backwoods behind it. The possibility of that historic reality nestled into my head,

and I knew then that archaeology was the occupation I wanted to pursue. The analogy

could be applied at the state and national level, and for different minority groups. I wanted

to help rediscover my nation’s forgotten history and give back a historic home to those

whose ancestors were deprived of it. My work on the Conestoga AME Cemetery is

inspired partially by this sentiment and takes Spector’s work as a model for how to engage

with descendant communities regarding historical and archaeological research of their

ancestral spaces.

A Forgotten Cemetery Impacts the World: The African Burial Ground,

New York City, NY

One of the most famous sites in the history of community archaeology is the New

York African Burial Ground, located in present-day lower Manhattan. European officials

in the eighteenth century judged the location of the burial ground as undesirable land.

These city officials permitted enslaved Africans to bury their dead in the unoccupied space north of the city walls of New Amsterdam (later renamed New York) (Pearce 2005:

1-2) (Pearce 2005: 1-2). The cemetery, marked as the “Negroes Burial Ground” on city Rutherford 24

maps, was officially closed in 1794, but burials continued covertly until 1796, and the site

continued to act as a space for ceremonial gatherings, where later generations

reproduced “community rituals that likely had African roots” (Blakey 1998: 53; Blakey

2010: 1-2; Pearce 2005: 2). By the 1980s, however, the historical significance of the

space was long forgotten underneath high-rise construction and the waste associated

with modern industrial America, a “memory-void” within America’s national and collective

history (Pearce 2005: 2).

This changed in 1989 when, in preparation for the construction of a new federal

office building on Broadway Avenue between Duane and Reade Streets, construction

crews uncovered several of the African burials. Despite this, the United States General

Services Administration authorized the excavation of a portion of the cemetery in 1991 to

continue building the federal office tower. Though archaeologists now headed the

excavation, as mandated by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the federal

government did not comply with several vital components of the law. The act required

both “basic scientific requirements for the preservation of the site’s history” and more

importantly, “public comment and influence in decisions as to how the cemetery would be

treated, ranging from the right to advise halting all excavation to the construction of

monuments” (Blakey 1998: 54). Instead, the federal government ignored these public

requirements and “worked expeditiously to remove [419] burials” in a single year (Blakey

1998: 54).

This deeply concerned the local African American community, and “a groundswell of grassroots activity commenced to contest the management of the excavation” (Pearce

2005: 2). This activism, displayed through community “meetings, religious observances, Rutherford 25

vigils, and protests at the cemetery’s edge,” eventually proved successful, when

congressional legislators became convinced of the impropriety of the project, leading the

United States Congress to halt the excavation (Blakey 1998: 54). A federal steering committee was established to specifically include members of the site’s descendant community, where they would control further decisions concerning the future study and preservation of the burial ground (Pearce 2005: 2). Plans to construct a second small

building on the site were discarded, and contractual study of the skeletal remains passed

from a small forensics lab in New York to Howard University in Washington D.C., the

famous historically black university, where Professor Michael Blakey took up directorship

of the project (Pearce 2005: 3; Blakey 2010). Meanwhile, the New York state Office of

Public Education and Information (OPEI) opened an office for the site, located at 6 World

Trade Center, which “provided tours, lectures, special events, and educational outreach”

(Pearce 2005: 3).

As the years progressed, the descendant community acted to restore the cemetery’s rightful place in American history and the American collective memory. These site descendants worked as “commemorative agents” to counter the hegemonic white forces (i.e., the federal government itself in this case) that worked to erase “the history of slavery in the Northern states, [and] the stories of the individuals most critical to early nation building” in the last 160 years (Pearce 2005: 2). When Al Qaeda agents attacked the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, they destroyed 6 World Trade Center.

However, amazingly and against all odds, all the artifacts from the African Burial Ground stored there were successfully recovered, undamaged, from the ruins. Following the conclusion of Blakey’s anthropological study of the remains, the remains were reburied Rutherford 26 after a six-day commemorative event in October 2003. During this event, named “Rites of Ancestral Return,” the remains traveled in a procession beginning at Howard University in Washington “through Baltimore, Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Newark, accompanied by special ceremonial tributes in each city,” after which they traveled via boat in a symbolic act to dock in the port of Manhattan, recognizing their initial arrival to America on the slave ships that originally docked there. After arriving back at the burial ground, the reburial ceremony “consisted of two days of rituals and performances” where famous celebrities, including poet Maya Angelou and actress and Harlem native Cicely Tyson performed to honor those who the New York black community deemed their collective ancestors.

Sociologist Susan Pearce’s (2005) description of the final reburial of the excavated remains depicts a powerful and heavily symbolic scene shared among multiple generations of site descendants:

The reburial was a solemn, ritually [i]mbued act. Each individual’s remains were encased in a wooden box that had been hand carved in Ghana, featuring displays of African symbols. Among the most prominent symbols was the Sankofa, a replica of which had served as a coffin decoration of one of the site’s excavated burials. As the processions carried men, women, and children, special texts were read for each of these groups. Each casket was ceremonially placed in a crematorium-style wall. After it was filled, the wall was lowered vertically into the ground on one border of the site from which the remains had been unearthed. Among the thousands of participants were activists who had been present at the beginning of the controversy and children not yet born when the remains were first unearthed. Infused throughout the ceremonies was the theme of restoring dignity to those were given no dignity in life or death (3).

This final ceremony, as well as the construction of a permanent monument on the site and museum within the federal office building on 290 Broadway, serves as the ultimate fulfillment of several goals that so many descendant communities long to achieve: publicly and powerfully reclaiming their ancestral history from historical and modern oppressors, Rutherford 27

marking the current physical landscape with a permanent reminder of this history, and

successfully changing the national collective memory to include their ancestors’

contributions (Pearce 2005: 2). As Blakey (2010) correctly points out, the African Burial

Ground Project serves as a paradigm for future community archaeology projects and for

cooperation between archaeologists and descendant communities. Due to its worldwide

recognition and its status as an African American burial ground, the African Burial Ground

Project presents a prominent model of community archaeology that the Conestoga AME

Cemetery Project tries to emulate.

The last two examples of public archaeology that directly guided me through this research process are immensely useful for archaeologically examining African American

life and resistance in Lancaster County. The first is Mary Ann Levine and James Delle’s

archaeological investigation of the Thaddeus Stevens and Lydia Hamilton Smith Houses

on the Corner of Queen and Vine Streets in Lancaster city. The second is Delle’s

excavation of the William Parker House near Christiana, Pennsylvania. With scholarly

literature on the African American rural enclaves in Lancaster county remains relatively

sparse when compared to other historical topics (see Delle 2019; Hopkins 1983, these

projects provide significant insight into the persistent presence of rural African American

communities and their activism’s impact on urban centers in the nineteenth century. I

discuss these projects in more detail in the next chapter, when outlining the history of

race relations in nineteenth-century Lancaster County. I mention these projects now

because of their direct and personal impact on my research methodology. Dr. Levine is

the advisor for this thesis project, and her excavation at the Stevens and Smith site was

my first introduction to African American Archaeology. Therefore, these two projects Rutherford 28

basically served as research templates for my thesis.

Returning to Lancaster

After examining these cases together, and recalling my conversations with Dr.

Hopkins and Ms. Colón, I reexamined the goals, design, and methods of my research of

Conestoga. My research on the cemetery was prompted and encouraged from its outset by the wishes of its descendant community. My communication with Dr. Hopkins and Ms.

Colón establishes this quite clearly. They provided the location, family names, oral histories, etc. However, it was Ms. Colón’s previous dedication to restoring the space that motivated me to add a field component to the project, to address her concerns as well as those of Dr. Hopkins. I wanted to organize a cleanup and archaeological survey of the cemetery. The space is currently littered with decades of trash from the nearby private residences, some of which will be discussed later in this paper. After hearing about several past (and failed) attempts to maintain the cemetery from Ms. Colón, I was not

content to profit from the data gained from archival research of the cemetery while the

cemetery itself remained decrepit. The space deserved not only to be restored but actively

studied. The archaeological record at the cemetery offered rich evidence of the historic

AME community’s social institutions and mortuary practices, including the visible grave

markers remaining, and the definitive location of the historic AME church, which once

stood nearby, is still archaeologically unconfirmed. In sum, the space was historically

sacred, and its significance to history deserved to be acknowledged, to preserve the

space forever on the physical landscape to honor the presence of Ms. Colón and Dr.

Hopkins’ families and other descendant families in Lancaster.

Thus, the newly modified goals of the project were the following: Rutherford 29

1. Thoroughly investigate the surviving documentary evidence pertaining to the

Conestoga AME Church and cemetery site, including information about its

founding, congregation, and destruction and dissolution, with the purpose of

reconstructing the lived experience of African Americans in Conestoga in the

nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

2. Involve all major stakeholders and descendants of the site in the research project,

in accordance with the current praxis of public archaeology.

3. Generate public and academic interest with the information gathered to organize

historical preservation projects for the site, including cleanup and remote survey

of the property and dissemination of historical information to the public of

Conestoga and Lancaster city.

Rutherford 30

Chapter 2: Antebellum African American History in Lancaster County

When speaking with several Lancastrians, either at the county and local historical societies, in college classrooms, or at formal historical presentations, there is a high level of pride in Lancaster County residents when discussing their county’s Underground

Railroad history, particularly when discussing famous black and white Lancastrians who served as conductors, like the legendary abolitionist and congressman Thaddeus

Stevens (1792-1868) and the wealthy black businessmen Steven Smith (1795-1873) and

William Whipper (1803-1876) . This pride comes with recently surfaced history that has received increasing amounts of attention and recognition in the last two decades. This increased recognition of the county’s importance during the Antebellum period is the result of a “tremendous” explosion of academic research into Underground Railroad activity in the county, according to Thomas Ryan, president and CEO of the Lancaster

Historical Society (aka LancasterHistory). This research has been subsequently incorporated in the newest textbooks and other academic publications on African

American history in the state of Pennsylvania, and (Wright 2018; Delle 2019; White, Bay

& Martin 2017).

To celebrate this surfaced history and disseminate it to the wider public, numerous organizations and societies created presentations, exhibitions, and tours.

LancasterHistory’s recent (2018-2019) museum exhibition, titled FREEDOM: “to secure the Blessings of Liberty,” displayed key hallmarks of the African American experience in

Lancaster county over the last 300 years, including the Underground Railroad in the mid- nineteenth century and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Tours set up by the African American Historical Society of South Central Pennsylvania and other local Rutherford 31

historical societies guide visitors through the history of the known Underground Railroad

stations in the county. Bethel Harambee Historical Services, a subsidiary of Bethel AME

Church (Lancaster’s most famous Underground Railroad station), regularly presents

“Living the Experience,” an “Underground Railroad living history program…presented

interactively in first person interpretation” to better resurrect the people, places, and

events of nineteenth-century Lancaster (City of Lancaster Office of Promotion 2020). This

reenactment actively engages with audience members for a deeper understanding of the

lives and struggles of enslaved and free African Americans in the county, particularly

those involved in the Underground Railroad (ExplorePAHistory 2019; City of Lancaster

Office of Promotion 2020). The performance actors are usually members of the Bethel

AME Church or the African American Historical Society of South Central Pennsylvania,

or both, which provides another degree of authenticity to the performance, since many of

the actors are themselves descendants of the historic emancipated and free-born African

Americans that established roots in the county in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

From 1790 until the outbreak of the Civil War, Lancaster County “ranked third in the [Pennsylvania] Commonwealth” for the largest free Black population after

Philadelphia and York County (Hopkins 1985: 115). Lancaster County’s location along the Mason-Dixon Line (which separated the free states and slave states), its larger population of free black residents and white abolitionists (e.g., Quakers, Mennonites, and

Presbyterians), its primarily agrarian economy, and the prominent presence of AME churches starting in 1817 made the county an ideal thoroughfare and settling place for enslaved fugitives escaping the South. The county was known to be “home to slave self- protection groups and refugee societies that protected fugitives from masters or their Rutherford 32 agents and provided assistance for sending them to larger cities and on to Canada”

(Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society 2005: 11). The three main routes of the

Underground Railroad used in Lancaster County all eventually led to Columbia Borough, then eastward to Christiana and Chester County before continuing northward to Canada

(Smedley 1883; Spotts 1966; Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society 2005: 14).

Columbia Borough attracted particular attention from fugitive slaves, likely because of the

Columbia Abolition Society that existed there since 1818 and its commitment to a) protecting fugitive slaves and free black residents from being kidnapped and (re)sold as slaves to the southern states, and b) establishing schools for the education and uplift of free African Americans (Hopkins 1985: 116-117; Hopkins 1993: 21).

Columbia Borough was also home to two and very successful black businessmen and Underground Railroad conductors: Stephen Smith and William Whipper, who used false bottoms in wooden wagons and railroad cars to transport their fleeing fellow African

Americans to Philadelphia and conducting stations farther north, aiding them in their journey from slavery to freedom. Whipper communicated directly with William Still, famous chairman of the Vigilance Committee of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society and one of the chief “conductors” on the Underground Railroad. Despite the growing size and success of the black community in Columbia, whose combined real estate value of

$14,610 by 1833 signaled a significant advancement toward racial equality, Whipper describes a tumultuous time in his letter to Still, as this success did not go unnoticed to local and county whites. The bigoted, antagonistic, and violent behavior displayed during the Columbia Race Riots of 1834/35 was part of a nationwide pattern of white fear and aggression toward African Americans during the 1830s (Hopkins 1985: 119). The main Rutherford 33

goal of the riots “had been to eliminate African-Americans as serious economic

competitors” and primarily targeted black-owned property and businesses, including

those of Whipper and Stephen Smith (Hopkins 1993: 21). As Hopkins (1985) describes,

whites’ “fears were excited by the spectre of slave rebellion after Nat Turner’s bloody

rebellion of 1831 in which almost 60 Whites were murdered,” and tensions were high over

the logistics of abolition and what the future subsequently entailed for free black

Americans, including free economic competition with whites (119).

Whipper’s letter to Still about the Columbia race riots communicates to us that

Lancaster county’s history of race relations is checkered with white prejudice and discrimination toward black community members, and that there needs to be more acknowledgement, research, and dialogue about what hardships black Lancastrians had to endure because of the explicitly racist government, economic and social institutions imposed upon them. However, while Whipper acknowledged that there was “little Anti- slavery sentiment among whites” in the borough and the wider county, he also acknowledged that “there were many strong and valiant friends among them who contributed freely” to the abolitionist cause.

Whipper’s acknowledging the presence of white allies and their commitment to helping their fellow countrymen and women of color provides a segue into the two archaeological sites I briefly described at the end of Chapter 1. These sites were pivotal to the operation of the Underground Railroad and serve as crucial examples of black and white Lancastrians working together to forward the goals of freedom and racial equality, and as the physical foundations for two public archaeology projects.

Rutherford 34

The Thaddeus Stevens and Lydia Hamilton Smith Historic Site: Lancaster City

When I first learned about this site, my jaw dropped. In fall 2017, I was still a

Psychology major, and I decided to take an elective course to fill out my schedule:

Introduction to Archaeology with Professor Mary Ann Levine. By the end of the semester,

Professor Levine had successfully kindled and nurtured the passionate love I now have

for archaeology, and I changed my major to Anthropology. During the last week of class,

Professor Levine told us about her experience with a public archaeology project that in

retrospect serves as one of my first introductions to African American Archaeology.

In 2002, Professor Levine received a call from the Historic Preservation Trust of

Lancaster County. They told her that the historic home and law offices of famous radical

abolitionist and congressman, Thaddeus Stevens, and his African American

housekeeper, property manager and close companion, Lydia Hamilton Smith, were

completely vulnerable to destruction (Levine 2020). Located on the corner of Vine and

South Queen Streets in Lancaster city, the buildings occupied part of the space allotted

to the massive incoming $200 million Marriott Hotel tower and Convention Center. The

Trust and other groups of Lancastrians expressed worry that about the site’s lack of protection, and formed a partnership with Professor Levine to conduct an excavation of

the site, which prompted the halting and revision of construction plans for the hotel-

convention center complex. The Trust was able to provided “limited financial assistance in the form of equipment purchased, rented, or borrowed from local companies…lunches for [the] student volunteers” from Franklin and Marshall College and Kutztown University” and “funding to hire a graduate student intern to complete the processing and cataloging of the assemblage” (Levine & Delle 2009: 85). Excavations revealed “many episodes of Rutherford 35

Lancaster’s history,” but easily the “most provocative discovery was a cistern that had

been modified by Stevens and Smith to be a hiding place and was possibly used in the

antebellum period to harbor fugitive slaves escaping north” (Levine and Delle 2009: 87).

In addition to their extensive community service-learning project with local school

children, Levine and Delle present a wonderful summary of the extent of their public outreach efforts regarding the site after excavations were completed:

When the excavation was over, we continued our outreach efforts by making interactive presentations to diverse groups in the community, including the American Businessmen's Club and Vista (a senior citizens' group); groups from private schools, including the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth and the Lancaster Country Day School; community historical societies and history clubs, including the Strasburg Heritage Society, the Lancaster County Historical Society, the Christiana (Pennsylvania) Historical Society, Chapter 28 of the Society for Pennsylva­nia Archaeology, and the Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of the Revolution; and the Mt. Zion AME Church youth camp. We also participated in the Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology's Centennial Lecture Series. Another part of the public outreach component of the project involved Delle's traveling throughout the state through the auspices of the Pennsylvania Humanities Council's Commonwealth Speakers Program, making hour-long presentations to community groups variously interested in local archaeology, the Civil War period, or the Underground Railroad (89).

LancasterHistory assumed responsibility for

the project in 2010, and while the site is not currently

open to the public, it can be seen externally from the

street and through glass inside the Lancaster

County Convention Center (the site is outlined in red

on the city map pictured right). The site is “slated for

future development…starting in 2020”

(LancasterHistory 2020). Though the COVID-19

Google Earth imaging of King and Queen Streets, Lancaster City. Rutherford 36 pandemic probably delayed these development plans, the extensive and energized public outreach surrounding the site continues.

Defending Freedom: The William Parker House and the Christiana Resistance

On the front cover of James Delle’s latest book titled The Archaeology of

Northern Slavery and Freedom (2019), there is a late nineteenth-century photograph of two African American men, positioned in front of the ruins of a nineteenth-century stone farmhouse

(pictured top right). One man, Peter Samuel Hopkins (left) and Peter Woods (right) posed in front of the William Parker House, site Woods, is sitting on a large block of stone, of the Christiania Resistance. Photograph taken 1896 (LancasterHistory). which appears to be part of the structural remains of the farmhouse’s front walkway. The other man, Samuel

Hopkins, stands next to his seated companion, holding the large corn cutter used to kill the Maryland man who threatened the freedom and livelihoods of his black neighbors. They both stare where the photographer directs them to, "Christiana Riot House" c. 1895. Original printed posing in a portrait of strength and by Howard C. Moore, Christiana, Pa. pride. Rutherford 37

On September 11, 1851, this

farmhouse became the site of a significant

physical struggle that blatantly disobeyed a

federal law written to preserve the

institution of slavery in the United States.

As Delle (2019) explains, Christiana’s

location “just a few miles north” of the

Maryland border and the availability of rural Samuel Hopkins’ corn cutter, used in the battle forms of occupation made the hamlet an at Christiania on September 11, 1851. Photograph taken by the author with permission ideal settling place for African Americans from the LancasterHistory. fleeing slavery (122). This led to large increase in the black population living in Sadsbury

Township (where the hamlet is located) during the Antebellum period, “tripl[ing] in size

from 48 in 1830 to 156 in 1840, peaking in 1860 at 185 people” (Delle 2019: 122). The

African American community here subsequently “welcomed self-emancipated people

from Maryland and Virginia, both as permanent residents and as transients on their way

farther north as they fled captivity,” and William Parker, a self-emancipated African

American and “outspoken and active opponent of slavery, settled as a tenant farmer on

land that [white] Quaker Levi Pownall owned” sometime around 1845 (Delle 2019: 123).

The second provision of the Fugitive Slave Act, passed in 1850 to ease southern states’

calls for secession, mandated that state and local governments assist in the recapture of

previously enslaved people from the southern and other slave-holding states, and

enacted harsh financial and legal penalties on those who interfered with this recapture

process (White, Bay, & Martin 2017). The law also influenced the increase in the illegal Rutherford 38

kidnapping and trafficking of African Americans by gangs of thugs like the Gap Gang in

Lancaster County, who were incentivized by the money paid by slaveholders content with finding any sufficient replacement for what they deemed to be their physical property.

Christiana was ripe with these newfound dangers, and as a result the black community formed vigilance committees and mutual aid societies to protect their families. William

Parker led one of these mutual aid societies, and he personally testified to “provid[ing] shelter and assistance to those escaping from Maryland and Virginia” in the Atlantic

Monthly in 1866 (Delle 2019: 123). Unsurprisingly then, Parker’s stone farmhouse was

identified by slaveholder and farmer Edward Gorsuch as the possible hiding place for the

three enslaved men that escaped his Maryland farm. Accompanied by Deputy US

Marshal Henry Kline on the morning of September 11, 1851, Gorsuch and his Maryland

posse approached Parker’s house. Delle (2019) provides an intense picture of what

happened next:

Parker and his associates were alerted that the Kline-Gorsuch party was approaching the house. Armed with what would later be called “a few old muskets,” Parker and his associates, including his wife Eliza, barricaded themselves in the stone house on the second floor. After a standoff that lasted several hours, the confrontation grew violent. Tensions rose when a crowd of several dozen people formed, including members of the African American community, who had been called to help when Eliza Parker sounded a horn, and several white Quaker neighbors. Despite the sizable group that was assembling in opposition to their mission, the Gorsuch party was unwilling to stand down. The Marylanders and the Parker party exchanged gunshots and the confrontation descended into bloody hand-to-hand combat, including the use of corn knives and other deadly implements. When the dust cleared, Edward Gorsuch lay dead and his son Dickinson, who had dragged himself away from the fight, lay against a tree, seriously wounded and clinging to life (125).

The fugitives hiding in Parker’s house, and Parker himself, escaped to Canada shortly after the melee, and this struggle was reported in newspapers nationwide, known as the Rutherford 39

Christiana Riot or the Christiana Resistance. In the aftermath of the event, “thirty-five

black and three white Quakers were arrested for treason and conspiracy under the

Fugitive Slave Act” (White, Bay, & Martin 2017: 240). However, the brilliant abolitionist and Pennsylvania congressman Thaddeus Stevens assisted in their legal defense, and all charges were eventually dropped.

Archaeology at the Parker House

In 2007, “members of the descendant communities associated with the 1851

events at the Parker House,” including Darlene Colón, approached Professor Delle

requesting a survey and excavation of farm site where the Parker house once stood, to

determine whether it was possible to “rebuild the house on its original foundations” (Delle

2019: 129). As Delle describes,

The ensuing excavation project was conceived as a community archaeology project [involving site descendents, the Christiana Historical Society, and Kutztown University students] whose explicit research goal was to locate any remnants of the Parker House and to consult with a masonry contractor to determine feasibility of reconstructing a replica of the Parker House on its original foundation (129).

While a replica of the Parker House was never completed, a historical plaque marks the

spot today. The excavation “successfully located the foundations and cellar hole of the

Parker House” and recovered over 500 artifacts documenting the materiality of black rural

tenancy (Delle 2019: 30).

In sum, the projects at the Thaddeus Stevens and Lydia Hamilton Smith Historic

Site and the William Parker House serve as an excellent models for the successful

application of public archaeology and community service learning to Lancaster County

historic sites, and were used as inspiration for the Conestoga AME research project. Rutherford 40

Chapter 3: Methodology

Insights into the lived experiences of nineteenth-century Conestoga residents can be drawn from a wide variety of source materials. Numerous types of primary and secondary source materials were used to piece together the stories shared in this thesis.

To organize the materials into a coherent compilation of evidence to analyze, I designated each source as either primary or secondary, then further classified these sources into a slightly modified list of textual categories previously established by historical archaeologists (Pitt 1972; Little 1992: 2-3). These categories are useful because they emphasize “the question of source and the influence of source on a document’s intention, tone, and coverage” (Little 1992: 2). These considerations affect the way these sources are interpreted and used by historical archaeologists. For example, the “expectation…that private papers will embody different opinions and priorities than government documents” leads to more nuanced interpretations of the data. That said, the source categories relevant to this thesis are organized in Table 1, including examples of each category.

Some of these categories are used for both primary and secondary sources.

Table 1: Categories of historical sources used for this thesis.

Source Type Category Examples of sources used Primary Public and official documents (not Census archives) Death certificates, Wills Tax records Deed indentures Commissioned history Letters, diaries, and private Diaries papers Rutherford 41

Mission and Church sources Birth and baptismal records Family Bibles Transient documents Newspapers Maps, pictorial, and sound Maps archives Atlases Religious grave markers Photographs Literature Medicinal manual Secondary Scholarly Institutions (funded or Historical society journal published by) Ground-Penetrating Radar reports Research Topic Books Public and official documents Commissioned History Tax parcel records Index of county churches and graveyards Transient documents Newspapers Literature Public museum exhibits Commemorative Brochures Topic Websites Local sources and opinions Oral history Maps, pictorial evidence GPS imaging Photographs of grave markers Magnetometry data

Primary Sources

As Table 1 demonstrates, primary sources utilized for this thesis include public and official documents (e.g., census data, government documents, political and court Rutherford 42 records), private diaries, church sources, transient documents, maps & atlases, pictorial images and literature, all accessible through several public archives (Little 1992: 2). Table

1 thus presents a slightly modified version of Pitt’s (1972) categorical tables, since I collected most of my primary and secondary information from three “public and official archives:” The Lancaster County Historical Society Library Archives, accessed both online and in person; The Conestoga Area Historical Society Archives, accessed in person; and the digital and physical archive of the Lancaster County Recorder of Deeds

Office (Little 1992: 2, emphasis added). I decided to modify Pitt’s category to “public and official documents” for this case because several forms of primary textual evidence, including all those listed by Pitt, were accessed via “public and official archives” managed by official government sources or by scholarly institutions like state universities and historical societies (Little 1992: 2, emphasis added). All these archives are free and accessible to the public both digitally and physically via walk-in appointments. However, these official archives additionally assume responsibility for providing access to several primary documents that fit into Pitt’s (1972) other textual categories, i.e., personal diaries, church sources, and transient documents. To sufficiently explicate the complexity of the

Conestoga case without rendering Pitt’s (1972) categories ineffective, I modified the contextual category to “public and official documents,” instead of “archives.” This modification also recognizes other non-government archives used to access evidence for this thesis, including subscription based Newspapers.com® and Ancestry®, and online access to Pennsylvania State University’s archives of historical Pennsylvania newspapers. Several types of public and/or official documents are central to the interpretations presented in this thesis, including Lancaster County census data, personal Rutherford 43 death certificates, wills, and photographs of gravestones; personal military records, tax parcel information, deed indentures, and commissioned county and township histories.

While the information gathered from these primary sources proves inherently valuable in this case due to the scarcity of information about the black and mulatto community in Conestoga, historical archaeologists are thoroughly aware of the limitations and implications of primary textual sources. The tone, opinions, and scope of coverage displayed in these sources typically present the dominant (white) social views of the era

(Little 1992: 2). Thus, archaeologists avoid the inclination to absorb what is written as objectively true. However, archaeologists often address this problematic mental shortcut directly. I agree with McKee, Hood and MacPherson’s (1992) eloquent arguments on this issue:

Those dealing with the past have to one degree or another always surrounded the written record with a “cult of authority.” Consequently, historical archaeologists have had to contend with the notion that any particular segment of history can only be dependably known if some applicable documentary evidence survives. Even rich and pristine archaeological sites are considered disappointingly incomplete without some connected assemblage of letters, deeds, diaries, maps, tax records, and account books. But the mere presence of an abundant collection of documents does not in and of itself guarantee secure knowledge. Like the archaeological record, documents require a careful and thorough analysis in order to make the best use of them in reconstructing the past (161).

These arguments apply to the Conestoga AME Cemetery site and its “accompanying assemblage” of textual sources. I continually addressed the “cult of authority” when examining documents written or compiled by white authors and editors, especially documents that commented on the racial identity and experiences of people of color, to avoid offensive and inaccurate interpretations. For example, some newspapers are Rutherford 44

aligned with the agendas of various political parties, most obviously including the

Democratic and Republican parties, which respectively correspond to pro-

slavery/segregation and abolitionist/reconstructionist policies. These alliances between

political entities and newspaper companies understandably impacts depictions of African

Americans to the public. Additionally, these articles are heavily influenced by a) social

mores and stereotypes of the period, b) the professional opinions of the newspaper editors and publishers, c) the interests of the newspaper’s readership, and the personal perspectives of the individual journalist. These causal factors are thus kept in mind when interpreting these articles.

Having confronted the “cult of authority” surrounding these primary sources from the outset, further description of the source subtypes is presented below in the order outlined in Table 1.

United States Federal Census

The U.S. Census is arguably one of the first documents that professional and

amateur historians consult when researching American life from the recent historical past

(approximately 250 years). Originally established in Article 1, Section Two of the U.S.

Constitution, an official census schedule (i.e., form or questionnaire) to count/survey the

population of the United States was originally mandated to occur every ten years. Today

the Census includes all fifty states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories, and

the 2020 Census “will mark the 24th time that the country has counted its population since

1790” (Bureau of the Census 2020). The interrogation of several important functions of the census, like its essentiality to the distribution of federal funding, estimation of gross domestic product (GDP), formulation of legislative and executive policy, and assignment Rutherford 45 of Congressional seats, is not within the scope of this thesis. For a more thorough description of these functions, see the Bureau’s many publications (2020).

Rather, my investigation focused on the demographic and individual information provided by each census schedule in organized columns. With their legal foundation based within the U.S. Constitution, “the first nine federal censuses from 1790-1870 were organized under the United States Federal Court system,” where each judicial “district was assigned a U.S. marshal who hired other [local district] marshals to administer the census.” Beginning in 1790 with the passage of a new state constitution and the creation of the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania, Lancaster County existed within the newly coalesced Eastern judicial District (“History,” 2020). Prior to Congress’s 1830 authorization of printed and standardized federal census schedules, “U.S. Marshals conducting the census were responsible for supplying paper and writing in headings related to the questions asked” and organizing the schedules to their own preference

(U.S. Census Bureau 2020). Because of this, many of the scanned census pages from the digital archives did not record column labels (Ancestry 2010). However, I reconstruct said column labels for the four decennial censuses between 1800-1830 in Tables 2 and

3 below, using Ancestry (2010) and the U.S. Census Bureau’s (2019; 2020) articles on the history of the federal decennial census.

These archival articles proved useful for tracking the evolution of census delineation by denoting changes or additions to the questionnaire schedules administered and filled out by census takers. For example, even after printed standardization in 1830, entire families and households were still unnamed, reduced to simply the number of male and female, free white or “colored” inhabitants or slaves living under a singularly named Rutherford 46 head of household. These columns communicated rather explicitly what kind of information, and subsequently what kind of people, the federal government valued.

I used census data for Conestoga Township that included each decennial recording from 1790-1940, with the exceptions of 1840 and 1890. Census records were not available for Conestoga Township in 1840, but records were available for neighboring townships (e.g., Martic), and Lancaster city, sometimes listing the same individuals from earlier censuses of Conestoga, so I used these records as close substitutes. In 1921, the

1890 census schedule for Conestoga was unfortunately lost, along with 99% of the records for Lancaster County and most of that year’s federal census schedules, when the

U.S. Commerce Department Building caught fire (Gauthier 2019). When relevant, I also consulted the population schedules for neighboring townships (e.g., Pequea, Manor,

Martic, Columbia) and counties (e.g., Dauphin, York, Philadelphia) to determine the expansion and movement of several black and mulatto families, particularly in the latter half of the nineteenth century. These separate census schedules are useful when individuals born in Conestoga lived in another location prior to their military service, death, and burial in Conestoga.

Table 2: Column Headings used in Decennial Census Schedules for Lancaster County, 1790-1840 Year Individual/Household Information included in Census

“Names of Heads of Families” “Free White Males of sixteen years” and “All other Free Persons” older “including Heads of Families” “Slaves” 1790 “Free White Males under Sixteen years” *Special Case: “Molatto Ben” (listed as * Head of a family of 2 “free white males” “Free White Females, including Heads under 16 years old) of Families” Rutherford 47

Name (Given Name and Surname) of 1800 Head of Household Number of Slaves (sex and age not required) Free White Males & Females in five age & categories: 0-10, 10-16, 16-26, 26-45, For “free colored” household heads, and 45+ either a full name is listed, or they are assigned a racial identifier, followed by a 1810 Number of “All other Free Persons single surname, or given name (e.g., except [Native Americans]” living in the “Negroe Lack”) –their ages are not listed household (sex and age not required)

Name (Given Name and Surname) of Head of Household Number of Slaves (sex and age not required) Free White Males & Females in five age categories: 0-10, 10-16, 16-26, 26-45, Number of persons to be naturalized and 45+ 1820 Number engaged in agriculture, Number of Free White Males aged 16- commercial, or manufacturing 18 occupations Number of “All other Free Persons Number of "colored" persons except [Native Americans]” living in the (sometimes in age categories) household (sex and age not required) Number of male and female Slaves and Name (Given Name and Surname) of “Free Colored" persons by age Head of Household categories: 0-10, 10-24, 24-36, 36-55, 55-100, 100+ number of free white males and females 1830 in age categories: 0-5, 5-10, 10-15, 15- the number of foreigners (not 20, 20-30, 30-40, 40-50, 50-60, 60-70, naturalized) in a household 70-80, 80-90, 90-100, 100+ the number of deaf, dumb, and blind the name of a slave owner and the persons within a household (includes all number of slaves owned by that person free and enslaved persons in three age categories: 0-14, 14-25, 25+)

Same categories as 1830 Age of Revolutionary War pensioners Number of household members Number of household individuals currently in school 1840 engaged in any of the following professions: “learned professions” and Number of household members over engineering; mining; agriculture; age 21 who could not read and write commerce; manufacturing and trade; Number of insane individuals living in ocean navigation; navigation of canals, the household lakes, and rivers

With the increasing federal population (including free, land-owning African

Americans) and partisan and sectarian concerns about northern and southern representation in Congress, fundamental changes to the census were implemented in Rutherford 48

1850. Census enumerators were now instructed to record the names and individual information for every person in every household and were provided with printed instructions to encourage greater accuracy (Ancestry 2010). Additions to individual information provided for census schedules continued increasing from 1850 onward, as seen in Table 3 below.

Table 3: Individual and Household Information Included in Lancaster County Census Schedules from 1850 to 1940 (except 1890). Year Individual/Household Information included in Census

1850 Name (all household members) Whether deaf, mute, blind, insane, or Age (as of the census day) “idiotic” Sex For individuals over 20, could they to read Color (Race) or write? Birthplace Did the person attend school within the previous year? Occupation of persons over age 15 No relationships denoted between Value of real estate members of a household. Whether married within the previous year 1860 Name (all household members) Age (as of the census day) Whether deaf, dumb, blind, insane, a pauper, or a convict Sex whether able to read or speak English Color (Race) Whether the person attended school within Birthplace the previous year. Occupation of persons over age 15 No relationships denoted between Value of real estate members of a household. Whether married within the previous year 1870 Name (all household members) whether mother and father were of foreign birth Age at last birthday (if under one year of age, months of age were stated as whether born or married within the year fractions, e.g., 1/12) and the month Sex those who could not read Color (Race) those who could not write Birthplace whether deaf, dumb, blind, or insane or "idiotic". Occupation or trade of every male and female No relationships denoted between members of a household Value of real estate ($) Rutherford 49

1880 Number of dwelling home, in order of Number of months the person had been visitation by the enumerator employed within the census year Number of family, in order of visitation by Was, on the day of the enumerator's visit, the enumerator the person was sick or disabled so as to be unable to attend to ordinary business or Name duties? If so, what was the sickness or Color (Enumerators were to mark "W" for disability? White, "B" for Black, "Mu" for Mulatto, "C" Was the person blind? for Chinese [a category which included all east Asians], of "I" for American Indian Was the person deaf and dumb? Sex Was the person idiotic? Age Was the person insane? If the person was born within the census Was the person maimed, crippled, year, what was the month? bedridden, or otherwise disabled? Relationship to the head of the family Had the person attended school in the past year? Is the person single or married? Can the person not read? Is the person widowed or divorced? (Enumerators were to mark "W" for Can the person not write? widowed and "D" for divorced) What was the person's place of birth? Was the person married within the census What was the person's father's and year? mother’s place of birth? Profession, occupation, or trade

1900 Number of dwelling home in order of What was the person's mother's place of visitation by enumerator birth? Number of family in order of visitation by What year did the person immigrate to the enumerator United States? Name How many years has the person been in the United States? Relation to head of the family Is the person naturalized? Color or Race ("W" for White, "B" for Black, "Ch" for Chinese, "Jp" for Japanese, or "In" Occupation, trade, or profession for American Indian) How many months has the person not been Sex employed in the past year? Date of Birth How many months did the person attend school in the past year? Age Can the person read? Was the person single, married, widowed, or divorced? Can the person write? How many years has the person been Can the person speak English? married? Is the person's home owned or rented? For mothers, how many children has the If it is owned, is the person's home owned person had? free or mortgaged? How many of those children are living? Does the person live in a farm or in a house? What was the person's place of birth? (If so, enumerator was to write that farm's identification number on its corresponding What was the person's father's place of birth? agricultural questionnaire) Rutherford 50

1910 Number of dwelling house in order of The person's trade, profession, or occupation enumeration General nature of the industry, business, or Number of family in order of enumeration establishment in which this person works Name Is the person an employer, employee, or working on his own account? Relationship to head of the family If the person is an employee, was he/she out Sex of work on April 15, 1910? Color or Race ("W" for White, "B" for Black, If the person is an employee, what is the "Mu" for mulatto, "Ch" for Chinese, "Jp" for number of weeks he/she was out of work in Japanese, "In" for American Indian, or "Ot" 1909? for other races) Can the person read? Age Can the person write? Is the person single, married, widowed, or divorced? ("S" for single, "Wd" for widowed, Has the person attended school at any time "D" for divorced, "M1" for married persons in since September 1909? their first marriage, and "M2" for those Is the person's home owned or rented? married persons in their second or subsequent marriage) Is the person's home owned free or mortgaged? Number of years of present marriage Does the person reside in a home or on a How many children is the person the mother farm? of? Of the children a person has mothered, how many are still alive? If on a farm, what is the farm's identification number on the census farm schedule? Place of birth of the person Is the person a survivor of the Union or Place of birth of the person's father & mother Confederate Army or Navy? Year of immigration to the United States Is the person blind in both eyes? Is the person naturalized or an alien? Is the person deaf and/or dumb (mute)? Can the person speak English? If not, what language does the person speak?

1920 Street of person's place of abode Year of immigration to the United States (Enumerators were to write the name of the Is the person naturalized or alien? street vertically in the column, so that they only had to write it once for all of the If naturalized, what was the year of enumerated persons living on that street) naturalization? House number or farm Did the person attend school at any time since September 1, 1919? Number of dwelling house in order of visitation by enumerator Can the person read? Number of family in order of visitation by Can the person write? enumerator Person's place of birth Name Person's mother tongue Relationship to head of family Person's father's place of birth Is the person's home owned or rented? Person's father's mother tongue If owned, is it owned freely or mortgaged? Person's mother's place of birth Sex Person's mother's mother tongue Color or race (“W" for White, "B" for Black, "Mu" for mulatto, "Ch" for Chinese, "Jp" for Can the person speak English? Rutherford 51

Japanese, "In" for American Indian, or "Ot" Person's trade or profession for other races) Industry, business, or establishment in which Age at last birthday the person works Single, married, widowed, or divorced? ("S" Is the person an employer, a salary or wage for single, "Wd" for widowed, "D" for worker, or working on his own account? divorced, "M1" for married persons in their If the person is a farmer, what is the farm's first marriage, and "M2" for those married identification number on the corresponding persons in their second or subsequent farm schedule? marriage)

1930 Street the enumerated person lives on Has the person attended school at any time since Sept. 1, 1929? House number of enumerated person (in cities and towns) Can the person read and write? Number of dwelling house in order of Person's place of birth visitation by enumerator Person's father's place of birth Number of family in order of visitation by Person's mother's place of birth enumerator Language spoken in home before coming to Name the United States 1930 Relationship to head of family Year of immigration into the United States Is the person's home owned or rented? (cont.) Is the person naturalized or an alien? (Value of home, if owned, or monthly rental, if rented) Is the person able to speak English? Did the person own a radio set? Class of worker Does this family live on a farm? (If so, what is Whether the person is at work or unemployed the farm’s ID number on the farm schedule?) Whether the person is a veteran of the U.S. Sex military or naval forces mobilized for any war or expedition? If yes, which war or Color or Race ("W" for white, "Neg" for black, expedition? ("WW" for World War I, "Sp" for "Mex" for Mexican, "In" for American Indian, the Spanish-American War, "Civ" for the Civil "Ch" for Chinese, "Jp" for Japanese, "Fil" for War, "Phil" for the Philippine insurrection, Filipino, "Hin" for Hindu, and "Kor" for "Box" for the Boxer rebellion, or "Mex" for the Korean. All other races were to be written out Mexican expedition) in full.

Age at last birthday Marital condition Age at first marriage Trade, profession, or particular kind of work done Industry or business in which at work

Rutherford 52

Before outlining other utilized sources, it must be noted that census data usually contains

several human errors: misspelling of surnames, misidentified ages and birth years, and

most importantly, racial misidentification; and are all fairly common occurrences when

one compares the census with other source types. These spelling issues are a common problem for black families listed in the Conestoga, Martic, and Lancaster city censuses

across all the decades surveyed for this thesis (e.g., Richardson v. Ritcheson, Bond v.

Ban/Boud, Halliger v. Halligher/Hollinger/Holtzinger, Greene v. Green, Robinson v.

Robison). In addition to the spelling issues, I noticed two more idiosyncrasies associated

with black families. First, for both the 1850 and 1860 censuses for Conestoga Township,

enumerators S. Mehaffy and M.R. Sourbeer only denoted the race of non-white residents, despite the column directions instructing the placement of a “W” when listing white residents (pictured below, United States Bureau of the Census 1850, 1860). Mehaffy also

A small portion of an 1850 Conestoga Census page as enumerated by Mehaffy. kept a tally of men and women at the bottom of each, but the races are segregated, with white men and women denoted simply as “m” or “f,” and black and mulatto men and women denoted as

“m Col” and “f Col” (short for Colored, pictured Enumerator Mehaffy’s tally system. right). For the 1870 Census, 26-year-old enumerator John W. Urban, “a small fruit caller” and son of the only known Underground Rutherford 53

Railroad conductor in Conestoga Township (teacher and founder of the white Methodist

Episcopal Church Joseph Rathvon Urban) drew sharp horizontal lines distinct from the

schedule’s rows to mark off large sections of African Americans (as pictured below). I

believe these small and subtle denotations in the censuses are the product of scientifc

racism, stemming from dominant anthropological race theories (i.e., monogenism, polygenism, Social Darwinism and Eugenics) becoming increasingly embedded in

American social and government policy in the nineteenth century.

Small sample of 1870 Conestoga Census page enumerated by Joseph R. Urban. Thomas Patterson (2013) presents helpful summaries of these dominant perspectives and their proponents. Monogenists (including Samuel Stanhope Smith

(1750–1819), Albert Gallatin (1761–1849), and Lewis Henry Morgan (1818–1881)), considered the African race to be a recent derivative of a single, original, Old World, and superior (white) human species (Patterson 2013: 463). This theory is consistent with the biblical origins and timeline of the Earth and the human species, and with proslavery protestant teachings on the mark or curse of Cain (Genesis 4) and Moses’s curse on

Canaan (Exodus 9). This Genesis 4 theory argued that God literally “marked” Cain with

a dark skin tone after Cain murdered his brother, Abel, to signal to others that Cain was

physically cursed by God. Supposedly, this resulted in Cain becoming the first “black” Rutherford 54

individual and, by “logical” extension, the ancestor to all black people. This “logic” led to the conclusion that, due to the morally “degenerate” and “cursed” nature of their ancestry, the enslavement or second-class designation of “soulless” blacks was a morally justifiable

institution (Goldenberg 2003; Haynes 2002; Adams 2005:159-160). Both of these biblical

and supposedly scientific narratives therefore argued the idea that people of color were

inherently “degenerate” or unsavory forms of human beings, which reenforced the

hierarchial racial order that had existed prior to the Revolutionary War (Patterson 2013:

463). Polygenists, including “Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), Charles White (1728–

1813), and the members of the American School of Anthropology of the 1840s and

1850s—most notably Samuel G. Morton (1799–1851), Josiah Nott (1804–1873), Ephraim

G. Squier (1821–1888), and Louis Agassiz (1807–1873)” believed in classifying separate

groups of people into races, partially according to geography (i.e., Africa, Europe, Asia).

The polygenists “privileged the natural over the cultural,” focusing on enumeration and

measuring physical parameters (such as skull and brain size) to prove the existence of a

natural race hierarchy (Patterson 2013: 463). Their theories “reflected the quantifying

spirit, rationalization of knowledge, and typological thinking of the eighteenth century as

well as the development of scientific instruments for measuring the human body,” and

produced explicit behavioral patterns that reinforced the long-standing American social

policy on race (Patterson 2013: 464). The idiosyncratic styles of the census enumators

for Conestoga Township embody these ideas on the physical separation of the white and

black races.

Death Certificates, Wills, & Gravestones

For this thesis, this combined section of textual documents and physical grave Rutherford 55

markers provided some of the most nuanced and detailed information that I encountered on African American individuals in Conestoga. This is because the document authors or gravestone designers are usually either the individual in question (e.g., it is their own will) or a close relative (e.g., parents, children, extended family) that provided first-hand knowledge about the individual in question to medical professionals and funeral directors, and signed the official documents (i.e., death certificates, funeral receipts). Of course, these documents and physical markers provide names, ages, and birth/death dates, but they communicated much more than that. Death certificates usually contained physical descriptors (e.g., race, hair and eye color, height, weight at death), what the individual died from (including chronic illnesses causing fatal complications with an acute infection, and occasionally how the person contracted a fatal illness), and how long the physician cared for them until death (from when they first appeared to them with symptoms). They also included the person’s last known residence, their birthplace, their parents’ names and birth places (if available), the deceased individual’s occupation (including if they were retired), and where the individual was buried. The “informant,” the spouse or family member (or sometimes employer) signs the death certificate to presumably assure the listed information’s veracity. This kind of information provides explicit and implicit details on the individual’s overall physical health and personal lifestyle. For example, some individuals died from “cirrhosis of the liver,” the usual causes for which are long-term liver damage, usually from chronic alcohol (ab)use, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, or

Hepatitis). Zercher and Hiller’s journals did not provide this type of detailed information, therefore the death certificates were essential in filling in gaps in our knowledge on the deaths of individuals, their specific relationships with younger and older family members, Rutherford 56

and the location of their descendants.

Deed Indentures and Tax Records

Deed Indentures analyzed in this thesis were either hand-written in a cursive script or

typed. These indentures were produced as recorded receipts of a deeded property sale,

indicating who the seller and purchasers of the property are, the property’s survey

metrics, and any unique conditions of ownership that are attached to that parcel of land.

Archivists at the Lancaster county Recorder of Deeds Office inform me that historical indentures were often written several months, years, or sometimes decades after the transaction occurred, since producing these indentures required paying an official fee, as well as the personal time of the new property owner, since it was their responsibility to report the property sale to officials. I consulted deed indentures that spanned more than a century, from 1848 to 1966, to best estimate the extent of the original amount of land owned by the Conestoga AME congregants and the property lines of the original AME

Church grounds.

The tax parcel documents consulted for this thesis are publicly available via the

Lancaster County recorder of deeds office’s online search platform. These documents

and images provided the current property boundary lines for parcels of land in Conestoga,

including the AME Cemetery and the adjacent properties along Valley Road. The

documents for the AME property also list the most recent sale date of the property, how

much money it sold for, who the current property owner is, and that the parcel was exempt

from taxation due to its religious status. This information is consistent with the AME

leadership tradition of regional “Presiding Elders” serving as property managers and

provides important clues to the mysterious fate of the church and its trustees at the turn Rutherford 57

of the 20th century.

Personal Diaries and Journals

Regarding individual perspectives, personal journals or diaries written by

individuals living in Conestoga during the nineteenth and early twentieth century offer

some of the clearest insights into interpersonal relationships among Conestoga

community members. While most data on individuals come from impersonal and often

flawed sources like census data or newspaper reports, personal diaries offer a window

into an individual’s personal and community world view, including who and what the

author values as important. For example, several black individuals are specifically

introduced by their name, preceded or followed by “(colored).” Like a prefix or suffix to

their name, a black person’s race is thus fundamentally connected to their identity, and

the diary’s author wants himself and/or future readers to know this before proceeding to

read more information about that person. By noting the key details of stories and events

the author cares enough to preserve and elaborate on, the archaeologist can sometimes

get a glimpse into the private and personal thoughts of the author. This is especially true when the author discusses his own interactions with black individuals. For example, if the author makes several positive entries on African Americans, the archaeologist could infer

the author was more often the ally than an adversary of the black community, at least

from the author’s perspective. In the case of Conestoga, there are two personal journals

that serve as key sources of information on the African Americans in Conestoga

Township. Rutherford 58

The first is that of Andrew J. Zercher

(1857-1941, pictured right), a cabinet maker of

German and English ancestry who lived in

Conestoga for eighty years of his life and

served as the official undertaker and funeral director in Conestoga Centre from May 15,

1878 to May 14, 1918, when he sold his

business to his daughter Blanche. However,

Zercher continued to serve as an occasional

undertaker for his daughter and her colleague Andrew Zercher. Photo courtesy of Walter Ressel until Zercher’s death in 1941 at the Conestoga Area Historical Society. the age of 84 (United States Bureau of Vital

Statistics 1941). His journal contains numerous entries on the lives and deaths of

individuals in Conestoga, some in German and some in English. I consulted a printed

transcription of Zercher’s English entries containing information on the black and mulatto

residents of Conestoga. I received this transcription from Ms. Colón, who spent days

transcribing the cursive writing from the original journals located in the Conestoga Area

Historical Society Archives to produce this fascinating compilation of entries dating from

1899 to 1932. This document provides some of the most personal details we have

available on the lives and deaths of black and mulatto Conestogans. Zercher, a prominent

Republican in the community, was thorough and consistent with his entries and took time

to note any personal or economic relationships he shared with the black community. A

full transcription of his diaries is available in Appendix IV of this thesis. Rutherford 59

Much of the information on the burials in the Conestoga AME Cemetery comes

from Zercher’s journals, some of which he also transferred into a local funeral register

while acting as the funeral director of the township. But Zercher also details several

accounts of living African American community members and his interactions with them

and each other. It seems that he formed bonds with the many black families whose

deceased loved ones came under his care during his time as undertaker. However,

Zercher’s interactions with the black community in and around Conestoga were not limited

to his mortuary duties, according to his entries. Zercher’s formation of deeper

relationships with the black community, based less on official duties and more on mutual

respect and friendship, is not replicated by the author of another set of diaries that include

entries on African Americans in Conestoga and Safe Harbor.

The second set of diaries are those of

Peter Clinger Hiller (1847-1898, pictured

right), a native-born white Conestogan who

served the community in numerous ways during his life. He began writing this set of journals as a young man in 1875. Though the diaries detailing the years of 1876, 1877, and

1878 either went missing or were never recorded, his diaries for 1878 until his death are full of information about Hiller’s unique Peter Clinger Hiller c. 1897. perspective on people and life in Conestoga.

Daily entries include comments on his personal health, work activities, the weather, and Rutherford 60

business exchanges with other Conestogans. This includes his time as a public-school teacher, a census taker, a deed writer for the Lancaster County Recorder’s Office, an

Internal Revenue Service Office clerk, and an eventual Justice of the Peace for the

Township (Eshelman 1994: xi). Entries concerning the black and mulatto residents of

Conestoga tended to remain within the purview of Hiller’s professional life and responsibilities. His status as a respected community member and official is invaluable, since his commentary serves as a proxy for the dominant perspective of white

Conestogans concerning their black and mulatto neighbors. This is supported by the nature of his position. Hiller was democratically elected by the white majority (and black minority) to serve the township, which means that most white voters needed to agree with

Hiller’s views and perspectives to a certain extent to successfully elect him. Importantly, his position as a public figure gives insight into the economic and community activities of black Conestogans, since he is the assigned agent to handle their concerns.

While diaries must also be examined cautiously and the “cult of authority” surrounding them addressed, the personal opinions and actions of these men are somewhat easier to discern, and thus the interpretation of their writing is easier to situate in the appropriate historical context regarding the dominant views on race and religion. Rutherford 61

Family Bibles

Family Bibles are an intriguing type of source material because they offer details into the family’s religious history.

The specific wording of the biblical verses as well as the

Bible’s publication information (if available) indicates the specific version of the sacred text that they are reading (e.g.

King James vs. English Standard) and these varying styles are sometimes associated with specific Christian sects. There

are often hand-written annotations, Elmira Quamony Halliger (1860-1949). Mother of Elmira “Ella” Halliger commenting on certain verses, or Stewart. recording family members’ names, ages, and births, baptismal,

and death dates. This is the case for the Bible of Mrs. Ella Stewart.

According to her death certificate, Mrs. Stewart was born on

Christmas Day in 1891 in Conestoga to AME members William

Hallagher (sp.) and Elmira Quamony (pictured above). A

descendant of the Conestoga AME Community and presumably 426 North Christian Street in 2020. the Bethel AME Community, Ella married James Stewart and lived in Lancaster city at 426 North Christian Street (pictured left) until her death in 1926 at age

34 from pulmonary tuberculosis (Rineer 1983; Zercher 1921). Prior to her death, Mrs.

Stewart provided a printed transcription of a list of family members’ names and associated dates that was hand-written in the Bible to county historian William Frederic Worner

(Rineer 1983: 215A). It is likely that the Bible initially belonged to one of the people listed on the page, i.e., members of the Richardson family who lived in Conestoga in the mid- Rutherford 62

to late-19th century or one of their close relatives through blood or marriage (e.g., the

Quamony’s). Therefore, this primary document is crucial for identification and scrutiny of

the listed names and dates for these historic individuals.

Transient Documents: Period Newspapers

This source type often contains rich information about individuals, major events, and dominant social and political ideologies. This is especially true when discussing race relations in nineteenth-century Pennsylvania. Sometimes, the newspapers act as the main source of information on some of the African Americans living in Conestoga, Safe

Harbor, or bordering townships c. 1840-1940. Several historically significant and

sometimes dramatic events in historic Conestoga are chronicled in these newspapers,

including fires, natural disasters, murders, gunfights between neighbors, and

counterfeiting schemes. The newspapers also describe the township’s more ordinary

events, including the operation of hotels, cigar factories, ironworks, tobacco farms, fruit

orchards, medical practices, local clubs, social societies, and more. These newspapers

were based either in cities within Lancaster county or Philadelphia. The following is a list

of the main newspapers cited in this thesis: The Lancaster Intelligencer Journal (1794-

present as LNP), the Lancaster Daily and Weekly New Era (1877-1920), the Lancaster

Examiner and Herald (1836-1876), the Lancaster Weekly, Evening, Saturday, and

Sunday Express [1856-1876], the Columbia Spy (1831-1902), the Lancaster Inquirer

[1859-1886], and the Philadelphia Inquirer (1829-present) (LNP Media Group 2020; The

Library of Congress 2020; Pennsylvania State University 2020; National Endowment for

the Humanities 2020). Several of these newspapers were later sold and incorporated into

the LNP Media Group in 2014. Rutherford 63

Pictorial Images: Maps & Atlases

Maps of villages and townships drawn and published in atlases at key points during the 19th century provide crucial details of the appearance, organization, and extent of

Conestoga Township. This includes the identification of villages within the township based on larger script sizes and assigned post offices (i.e., Conestoga Centre, Safe Harbor,

Colemanville, Slackwater, and Rockville), key roads, hollows, schools, churches, wooden and stone structures, and several property owners or building titles listed adjacent to the drawn squares or rectangles denoting built structures. These labels, and those structures and spaces that remain unlabeled, provide critical insight into the period cartographer’s survey methods and what physical, political, and social elements of the township are considered notable by county officials.

Literature: “The Long-Lost Friend”

This unique piece of nineteenth-century literature was included in my analysis of the Conestoga black community because of a story told by both the site descendants of the cemetery and several white Conestoga residents. The story involves the ruined house of Harriet Sweeney, the black powwow doctress and original founder of the AME Church in Conestoga Center. The ruins of her house are located across the street from the AME

Cemetery, behind the house of the current resident living on the property. After Mrs.

Sweeney died in, her house remained in good preservation until at least the 1920s

(Worner 1935: 215A). Eventually, however, the structure was scavenged by farmers to build a new fence for an animal pasture. While scavenging the house, one unnamed farmer found a book that was heavily annotated with hand-written notes. The book was supposedly titled The Long-Lost Friend. The farmer who found the book removed it from Rutherford 64

Mrs. Sweeney’s house and brought it home to show to his wife. The farmer’s wife, apparently acquainted with the stories of Mrs. Sweeney’s witchcraft, was horrified by the book, and promptly burned it to fend off any malignant powers the book may have possessed (Colón 2019; Hoak 2020).

While the destruction of this significant artifact is truly unfortunate, and the timing

of the story is unclear, the supposed title of Mrs. Sweeney’s book is still relevant. The

Long-Lost Friend is one of two English translations of Der lang verborgene Fruend, a

Powwow medicinal guidebook published by German emigrant

John George Hohman in Reading, Pennsylvania in 1820.

Based on the title of the book given in the story, the copy Mrs.

Sweeney supposedly possessed is likely the English translation published in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in 1856. Today, this book is “published in cheap paperback and sold along with dream books and horoscopic literature” and has been largely criticized since its publication due its encouragement of the traditional folk medicine and folk magic known in the Pennsylvanian German Title page of Hohman’s 1820 corpus. dialect as Brauche or Braucherei, or “powwow” in English.

However, powwowing is still practiced today by some Pennsylvania Germans, though the

practice has needed to adapt to survive (Donmoyer 2017). Patrick Donmoyer, Director

of the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center at Kutztown University, and guest

curator of the Glencairn Museum exhibition, “Powwowing in Pennsylvania: Healing

Rituals of the Dutch Country” provides a succinct and meaningful description of the

healing system: Rutherford 65

Informed primarily by oral tradition, powwow encompasses a wide spectrum of healing rituals for restoring health and preventing illness, among humans and livestock. Combining a diverse assortment of verbal benedictions, prayers, gestures, and the use of everyday objects, as well as celestial and calendar observances, these rituals are used not only for healing of the body, but also for protection from physical and spiritual harm, assistance in times of need, and ensuring good outcomes in everyday affairs. The majority of these rituals are overlain with Christian symbols in their pattern and content, comprising a veritable wellspring of folk-religious expression that is at once symbolic, poetic, and imbued with meaning worthy of serious attention and exploration (2017).

The English term “powwow” was appropriated by seventeenth-century New England colonists from the Algonquian (likely Narragansett) word “Powwaw,” which described a

Native American “priest,” “sorcerer” “shaman,” and/or “medicine man.” The word is derived from the Proto-Algonquian verb pawe; wa, “to use divination, to dream” or “he dreams; one who dreams” (Douglas 2020). Noah Webster’s (1861) English dictionary defines “powwow” as “conjuration performed for the cure of diseases and other purposes." This definition is consistent with Braucherei, indicating the similarity between

Pennsylvania German powwow doctors and Native American medicine men through their shared practice of ritual healing.

By now it should be clear why the simple title of the book in Harriet Sweeney’s house is so significant. Not only does it support her own claim of practicing powwow medicine, but it also provides a link to discover how powwow doctors operated, what guided their practice, and a deeper explanation behind the oral histories told about Harriet

Sweeney’s powwowing and witchcraft. If this book was indeed the one in Mrs. Sweeney’s house, then we now know, verbatim, some of the spells and treatments that Mrs.

Sweeney used. I will discuss these spells and treatments in more detail in Chapter 4 with Rutherford 66

the fuller discussion of Mrs. Sweeney’s life.

Secondary Sources

Secondary sources include public and official documents held or published by

government and/or scholarly institutions; contemporary (i.e., post-1950) newspaper

articles; a variety of literature published by historians, archaeologists, geoscientists,

curators, and others based at scholarly institutions; oral history gathered in private

informal interviews; aerial and contemporary photographs, and Google Earth imaging.

Government and Historical Society Publications

This secondary source type was extremely helpful for gathering historical

information on the Conestoga black community as well as the larger African American

population in the county. Secondary scholarship on Lancaster County black history

gained momentum in the 1970s with African American historian Charles Blockson and

was followed up by Dr. Hopkins’ many publications, both in Blockson’s collections on

black Pennsylvania history and in the Journal of the Lancaster County Historical Society.

To this day, Dr. Hopkins gives numerous public history presentations across the county

and larger state. Dr. Hopkins’ articles include critiques on the lack of attention given to

Lancaster black history by academic scholars due to Lancaster County’s “curious love- hate relationship with the black community which has affected the historical perception of that community” (1983: 98). His articles contain in depth reviews of the lived black experience in historic Lancaster County, including experiences with public education, the church and religious communities, military service in the Civil War, the World Wars and other expeditions and conflicts; and of course the ubiquitous racial prejudice and discrimination the black community had to endure from their employers, neighbors, Rutherford 67 newspapers, and politicians (2001; 1993; 1986: 1985; 1983). His article, Hollow

Memories, detailing the history on the Conestoga black community, is an excellent piece of analysis that I sought to expand off in this thesis.

Another key piece of secondary analysis that I consulted was Reflections of a

Country Village: A History of Conestoga 1805-1980, written and published by Michael

Sigman and Ronald Walton of the Penn-Manor Chapter of the Pennsylvania Federation of Junior Historians for the Conestoga 175th Anniversary Committee in 1980. This document provides abundant information on the white residents of Conestoga in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and it also provides one page on the Conestoga

Centre AME Church, two pages on Harriet Sweeney, and some photographs and information on the General Reynold’s Band, which had some unidentified African

American members (Sigman & Walton 1980: 6-7, 24-25, 55). The language and information presented in (and missing from) this text clearly communicates the extent that race impacted the dissemination of the township’s history. This thesis aims to use this publication to the fullest extent while filling in some of the historical gaps presented by it.

Contemporary Newspapers & Online Sources

Contemporary newspaper articles (written post-1950) I consulted for this thesis focused on the history surrounding Conestoga AME Cemetery and the numerous community-led efforts to clean up the space. Online archives and topic websites also helped provide additional secondary analysis on Pennsylvania black history.

Oral Histories via Personal Interview

I described the beginning of my research connections with Dr. Leroy Hopkins and Rutherford 68

Darlene Colón in Chapter 1. I subsequently exchanged numerous emails and spent many hours talking on the phone and in person with these two brilliant and passionate descendants of the Conestoga AME Community. During these encounters at the desks in LancasterHistory’s Research Center and in the quiet peacefulness of the cemetery’s woods, Hopkins and Colón presented their elaborate knowledge on their ancestral families and the oral histories told to them by their elders. From their rich narratives I focus on critical details relating to the AME congregation in Conestoga Centre and the black and mulatto community in the wider township. I compared this oral information to the textual records to identify and explain potential economic and social connections between historic black, mulatto, and white Conestogans during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and the physical evidence remaining in the Cemetery and the wider Hollow.

I also conducted informal telephone and in-person interviews several white

Conestoga residents, including Ken Hoaks, Head Curator at the Conestoga Area Society;

Benjamin Vonderheide, the Valley Road resident who first helped me discover the cemetery, and Mr. and Mrs. Hall, a couple who lives on Main Street. I first became acquainted with Mr. and Mrs. Hall when leading F&M Professor Kourelis’s class of art

history students to the cemetery on a field trip. This field trip is also where I met Gerald

Wilson, Dr. Hopkin’s cousin and another site descendent. Mr. Wilson initially met our

group on Valley Road, where he gave a short talk on his family and the cemetery’s history.

When we were ready to start hiking up the hill to the cemetery, Mr. Wilson suggested we

follow him back to Main Street instead, since he knew of a better, less obstructive place

to park my car and the college van, and the trail he knew wound down the hill instead of

up. Rutherford 69

That parking place and accessway was the backyard of Mr. and Mrs. Hall, who live

on Main Street. Mr. Wilson noted that the Halls are required by the terms of the estate

deed to provide access to the cemetery via their property, given its historical function as

a route for funeral processions to take from the Main Street to the cemetery (2019). The

Halls confirmed this and allow large groups of cemetery visitors to park in their driveway and backyard when the occasion arises. The Halls were always kind and gracious to me during my time working at the cemetery. They professed their interest in learning more about the cemetery’s history and told me about two intriguing surface-level artifacts they found in the cemetery by using a metal detector. I will discuss these items later as they are artifacts commonly associated with nineteenth-century African American mortuary practices (Delle 2019: 153-154).

Published and Practiced Fieldwork

Finally, noninvasive fieldwork at the site formed the direct archaeological

component of this thesis. This fieldwork included a published 2006 GPR report on the

cemetery site by surveyor William Johnson, preliminary cleanup of cemetery trails and

sifting of collected debris; the identification of gravestones and relevant artifacts in situ,

and magnetometry sensing of large sections of the cemetery property.

Rutherford 70

Chapter 4: The Case Study of Conestoga, PA c.1838-1946

At long last, the stage is set for a thorough discussion on the historic black community in Conestoga Township. To begin this discussion, a few modern statistics on the township are needed to set up proper comparisons to its nineteenth- and twentieth- century form. As of July 1, 2019, Conestoga Township had a population of 1285 people.

As of 2016 the population was 100.00% white. I know this has changed slightly, with a few African Americans living on the margins of the township due to the housing affordability, but the vast majority are older white individuals. 89% of these individuals are lifelong residents, meaning they were born and raised in the Township, and many of these individuals’ ancestral families have been deeply rooted in Conestoga since the late eighteenth century (PA Hometown Locator 2019). The information that the local population knows about the cemetery is very basic. They knew that nineteenth-century black people were buried there, including some Civil War veterans and a rich powwow doctress, but other than this, oral histories surrounding the black community in Conestoga are minimal. With this information in mind, it is time to focus on the historic Conestoga

Township.

The 1875 Atlas of Lancaster County, the 1883 History of Lancaster County by Ellis and Evans, and Rhode’s 1921 Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Directory, all transcribed in Reflections of a Country Village, provide the following description of the village in the center of Conestoga Township. The descriptions are presented below in the same order as they are in Reflections:

Conestoga Centre, a village situated a little north of the center of the township, containing one hundred dwellings and five hundred inhabitants, four general stores, one shoe store, two hotels, two restaurants, two wagon and blacksmith Rutherford 71

shops, and several other places of business; also four churches, one each of the Methodist, Old Mennonite, German Reformed, and African Methodist [Episcopal] denominations, and three schools…The village is about a mile and a fourth in length, stretched along a ridge of considerable elevation; contains about ninety houses, and upwards of five hundred inhabitants. It has one post-office, three stores, two cigar manufactories, one saloon, one hotel, two blacksmith shops, two cabinet-makers’ shops, one cooper-shop, four churches, three schools, and one shoe-store…[The village contains] three carpenters, two stores, and one each of a cigar manufacturer, barber, mason, butcher, cobber, and undertaker (Sigman & Walton 1980: 2)

The businesses discussed in these entries were owned by a variety of white families of

German, Swiss, and English descent, including the Kendig, Warfel, Zercher, Groff,

Shenk, and Hess families. This thesis focuses primarily on the black and mulatto residents of Conestoga Centre and other villages within the township (including Safe

Harbor, Colemanville, Slackwater, and Rock Hill). However, the diaries of Andrew Zercher

and Peter Hiller, and historical family lore of past and current white Conestoga residents

provided in newspaper articles and personal interviews offer critical insight into the

dominant white perspectives of the township with regard to their black and mulatto

neighbors. They detail information about their own dealings and opinions regarding

various individual members as well as the larger black community but also offer up third-

party information about friendships and feuds, between black, white, or black and white,

secret (and some scandalous) interracial relationships, economic deals, crimes, and deaths (see Appendix IV).

However this information is not impartial to racial biases, and the quantity and quality of documentation and education dissemination about the African Americans in

Conestoga Township is consistent with the nation’s deep historical connection to colonial

and systematic race theory, as discussed in Chapter 3 (Patterson 2013; Battle-Baptiste

2011; Sarson 2003; Dain 2002; LaRoche & Blakey 1997). Having flourished like a virus Rutherford 72

“in the fecund atmosphere of American revolutionary libertinism,” colonial race theory mutated into antebellum strains (i.e., monogenism, polygenism) and finally into post-Civil

War strains: Eugenics and Social Darwinism (Sarson 2003; Patterson 2013). While these men may have been friendlier to African Americans, they were the product of their social context, which was dominated by race and the surveillance and policing of the black population.

Population Demographics

Table 4. Population Demographics for African Americans in Conestoga Township.

Asterisks denote incomplete/partial census records.

Census Year Population of African Percentage of the Total Population Americans in the Conestoga of Conestoga Township (%) Township 1790 7 0.65 1810 43-50 2.9-3.33 1830 71 3.3 1850 108 2.7-3 1860 146 4.5 1870 102 - 1880 14 1.1 1900 25 3.2 1910* 27 2.9 1920* 11 1.4 1930 12 0.8

After glancing at the population figures detailed in Table and Figure 4, one can see a steady period of growth in the black population of Conestoga from the late eighteenth century to start of the Civil War. Then, the black population experiences a major exodus Rutherford 73

out the township 160 between 1870 and 140 120 1880, but many of 100 these individuals 80

60 move just across 40 township lines to

Conestoga Township 20 Martic, Pequea, and 0 African American Popoulation in African American 1780 1800 1820 1840 1860 1880 1900 1920 1940 Providence Census Year

Townships (United States Bureau Figure 4. Population Totals for African Americans in Conestoga Township c.1790-1930. of the Census 1880). It is also important to note that there is a large exodus out of the township in general during this decade. The total population (white and “colored”) plummeted from 3,240 in 1860 to 1,232 in 1880 (United States Bureau of the Census). Reasons for this are unclear, but the economic recession during the 1870s may have prompted people to move closer to better-paying jobs (White, Bay & Martin 2017).

Civilian and Military Occupations

The vast majority of black and mulatto men of working age were listed in the censuses and Lancaster County and City directories simply as “laborers” or “lab.,” which of course diminishes the potential varieties of trade skills these men possessed. However, several industries were identified. In addition to farming, which offered the most jobs to black men compared to other county industries from the eighteenth century into the mid-

1920s (Negro Survey of Pennsylvania 1925), several men worked in iron and steel production (forgeman, forge carpenter), construction (carpenter, stone mason, hod- Rutherford 74

carrier), personal and hospitality services (barber, hostler), transport and sanitation

services (carter, janitor), and craft artisanry (basket maker).

Andrew Zercher, the white undertaker, provides information that reveals several

more professions: rural landscapers, stone-movers, planters, dam workers, and

waterboys working at the Safe Harbor Iron Works. Several worked outside of Conestoga

Township as well, in Lancaster City, and Steelton (near Harrisburg), and just across the

border in Martic (at Martic Forge) and Pequea Townships, but the finer details of the work they performed there remains a mystery. It appears that a few took on young apprentices to obtain cheap help while providing the younger generation with trade skills, similar to the steelworkers at Steelton as the unskilled labor industry increasingly diversified with the influx of central and eastern European immigrants to the county in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (Bodnar 1977). This is the case for Washington Cooper, one founder of the Conestoga AME Church who served as master forgemen to apprentice

Alfred Webster prior to the Civil War, before Webster and Cooper’s son Samuel enlisted in United States Colored Troops (USCT).

Many of the men buried in the Conestoga AME Cemetery served in the segregated military during the Civil War and World War I, including but not limited to Webster, Samuel

Cooper, Washington Martin, John Hill, Abram Warner, and Hiram Martin (see Hopkins

2000, 1993). Further research is needed to better understand the working and military lives of these black men and what they were paid in wages (Delle 2019; Hopkins 2020).

I suggest compilizing and analyzing the records of 1) the Safe Harbor Iron Works, 2)

Martic Forge in Martic Township, 3) the old saw and grist mills of Conestoga, Martic, and Rutherford 75

Pequea Townships, and 4) successful white Conestoga farmers to look for evidence of black male economic participation.

Black women’s listed occupations, by contrast, offer more specifics.

“Housekeeper,” was the predominant occupation, but “Washerwoman,” “Laundress,” and

“Dishwasher-woman” were also listed. Their line of work was therefore primarily tied to the domestic and service industries. Some housekeepers worked well into their late eighties and even early nineties based on the census enumerations. In his journal,

Zercher lists several occasions on which he hires black women to assist his wife with domestic chores. One entry describes Zercher hiring Lucinda (Lucy) Martin to “wash” and do chores for his wife (Zercher April 7, 1898). Lucy was married to Aaron Martin, the son of Lewis Martin, a basket maker. Zercher describes Lucy as a “kind friend to all,” and he and his family’s frequent visits to Lucy’s home (his daughter Blanche once went over to

Lucy’s home to gift her a potted flower plant), as well as his expressed sorrow for her death in 1929, indicates a close friendship (see Appendix III entries for December 22,

1925; March 7, 1927; January 27-29, 1929).

The reconstructed stories of Lewis Martin, a fiddler and wooden basket maker, and

Samuel Clinton Johnson, a barber in Safe Harbor in the early twentieth century, are worth elaborating upon, since Lewis’s children and grandchildren are later mentioned thoroughly in Andrew Zercher’s diaries, and Clinton’s death (and that of his father Thomas

Johnson) is reported by Zercher in 1904 (Hopkins 2000: 150). Their stories serve as support for a long-held suspicion by Dr. Hopkins, Ms. Colón and myself: that Conestoga was yet another rural safe haven in Lancaster county for self-emancipated individuals fleeing the South on the Underground Railroad. Rutherford 76

The Underground Railroad in Conestoga

Lewis Martin and his family first appear in the 1830 census for Conestoga

Township. He is listed as Head of Household, and is the only name listed in the household

of eight “free colored persons.” Given the age categories listed in 1850 census (see

Chapter 3, Table 2) and his status designation, Lewis Martin is likely the oldest of the three males listed in the house in 1830 (aged 24-36). The census records reveal an

interesting pattern regarding Lewis’s listed birthplace that fits into a broader cultural

phenomenon. In 1850, his birthplace is listed as New Jersey as I stated previously. Then,

a decade later in 1860, his birthplace was listed as “Pennsylvania.” Finally, in 1870, the listing reverted to New Jersey.

Dr. Hopkins explained to me that it was very common for self-emancipated blacks

to lie about their birthplace, listing themselves as free-born Pennsylvanians to avoid being detected and recaptured by gangs of “slave-hunters” traveling through northern states.

The kidnappers and slavehunters were particularly prominent in Lancaster County given its primary route for escaped fugitives through the assistance of the Underground

Railroad members in Columbia, Lancaster city, Christiana and other rural townships in

“the Southern End” of the county (Fulton, Little Brittain, Drumore, Sadsbury (2020, 2019,

1993, 1985: 129). The fear and anxiety of eluding these gangs increased exponentially

after the passage of the second provision of Fugitive Slave Act on September 18, 1850,

less than thirty days after Lewis Martin provided his location and New Jersey birthplace

to the census enumerator for Conestoga Township on August 23rd (U.S. Census Bureau

1850). If Lewis Martin was indeed a formerly enslaved man, one can imagine the dread

and terror this legislation inflicted on Martin and his family. Thankfully, the family had the Rutherford 77

support of the Conestoga Centre AME Church community, but this piece of their story is emblematic of many self-emancipated individuals who faced potential crisis and danger following the passage of the second provision of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850.

Zercher (1904) details the death and funeral of Clinton Samuel Johnson of Safe

Harbor. Johnson died on March 15, 1904, aged “34 years, 11 months, [and] 5 days.” His

was buried three days later on March 18th at the “Conestoga” Cemetery, and his funeral

was held at the “Colored” (AME) Church, with nine “carriages” (possibly wagons,

stagecoaches, or automobiles) arriving for the services (Zercher 1904). Clinton’s

pallbearers were Samuel Bond, Jerry [Jeremiah] Cooper, Simon Richardson, and Daniel

Stump (Zercher 1904: 91). According to Conestoga’s Birth Register for 1894-1899 and

the 1900 Census, Johnson was a barber, and had five children with his wife Emma:

James A. (9), Howard (8), Maurice (5), Lydia Emily (3), and an infant son Chester (1).

(U.S. Census Bureau 1900; Hopkins 2000: 165). Both Clinton and Emma could read and write, and so could their two oldest children as of 1900. Clinton’s father was likely Thomas

A. Johnson, a 61-year-old “Day Laborer” living in Conestoga and listed directly below

Clinton and his family on the 1900 census enumeration. Thomas’s death and funeral are

also detailed by Zercher, six years later in 1910. Thomas’s death certificate lists the

primary informant as “Calvin Johnson.” I found a WWII draft registration card for a Calvin

Johnson, who was born in 1902 at Safe Harbor. Calvin Johnson’s birth year listed on the draft card is conveniently situated within the range of Clinton and Emma Johnson’s childbearing years, supporting my hypothesis that Calvin is Clinton Johnson’s son and

Thomas Johnson’s grandson. Clinton Johnson lists his father’s birthplace as

Pennsylvania, and Thomas A. Johnson was born in Pennsylvania in 1838 according to Rutherford 78 death certificate. Both of Thomas’s parents, however, have Maryland listed as their birthplace. In 1870, Thomas is listed as head of household in Conestoga, and living with him is an eighty-year-old woman, Henrietta, born in Maryland in 1790. Though purely speculative, it is likely that Henrietta is Thomas’s mother, since she is listed as having the same last name (United States Bureau of the Census 1870). It is possible that she, being born in Maryland, escaped enslavement using the Underground Railroad. Interestingly, a documented conductor of the Underground Railroad carried Henrietta’s grandson Clinton to his final resting place (Zercher 1904). This man is Samuel Bond, a man described as ferrying rafts of self-emancipated individuals on the Susquehanna River from Maryland to Peach Bottom, Pennsylvania; and once conducting twenty two fugitive individuals on the “Pilgrim’s Pathway” between the houses of Station Masters Joseph Smith and John

Russell, two of the most important Station Masters close to the Mason-Dixon Line (Spotts

1966; Grace & Strawbridge 2005). Samuel Bond’s wife was Barbara Bond, a trustee of the Conestoga AME Church. Samuel’s presence at Clinton Johnson’s funeral in 1904 signifies a deep connection shared between the Conestoga AME Community and the activities of the Underground Railroad. Rutherford 79

Education

The earliest photographs

showing the existence of integrated

public schools in Conestoga are the

photographs of Lilli Kendig’s class in

1904, showing Edward and Elnora’s

children (pictured in Hopkins 1986), and

a picture of the River Hill School class River Hill School Class of 1910. of 1910 (pictured right). The students of

color shown in this photograph have yet to be identified. Further research of the River Hill

School records is necessary to identify the students by name. Other than this information,

little is known about the schooling of African Americans in the township. It is possible

black children living in Conestoga traveled to the nearest all-black schoolhouse that has

been identified, located in Pequea Township along Fishing Creek, today reduced to its base stone foundations. It is also possible that the Conestoga AME Church operated a subsidiary black primary school within the building, knowing the Bethel AME operated a similar Sunday school (Hopkins 1986). Peter Hiller, as a teacher in both Conestoga and

Pequea Townships in the later nineteenth-century, may have had knowledge of black schooling in the township, but seems to only note white pupils in his diaries. Regardless of this, as one of the leaders of the public school district at the time, Hiller’s end-of-term concerns and rules about student conduct in 1883/1884 details several attitudes and operational methods within the teacher-student dialectic indicative of that era: one dominated by psychological tension between teacher and pupil that prioritized, from the Rutherford 80

teacher’s perspective, strict obedience and respect from the pupil, and stern punishment

for behavioral transgressions. Hiller’s “things to be spoken of” at the end of the class year are listed below:

1. Questions asked in a disrespectful manner will never be answered by the teacher. 2. Law as to locking teacher out. 3. Threats made by some of the larger pupils. 4. Tell [the class] why H. Rathfon and C. Smith were not whipped. 5. Some children when they can not do as they please are pettish and cross. 6. When I visit this school next winter I should like to see the pupils have respect enough for themselves and especially for their teacher to make as little noise as possible. 7. It amuses me quite frequently to see girls who are inclined to be funny get very angry when they suffer for their fun. 8. Sweeping.

Religious & Social Congregation: The Conestoga AME Church & Cemetery

This is where the bulk of my research for this thesis lies. I consulted numerous

textual sources to compile informational clues about the AME church that once existed in

a valley at the center of the township, in the village historically known as Conestoga

Centre/Center (Sigman & Walton 1980: 1). Using several “official” Lancaster County and

township histories, church and cemetery guides, scholarly journal articles, family Bible

Pages, deed indentures, a will, funeral registers, and atlases, I reconstructed the following

compiled history of the Conestoga AME Church and Cemetery. Before commencing, it

must be stated that none of these sources are “pure.” That is, none of the following

sources are perfectly accurate or represent the “complete reality” that black and mulatto

Conestoga AME congregants lived and experienced in the eighteenth, nineteenth and Rutherford 81

twentieth centuries. Rather, recent scholars (Little 1992; Scott 2004; Battle-Baptiste 2011)

Hopkins like myself and Dr. Hopkins recognize and address the “cult of authority”

surrounding these “official” written documents and interpretations to stitch together, to the

best of our ability, the fragmentary stories of this historic community.

Ellis & Evans’ 1883 History of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania can serve as an

analytical introduction, since this compilation acted as an “official” county history when originally published. Though Ellis and Evans served as editors and compiled information across the county into “Biographical Sketches of Many of the Pioneers and Prominent

Men,” Peter Hiller, the Conestoga official mentioned earlier authored the section of history on Conestoga Township (1883). Hiller’s written description of the AME church in

Conestoga Center offers a starting point to explore the cemetery’s origins:

The African Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 1839, and in the following year a neat frame building was put up. The original members were Simon Richardson, John Wanner [sp. Warner], Washington Cooper, Harriet Sween[e]y, Nancy Richardson, Susan Wanner [sp. Warner], and Sarah Harley. In 1875 the old house was torn down and a new [wooden] frame building, with a seating capacity of one hundred and seventy-five persons, was put up under the supervision of Mrs. Harriet J. Sween[e]y. The cornerstone was laid in the summer, and it was dedicated in the fall of 1875. The following ministers have officiated in the order in which they are named, each having served two years; Jacob P. Hamar, Abner Bishop, Henry H. Blackson, Isaac Gathaway, _____ Johnston, Jacob Anderson, _____ Harris, James Payton, Henderson Davis, _____ Norris, A. A. Robinson, _____ Campbell, J. R. Davis, and J. L. Hamilton, who is the present minister (Ellis & Evans 1883: 742-743). Some spelling corrections are needed for Hiller’s entry: John and Susan’s surname was spelled “Warner,” and Harriet’s was spelled “Sweeney,” but these founders lived most of their lives with their names intermittently misspelled, due to the prominence of race theory in census enumeration (see Chapter 3 section on census data). Dr. Hopkins discusses Rutherford 82

the origins of the seven founders at length in his article, “Hollow Memories: African

Americans in Conestoga Township” (2000), including his great-great grandparents, the aforementioned John and Susan Warner (152). The seven founders consisted of four families: Richardson, Warner, Cooper, and Harley. As the decades progressed, dozens of children and grandchildren were born, and some, like Jeremiah Cooper and Jacob

Warner became later trustees of the Conestoga Centre AME Church.

Conestoga’s smaller founding congregation of seven, versus the fifty founding members of Bethel AME church makes the evolution of the local church community easier to trace through prominent individuals and their family lines (Hopkins 1986: 206). This is

also true for cemetery burials, which are discussed later in this chapter. All seven founders

were members of four original families: Richardson, Warner (interchangeably spelled

Wanner), Cooper, and Harley, who likely befriended and intermarried with each other and other families shortly before the church was formally organized in 1839 (Ellis, Evans &

Hiller 1883; Hopkins 2000; Sigman & Walton 1980). After the church was built, more families in the area of Conestoga and Safe Harbor joined the congregation and married into these families.

Harriet J. Sweeney: Church Mother and Witch Doctress

According to Dr. Hopkins and Ms. Colón, Mrs. Harriet J. Sweeney was a member

of the Richardson family by birth. Peter Hiller makes an error in the history of the AME

church, referring to her as “Harriet Sweeny” in the list of founders, likely because this was

Hiller’s typical moniker for Sweeney in 1883. In 1839, however, Harriet was in fact married

to David Malson, a carter and Harriet’s first husband. Eventually widowed, by 1870 Harriet

had married a second time, to a barber and Civil War veteran of the 3rd.U.S. Colored Rutherford 83

Infantry, Daniel Sweeney (United States Bureau of the Census 1870; U.S., Colored

Troops Military Service Records 1863-1865). Mrs. Sweeney’s ties to the Richardson

family are validated in the 1850 Conestoga census, which lists Harriet and David Malson

caring for three young children (two of them named are named Harriet (6) and Joseph (2)

Richardson) and a baptismal record for sisters Harriet and Nancy Richardson in

Columbia, Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Church and Town Records,

1669-2013: roll 580).

Regarding the AME church in Conestoga, one could argue that Harriet is the most important founder of the church, for numerous reasons. Looking at the above paragraphs,

we see that Harriet is in fact a founding member of the Conestoga Center, AME. Her

generosity and oversight of the life and operation of the church is indicated by the

reference to the 1875 construction project, and this leadership likely earned her the

community title “Mother,” a title shared by Sarah Harley (as shown on her gravestone),

and likely Nancy Richardson and Susan Warner as well. Rutherford 84

While it remains unknown whether the newer structure was built over the foundations of the original 1839/40 structure, it is possible that she owned the property at that time as “Mrs. Malson.” This claim is supported by a receipt of a deed indenture (pictured right), recorded in June

1848 and housed in the Lancaster County

Recorder’s Office Archives (Record Book

K, Volume 7, 428). The receipt lists her as the primary purchaser of two plots of land in the village’s lower hollow, totaling $100, Deed indenture between Harriet J. Sweeney and James Dunning et al., recorded April 25, 1878. from James Dunning et al. (Hopkins 2000:

153). James’s father, Theophilis Dunning is recorded as having four free persons of color in his household in 1810, and James’s sister Margaret ended up marrying John Carey, a mulatto man. Their daughter, also named Margaret, married Abraham Malson, a relative of David Malson, Harriet’s first husband. It is possible the four persons listed in the 1810

Dunning household were members of the Carey or Richardson clans, but this is not definitely proven. Though the receipt was recorded in 1848, archive specialists at the

Lancaster County Government Center, who study these official documents, assert that historical deed receipts were often made several years after the original sale, sometimes up to fifty years later. Therefore, it is reasonable to conjecture that this property was purchased in the late 1830s. A subsection of this property was later deeded to Aaron Rutherford 85

Martin, son of Lewis Martin and one of the

members of the Trustees of the Conestoga AME

Church in the 1870s. This property transfer was

recorded in another indenture receipt (pictured

right) on April 25, 1878 (Book C, Volume 11, p.

655).

What is known definitively is that Mrs.

Sweeney owned both the land that the second

(1875) AME Church structure was built on, and the land immediately east of it. Mrs. Sweeney eventually sold the property including the 1875 church building to the Trustees of the Conestoga

AME Church for a single dollar in April 1882. The Deed indenture between Harriet J. Sweeney and Aaron Martin, recorded April 25, 1878. indenture presents three major pieces of

information on the church and the community within it: the list of trustees, the boundaries of the property and a short description of the church, and the process of electing the Board of Trustees for the Conestoga AME Church.

First, the list of trustees includes the following names: Jacob B. Warner, Thomas

Johnson, Jeremiah Cooper, Wilson Butler, and George Hunter. Some of these men are direct descendants of the church founders: Jacob Warner was John and Susan’s son, and Jeremiah (Jerry) Cooper was Washington’s. Interestingly, by 1882 only Thomas

Johnson lived in the township, in Safe Harbor. The rest of the trustees and their families lived outside of Conestoga Township. Jacob Warner, as Harriet Sweeney’s apprentice in Rutherford 86

powwow medicine, had moved with her in 1876 to 115 Church St. in Lancaster city, just a couple blocks away from Bethel AME. George Hunter was a farm laborer living with white farmer W.P. Borton and his family in Drumore Township (United States Bureau of the Census 1880). Jeremiah Cooper and Wilson Butler lived with their families in the bordering township of Martic, along with several other AME congregant families: Green,

Wilson, and Stewart. The Stewarts were also part of an AME church in the Martic village of Rawlinsville, where the family owned a sawmill (Hopkins 2020; Yamin & Ziesing 2015).

Perhaps the “colored camp meetings” in Rawlinsville that Zercher mentions included the

trustee families which supports the expanse of the church community over township lines

and throughout the county.

Second, the physical description of the church structure is extremely brief, detailing

only “a one story frame church,” but what is significant about this description section is

that it marks out the boundaries of the property, giving property surveyors today the ability

to map and mark out the original boundaries. As this indenture is the only document

referring the church directly (the indenture referenced in the county tax parcel inquiry is

incorrect—this indenture details the white M.E. church property), the description of the

extent of the property (including the cemetery) is extremely valuable to the eventual goal

of completing a modern survey of the property. The church land was bounded

accordingly, as

“having a front of thirty feet on the public road (formerly new alley) on the west a depth of forty feet along Amos Musser’s land on the south a width of thirty feet by other land of said Harriet J. Sweeney and along the same a depth of forty feet to said front on said public road containing twelve hundred feet of land together with all and singular the house/church, woods, waters ways, privileges and appurtenances” (1882). Rutherford 87

Finally, Sweeney’s indenture is incredibly thorough in describing, “almost verbatim from the [AME Conference] Discipline,” the method for electing future trustees of the

Conestoga AME Church. Sweeney and her personal attorney William S. Amweg assert in the indenture that

as often as any one or more trustees hereinbefore mentioned shall die or cease to be a member or members of said church according to the rules and discipline aforesaid then and in such case it shall be the duty of the stationed minister or preacher (authorized as aforesaid) who shall have the pastoral charge of the members of said church to call a meeting of the members for the election of all the Board or apart according to law, as soon as convenient may be and when so that the said Minister or Preacher shall proceed to nominate one or more persons to fill the place or places of him or them whose office or offices has (or have) been vacated as aforesaid. Provided the person or persons so nominated shall have been one year a member or members of the said church immediately preceding such nomination and be at least twenty one years of age and the said members so assembled shall proceed to elect and by a majority of votes appoint the person or persons so nominated to fill such vacancy or vacancies in order to keep up the number of trustees forever (1882; Colón 2019).

Sweeney continued to own the land adjacent to the church, however, on the other side of

Valley Road, until her death in 1884, when it was willed to her close friends and executors

Sarah and David Robinson, who lived a few houses down from her on Church St. in

Lancaster. The Robinsons then lived in Sweeney’s old house across the street from the church for at least fifteen years, as listed in the county atlas (Ryan, Alton, Loose, Smedick,

Seibert, & Heberlein 2006; Graves & Steinbarger 1899).

Reflections of a Country Village details the community lore around Harriet

Sweeney regarding her skills with powwow medicine and magic, her compassion for helping sick people, and her confrontation with the Lancaster County Medical Society in court (Sigman & Walton 1980: 24-25). Most of the entry on Mrs. Sweeney is presented below: Rutherford 88

An intriguing, colorful character in Conestoga’s history is Harriet Sweeney, a resident witch doctor. Harriet set up practice in the arts of pow-wow and voo- doo. She also dabbled in hexeri [Pennsylvania German word for “witchcraft”]. We find many stories that attest to the fact that Harriet Sweeney was a witch doctor and capable of pow-wow. To prevent trespassers from entering her land, Harriet cast a spell. As a person approached the Sweeney property, he would cease walking and remain in a paralyzed state until he chose to return the way he had come. Interesting enough, another witch resided in or around Conestoga. This witch has a spell on the cows, causing blood to appear in the milk. The grand dame of sorcery came to the rescue. She instructed the owners to feed the cows a special powder and then burn the hair off the cows’ chains. After doing so, the cows were cured and the evil witch was afflicted with “wild fire.” Harriet Sweeney practiced whit witchcraft or good witchcraft. During the building of the [Port and Columbia Deposit] railroad at Safe Harbor, several workers were stricken with smallpox. As the disease reached epidemic levels, most doctors, fearful of contracting the disease, refused continue treatment of their patients. Harriet, however, spent time with the sick men, treating and talking to them. Her remedy of dog grease may not have helped, but she provided encouragement to the stricken workers (Sigman & Walton 1980: 24-25).

For at least 24 years, according to an 1880 filed affidavit, Mrs. Sweeney utilized and seemingly mastered the tools and benevolent magic of Pennsylvania German powwow medicine (Sigman & Walton 1980), her financial success and philanthropic donations to the AME Church and other benevolent groups made possible by practicing

“an art ridiculed by non-believers but relied upon by believers” (Hopkins 2000: 156). She apparently drew a large number of “respectable” black and white clientele and was so successful that the Lancaster County Medical Society decided to intervene (Lancaster

Daily Intelligencer, March 18, 1880). Rutherford 89

The next paragraph of Sweeney’s entry in Reflections cites an article from the

Lancaster Daily New Era and a legal affidavit filed by Harriet Sweeney to the

Lancaster County Prothonotary’s Office.

These documents detail the story of Harriet

Sweeney’s confrontation with Lancaster

District Attorney and the Lancaster County

Medical Society after the passage of an One of many episodic articles detailing Harriet Sweeney’s legal battle with the 1877 law attempting to regulate the practice County Medical Society. This article was printed in the Lancaster Examiner on March of medicine in the county. This legislation 10, 1880, when the lawsuit first began. was a common tactic for the newly college trained generation of white male doctors to rob black midwives and doctresses of their clientele in the later nineteenth and early twentieth century (see Smith 1995). During her court summons, a witness testifying against Doctress Sweeney, Dr. Henry Carpenter, condemning her traditional folk methods of medicine, considered her “an errant Charlat[a]n and a quack,” and testified that

Sweeney had prescribed medicine to many patients, though he had never seen the prescriptions administered in-person and refused to say who was treated by her, citing potential violation of professional confidence. Dr. Carpenter only asserted that Doctress

Sweeney’s clients were “respectable” people (“Doctors vs. Quacks,” Lancaster Daily

Intelligencer, March 18, 1880). Doctress Sweeney’s personal attorney, William S.

Amweg, argued in her defense that Sweeney “did not pretend to practice medicine, but merely to ‘powwow’” ("Quacks, Empirics, and Charlatans," Lancaster Inquirer, 1880). This Rutherford 90

defense apparently worked, and “the validity of Sweeney’s…methods was not

questioned; rather, it was a matter of [her] longevity in [her] chosen profession” (Hopkins

2000: 156). I suspect that Sweeney’s positive reputation in the community as a kind and

essentially needed healer for working- and middle-class black and white Lancastrians

was considered more important than her lack of a medical school graduation certificate,

and the grand jury took this into account regarding their decision “to grandfather

[Sweeney out of the act’s provisions] and thus exempt [her] from punishment” (Hopkins

2000: 156). The grand jury completely ignored the indictment against her and passed no

official verdict, resulting in the charges being dropped and the Lancaster County Medical

Society reluctantly footing the bill for the legal fees, which amounted to approximately

$2,500 in today’s U.S. currency (Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, 1880). This was a rare

victory indeed for a black female physician during the late nineteenth century, when

doctors and anthropologists began explicitly embracing Social Darwinism (Smith 1995).

Many white doctors at this point, if they encountered Sweeney, would have regarded her

physical and mental capabilities as a human (let alone a physician), “naturally” inferior to

their own, so this victory for her is incredibly satisfying to read about.

Drawing from Don Yoder’s (1976) discussion of George Hochman and The Long-

Lost/Hidden Friend and Donmoyer’s (2017) extensive essay on Pennsylvania German powwow medicine, her relationship with Jacob Warner, the son of fellow church founders

John and Susan, is historically significant. Jacob is one of Sweeney’s closest confidants

during the last few years of her life, as evidenced by her 1882 indenture to the “Trustees

Conestoga AME Church,” and her last will and testament in 1884 (Pennsylvania Wills and

Probate Records 1683-1993, Will Book F, Volume 002; see Appendix I). Jacob also Rutherford 91 moved with Sweeney to 115 Church St. in Lancaster in 1876 and lived with her until her death. It seems that Sweeney observed the traditionally gendered powwow master- apprentice dialectic, which asserted “a male must learn from a female practitioner, or vice versa” (Donmoyer 2017). Jacob Warner, who was ten years younger than Sweeney, fulfills this protocol.

Being a prominent member of both Conestoga’s church and Bethel AME church in

Lancaster city, her work centered on protection, healing, and benevolence, all values touted in The Long-Lost Friend. The story of her enchantment of trespassers on her property very much resembles the ritual spell for binding thieves to prevent them from entering or leaving the property. The shortened and elongated versions of the chants are presented below:

Thou horseman and footman, you are coming under your hats; you are scattered! With the blood of Jesus Christ, with his five holy wounds, thy barrel, thy gun, and thy pistol are bound; sabre, sword, and knife are enchanted and bound, in the name of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen. …

Oh Peter, oh Peter, borrow the power from God; what I shall bind with the bands of a Christian hand, shall he bound; all male and female thieves, be they great or small, young or old, shall be spell-bound, by the power of God, and not be able to walk forward or backward until I see them with my eyes, and give them leave with my tongue, except it be that they count for me all the stones that may be between heaven and earth, all rain-drops, all the leaves and all the grasses in the world. This I pray for the repentance of my enemies" (Hohman 1820).

During the Civil War, oral history purports that Sweeney paid for the disinterment, transportation, and reburial of Private Samuel E. Cooper, Washington Cooper’s son.

Samuel, along with Jacob Warner, enlisted in the “white only” Pennsylvania 99th Army Rutherford 92

Infantry, and was mustered on July 31, 1861 to serve three years as a private (Martin 2005). Samuel Cooper and Jacob Warner had light skin due to their mixed

African and European heritage and passed as white, enough to enlist at a time when it was illegal for African

Americans to do so (Hopkins 2000). Samuel was either killed during the Battle at Chancellorsville at Falmouth,

Virginia, or became infected and died of “consumption”

(tuberculosis) shortly after the battle, but regardless he Private Samuel E. Cooper’s gravestone. was buried close to the battlefield. Apparently Mrs.

Sweeney did not find this a satisfactory final resting place for her fellow friend and church founder’s son, so she paid to have the body exhumed and transported through recently- designated Confederate territory, well over four hours, back to the Conestoga AME

Cemetery (Hopkins 2019; Colón 2019). Cooper’s stone remains today (pictured above), fallen over and cracked into large pieces, but the inscriptions on the stone are still legible once you brush off the dirt and overgrowth.

Based on this story, her extensive ownership of land in the Conestoga Centre

Hollow, her connection to Conestoga and Bethel AME Church, and her overall wealth and trend for philanthropy, it is not difficult to imagine that Harriet Sweeney may have assisted conductors on the Underground Railroad (such as Joseph R. Urban, a white teacher living in Conestoga) during the 1840s until the Civil War, or served as a station master herself

(Sigman & Walton 1980: 66). Given the AME Conference’s heavy involvement in the Rutherford 93

abolitionist system (Hopkins 1986), Sweeney’s centrality to Conestoga and Lancaster’s church communities is certainly supportive of this speculation.

Harriet Sweeney’s connection to Bethel AME highlights another level of detail to

Peter Hiller’s report on the Conestoga AME Church. When one compares Hiller’s (1883:

742) description of the Conestoga AME Church with Ellis & Evans’ description of Bethel

AME Church in Lancaster city, the lists of presiding ministers are nearly identical. The

Conestoga church’s description reveals the first name of one of these itinerant ministers

(“______Payton” becomes Mr. James Payton). Additionally, while the chronological order of ministers’ serving terms at Bethel AME does not appear to have been recorded, Hiller notes that the Conestoga AME ministers’ names are chronically ordered according to

their service terms. While Hiller’s description lacks the exact years of ministers’ terms, it is possible to roughly estimate each minister’s years of service. By working backwards chronologically by 2 years, based on the listed service term, and starting with the “present minister” in 1883, J.L. Hamilton, the following chronology can be established, seen in

Table 2.

Rutherford 94

Table 2: Presiding Circuit Ministers of the Conestoga and Bethel AME Churches and their hypothesized years of service.

AME Presiding Circuit Minister Years of Service

Jacob P. Hamar 1858-1860

Abner Bishop 1860-1862

Henry H. Blackson 1862-1864

Isaac Gathaway 1864-1866

______Johnston 1866-1868

Jacob Anderson 1868-1870

______Harris 1870-1872

James Payton 1872-1874

Henderson Davis 1874-1876

A.A. Robinson 1876-1878

______Campbell 1878-1880

J. R. Davis 1880-1882

J. L. Hamilton 1882-1883 Rutherford 95

This proposed chronology, however, may be flawed, since it does not account for gaps in ministry service, multiple terms served by a single minister, terms potentially beginning on odd-number years, and perhaps the largest possible disruptor of routine during this period: The Civil War. The chronology also ignores the reasonable possibility that Mr. Hiller erred regarding the order of ministers.

Interesting to note is “A.A. Robinson,” likely a relative of David and Sarah Robinson, Harriet

Sweeney’s friends and executors. However, there is another source that fills in some more detail of the early ministering of the church, since it transcribes records written by of the original congregation.

In Volume 16 of his collection on Printed transcription of a hand-written list of Conestoga AME Church Lancaster County Cemeteries (Rineer 1983), members, found in the family Bible of Mrs. Ella (Halliger) Stewart. county historian W. F. Worner (1922) includes a printed transcription of a single page from a family Bible, passed down through several generations into the hands of Mrs. Ella (Halliger) Stewart, who lived in Lancaster city in the 1920s, when the handwritten page was transcribed. The page (pictured above) lists several family members’ names, birth and death dates, and the dates of their baptism into the AME Church in Conestoga. You can see Harriet Sweeney clearly listed on the page

(though her middle initial is misidentified as “L” instead of “J”), solidifying her familial connection to the Richardson’s. At the bottom of the page, some of the ministers of the Rutherford 96 church are listed along with their year of service. These men all served prior to the earliest minister listed by Hiller (1883), according to the Bible page (Rineer 1983: 215A):

Rev. John Cornish –1838

Rev. F. Golaen – 1845

Rev. Levin Lee –1851

Rev. T. H. Castor – No date given

These names and dates do not conflict with Table 2’s chronology. Rather they offer a rare instance of emic evidence regarding the church’s early operations. For example, the first minister’s listed service year of 1838 indicates that the church congregation had formed prior to their “official” founding year of 1839. They most likely met for services in each other’s homes prior to their decision to build the church, and likely paid collectively for Rev. Cornish to stop in Conestoga while on his rounds of the Harrisburg AME circuit and lead these services when able (Hopkins 1986).

Ella Halliger’s marriage to James S. Stewart of Lancaster city reveals additional ministerial information. In Feagleyville (area of Clay and North Prince Streets in

Lancaseter city), there was a small AME chapel, and “Rev. John O Stewart [1849-1937] was the last pastor…before [the church] was moved ca 1920 to Locust and Rockland when the buildings in the Northwest were demolished” (Pennsylvania, Death Certificates

1937; Hopkins 2020). The Stewarts were a huge clan originating from the Southern End, according to Hopkins, so it is highly likely that James and John O. Stewart were related. Rutherford 97

Regardless, Ella Stewart’s grandparents, Abram and Sarah

Quamony (pictured right), and her nephew Samuel Hunter Jr. are buried in Stevens Greenland Memorial

Cemetery, along with several members Abraham J. Quamony Jr. and Sarah (Book) Quamony, grandparents of Ella (Halliger) Stewart. of Conestoga AME like Mary Ann

Cooper (the daughter-in-law of Conestoga AME founder Washington Cooper), pictured below.

From left to right, the gravestones of Abraham Quamony Jr., Sarah Quamony, Samuel Hunter Jr., and Mary Ann Cooper, all located at Stevens Greenland Memorial Cemetery on South Duke Street, Lancaster City. Shifting analytical focus from these primary interpretations of the Conestoga AME

Church, the next source to mention it offers a late twentieth-century perspective, also by local white officials. The 1980 historical compilation, titled Reflections of a Country Village, offers additional information on the church and introduces some explicitly racial language to its history:

Located in the lower hollow of Conestoga Centre was the most notorious and colorful church in Conestoga Township. The church was a member of the African Methodist Episcopal denomination. Organized in 1839, the church traces its roots Rutherford 98

deep into the heart of Conestoga’s Nigger Hollow. Nigger Hollow was the 19th century term for the 18th century Pinch Gut Hollow. In 1840 a frame building was constructed at a distance of 100 feet from Valley Road. The total membership in 1839-40 was seven. Six of these members were interred in the adjacent graveyard whose entrance was marked by two boxwoods. In 1846 the first burial was made in this cemetery. The 1840 structure was removed in 1875 and a new frame house of worship was erected. The seating capacity of the new structure was 175. The building was erected under the supervision of long-time member Harriet Sweeney. The building was erected in a period of three months: summer to fall. The ministers of the congregation each served a term of two years. Little remains of this early church which disbanded near the end of the 19th century. The only clue as to the position of the early church is the remnant of the ancient boxwoods, although the property is still owned by the African Methodist Episcopal denomination. (Sigman & Walton 1980: 6-7, emphasis added).

While the language used solidifies blackness as a key trait in the history of the Conestoga

AME Church and Cemetery, it also shows a change in the designation of the entire Hollow in which the Church was located. Now, the entire hollow was known as a black community center, and the name of the hollow was changed to explicitly communicate this fact. While this change is historically significant and can be viewed as indicative of the growth and maintenance of the black community in Conestoga Centre, the site descendants at Bethel

AME Church do not find this derogatory title fitting for the hollow today. So, I refer to the

Hollow using its eighteenth-century moniker: Pinch Gut, and occasionally as “AME

Hollow” to denote it from the four other historic hollows in and around Conestoga Centre.

The Dissolution of the Conestoga AME Church

The exact date of the destruction of the Conestoga AME Church is not definitively

known, but Dr. Hopkins and I have hypothesized a time frame within which the church

was destroyed by fire (Hopkins 2000: 152-153). Given its last known identification on the Rutherford 99

1899 Atlas, Zercher’s funeral registers and journal

entries, and oral histories provided by elderly white

residents of the township in 1971 and by Dr. Hopkins’

maternal aunt, born in 1895, we placed the event of the

fire sometime between 1900 and 1907. Residents

recalled that there “were rumors that it was an act of

arson that was never investigated” (Hopkins 2000: 153).

This is possible, given the presence of white families like

the Astons, who eventually began hosting Ku Klux Klan

meetings in their garage on Main Street starting in 1924,

which are documented by Zercher in his journal (Zercher Sword once owned by a member of the Conestoga clearly states his lack of attendance to these meetings). Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, c. 1925. The letters “K.K.K” There is also a K.K.K. stamped sword (pictured right) that are embossed on the square center of the hilt. was given to the Conestoga Area Historical Society by an anonymous family ashamed of their ancestor’s participation in the Klan (Hoaks 2020;

Colón 2019). Given this evidence, coupled with the late nineteenth- and early twentieth- century patterns of black church arsons in the county and neighboring counties (Hopkins

1986, 1993), it is clear that openly racist whites lived in Conestoga in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and that the rumors of arson reasonably plausible.

Regarding the dissolution of the Conestoga AME congregation after the destruction of their church, I have several speculations. First, I suspect that the gradual shift over time in the cemetery’s signification from an AME to simply “colored” cemetery by 1910 in Zercher’s funeral register reflects the shift in use of the space, i.e. the ratio of Rutherford 100

religious services to burials. A single entry in Zercher’s journal describes him giving

congregant Eli Richardson $1 “toward building a new roof on [the] colored church” after

the funeral of Eli’s mother, Mary C. Richardson (February 28, 1905). According to the

Lancaster County Atlas for 1875, Eli Richardson owned a barn that was located

immediately adjacent to the church. Zercher may have donated after learning of a

possible community fund to rebuild the church, but it seems the community effort was ultimately unsuccessful. The AME Community eventually decided to abandon the building

in favor of other regional AME churches, like in nearby Tuquan Hollow, Rawlinsville, and

Lancaster city.

There are at least two possible reasons for this abandonment. The first is purely

economic: individual and congregational funds were too scarce to spare for the building’s

reconstruction. Secondly, it is possible that Conestoga AME worshipers had moved away

in large enough numbers by this point, to other townships like Strasburg and Lancaster

city, and had thus relocated their worship to other regional AME churches (Zercher 1900-

1910; Hiller 1878-1898). Perhaps witnessing this migration out of the township, seeing

their neighbors leave in increasing numbers to move closer to better job prospects in

Lancaster city, Millersville, Strasburg, etc., presented the remaining congregants with a

decision: stay and repair the church for the few congregants remaining, or make the short

journey to other churches to worship with their friends in faith. Ultimately, whatever the

reason, the AME congregation at the Conestoga Centre church opted to abandon the

building, and instead made the short trip to other AME churches in the county, like the

church in Rawlinsville (Martic Township) and Bethel AME on Strawberry Street (Lancaster Rutherford 101 city), where several of their former neighbors now worshiped.

This could be the preferable option due to the continuation of deep social bonds and intermarriages between families, and

Stevens Greenland Cemetery in Lancaster city is evidence toward that conclusion. Edward and Elnora Peaco, Jeremiah

Cooper’s wife Ann, Samuel Hunter Jr., and many other family members (e.g., Quamony, Wilson, Stewart, etc.) who previously lived in Conestoga or nearby are buried there. The gravestone of Edward and Elnora Peaco is pictured right. Gravestone of Edward and Elnora Peaco (Dr. Hopkins’ maternal grandparents) in Regarding the longevity of the Conestoga AME Stevens Greenland Memorial Cemetery on South Duke Street, community, I reconsidered the diaries of Hiller and Zercher. Lancaster City.

While I by no means intend to negate the agency of AME community members, I considered the public positions of these men and the potential power and agency that accompanied their responsibilities. When examining their diaries in conjunction with their professions, one could argue that the crucial functionality of these men provided them with a position of power within the community from which to exercise and effect their personal values on Conestoga and Safe Harbor. This includes encouraging a more tolerant/positive/accepting view of black and mulatto Conestogans, and discouraging more racist, antagonistic perspectives. With a focus on protecting the civic equality of their black and mulatto neighbors during the Reconstruction and immediately after its failure, Hiller at the very least had the ability to punish or admonish white locals who violated these prescriptions while he served as Justice of the Peace. Because Zercher served as the primary funeral director of the township, the entire Conestoga and Safe Rutherford 102

Harbor community depended on him for crucial mortuary services. Thus, white

Conestogans may have submitted to Zercher’s perspectives to remain in his service.

There were certainly some families in the township who held onto racist beliefs regarding

their neighbors of color, and likely expressed this hatred to their neighbors prior to joining

the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s. The question is whether they kept these activities to a

minimal level of physical damage, due to their respect of these prominent white men.

Death in the Conestoga AME Community: Burials in the Cemetery

In Appendix IV of this thesis, there are numerous entries on the daily and special events, deaths, funerals, and burials of black individuals by Andrew Zercher. The deep emotions and grief accompanying the loss of a loved one, along with the stress associated with funerals and burial, is difficult for many American families to overcome.

Unfortunately, this community of African Americans experienced loss frequently due to the high infant mortality rates and outbreaks of contagious disease, which were both common during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A significant portion of burials in the cemetery were young children, comprised of stillborn infants and young children ranging from a few months old to nearly ten years old. Young people also died from infectious diseases, like Elizabeth “Fanny” Quamony at 16 from tuberculosis

(Klinedinst 1971). In addition to the Civil War veterans mentioned earlier this chapter, I present the following list and analysis of burials that took place at the Conestoga AME

Cemetery between 1881 and 1931.

Rutherford 103

List of Burials

Nancy Sterrett or “Colored Nancy”

Born Nancy Burrows, this remarkable woman died July 25, 1881 at the age of 101

years, 1 month, and 19 days. She was buried Conestoga A.M.E. Cemetery in a “very

plain” Walnut coffin ordered by her son from her first marriage, Elijah Levi, which cost

$16.50. Rev. Daniel Rhinier and Rev. Benjamin Keisley preached at her funeral services.

Nancy was well known to the white and black communities in Conestoga, including

Andrew Zercher, and a large celebration was held for her 100th birthday. The historical newspapers discuss the celebration (Zercher 1880; Hiller 1880; Klinedinst 1971).

Martin Family Member Zercher’s ACME Funeral Register: ------Martin (colored) Died July 1st 1883 –Buried July 3—Conestoga A.M.E. Cemetery

Walnut Coffin. [$]7.00—Rev Daniel Rhinier—Ordered by Aaron Martin (found in

folder for ACME Funeral Register, LancasterHistory Archives).

Child of Edward Peaco Zercher’s Journal Entries: Thursday, July 21, 1892 Ed Peaco child died. Funeral on Saturday at 10:00 AM. (very sad)

Friday, July 22, 1892 cloudy Making coffin for Ed Peaco’s child. Dug grave for Peaco’s child in PM.

Saturday, July 23, 1892 clear & warm Attended funeral of Edward Peaco’s child, aged 25 days. Rev. M. Deacon spoke, buried at colored cemetery, this place.

Rutherford 104

Child of Eli Richardson Zercher’s Journal Entries: Sunday, December 25, 1892 cold, partly cloudy all day Got word of the death of Eli Richardson[‘s] child of Middletown. To meet them at Safe Harbor tomorrow at 9:30 AM

Monday, December 26, 1892 clear, cold At Safe Harbor, bought Eli Richardson’s child up and buried in the colored cemetery. $2 Received from Abe Warner - $1.65 Received from Ed Peaco - $2.00

Daughter Halliger Zercher’s Journal Entries: Monday, March 19, 1894 In shop, got word of death of William Halligar’s daughter (colored). Funeral tomorrow (A.M.) working at coffin and delivered rough box to colored cemetery this place. Mrs. William Smith made the shroud.

Mary E. Warner Zercher’s Journal Entries: Tuesday, March 20, 1894 partly cloudy Attending funeral of Mary E. Warner (colored) at the Duck, aged 11 years, 10 months, 24 days. In the absence of a minister, Simon Hart had the service by singing hymns, prayer and short exhortation. Buried at colored cemetery.

Abram Warner Zercher’s Journal Entries: Wednesday, May 13, 1896 clear, warm all day Got word of death of Abram Warner at Harrisburg. Will be shipped to Lancaster tomorrow AM to bring him out for burial here.

Thursday, May 14, 1896 clear, pleasant day Went to Lancaster, met the 8:05 train and brought out the body of Abram Warner. He died at Harrisburg in the Almshouse. Will keep him in the shop till tomorrow. Funeral at 2 PM. Embalmed the body in AM furnishing a 3 piece of [illegible] and made rough box Rutherford 105

and took it to cemetery. He was shipped in a pine case. I furnished shroud, coffin and case.

Friday, May 15, 1896 clear, beautiful day Working on coffin and am attending funeral of Abram Warner aged 56 years, 7 months, 15 days. Rev. W. G. Beals spoke services only at grave. He was buried under Act of Assembly relative to Soldiers & Sailors; he looked and kept all right.

Wednesday, July 1, 1896 clear, warm all day Was paid for Abram Warner coffin by the county through B. F. Hookey, one of the committee on burials. $32 including ex from Harrisburg $5.00

Infant Lyold Richardson Zercher’s Journal Entries: Thursday, August 19, 1897 cloudy, pleasant Received word of the death of one of Thomas Richardson’s children at Middletown. To meet them at Safe Harbor tomorrow morning.

Friday, August 20, 1897 clear, pleasant day; cool morning & evening Went to Safe Harbor and brought infant body of Lloyd Richardson, infant son of Thomas Richardson, aged 1 month and 19 days. Services were held at Steelton.

Isaiah Cooper Zercher’s Journal Entries: Sunday, January 15, 1899 clear, cool all day Attended funeral of Isaiah Cooper, Aged 25. Rev. J. E. McVeigh preached from the book of Luke 9:35 And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son, hear him. Note: Isaiah died at 341 North St in Lancaster on January 11, 1899 at12:45 PM From pneumonia Bearers: Morrice (sp.) William, Oliver Quamony, George Carey, Calvin Johnson 19 carriages, large funeral, buried at colored cemetery - this place [Conestoga Centre].

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Sarah Jane Wilson Zercher’s Journal Entries: Friday, February 24, 1899 clear cool day Attending funeral of Miss Sarah Jane Wilson aged about 35 years. Rev. J. E. McVeigh preached from Numbers 3:10 And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons and they shall wait on their priest’s office. And the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death. Bearers: Joseph Turner, Jerry Cooper, Thomas Richardson, Abram Quamony 5 carriages - she died down at Washington Martin’s near Gephards.

Harriet Webster Zercher’s Journal Entries: Friday, May 12, 1899 clear Attending funeral of Harriet Webster in her 62nd year. Rev. M. Johnson preached from St. John’s 11:11 These things said He and after that he said unto them, our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go that I may awake him out of sleep. Bearers: H. H. Kurtz, John C. Warfel, John S. May, and Samuel Brady 10 carriages - buried at colored cemetery Coffin #2 - $35.00; shroud - $4. John Stumpf paid balance and Ralph Turner paid in full cash $14.00

Infant Peaco Zercher’s Journal Entries: Wednesday, September 26, 1900 Edward Peaco (colored) baby died last night. W. Y. Henry took charge of body and made coffin. First one he ever covered. Done first rate. The child was buried two days late on September 28th, and the funeral service

(Zercher’s ninth of the year) was held in the house of Edward Peaco, the deceased’s

father, and Dr. Hopkin’s maternal grandfather. The total funeral bill was $5 and was paid

in cash by Edward Peaco on the day of the burial (Zercher 1900: 9).

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Barbara Bond Zercher’s Journal Entries: Friday, October 11, 1901 Clear Received work this PM of the death of Barbara Bond (Wanner) [Warner, sp.] at Safe Harbor. Went down, took charge of body. Funeral on Sunday PM colored cemetery, Conestoga Centre.

Saturday, October 12, 1901 Partly clear At Safe Harbor and brought coffin in from station AM. Charles took casket to colored cemetery.

Sunday, October 13, 1901 Went to Safe Harbor to attend of Barbara Bond (colored) aged 69 years, 3 months, 23 days. Rev. Martin Groff presided Preached from Deut. 12:9-10 Since you have not yet reached the resting place and the inheritance the Lord your God Is giving you.10 But you will cross the Jordan and settle in the land the Lord your God is givng you as an inheritance, and he will give you rest from all your enemies around you so that you will live in safety. Rev. Hiram McVey opened with prayer; Rev. H. M. Stauffer closed -- 9 Carriages

Samuel Clinton Johnson Zercher’s Journal Entries: Tuesday, March 15, 1904 cold - raw wind Had intended going to work at appraisement this morning but received word by phone of the death of Clinton Johnson (colored) of Safe Harbor. Went down and took charge of body. Set funeral for Friday morning at colored church in Conestoga Centre 10 o’clock. In PM, making ready for funeral

Thursday, March 17, 1904 Charles had casket and Blanche shroud ready for tomorrow. Everything satisfactory.

Friday, March 18, 1904 Attending funeral of Samuel Clinton Johnson. Born February 10, 1869 - Died March 15, 1904, aged 34 years, 11 months, 5 days. Rev. Martin Groff preached from James 4:14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Rutherford 108

Bearers: Samuel Bond, Jerry Cooper, Simon Richardson and Daniel Stumpf 9 carriages

Samuel Clinton Johnson and his family’s story are referenced earlier in this chapter.

Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson of Shenk’s Ferry in Conestoga. His age is not given. This could

mean that he did not have close relatives in Conestoga to verify his age, indicating the

possibility that he lived in Conestoga as a migrant laborer. The funeral register lists his

day of death as July 5, 1905, and his cause of death is listed as “Drowned.” However, it

appears that Johnson died a few days earlier, on Monday July 2nd, according to Zercher’s

personal journal for Thursday, July 6th: “Buried Samuel Johnson in colored cemetery this

morning, along north fence. He was drowned in [the] Susquehanna River on Monday [July

2] and in very bad shape” (1905). Johnson’s funeral was held on the same day as his

burial, at the “Colored [AME] Church.” The funeral bill is listed at $35, and was paid in

cash by H. S. Kerbaugh, possibly Johnson’s employer (Zercher 1905: 143). Accidental

drownings in the Conestoga and Susquehanna Rivers, including at Shenk’s Ferry and the

Safe Harbor Dam, were common according to Zercher’s journal and many newspaper

articles written on Conestoga (Stokes 2007).

Mary A. Richardson Zercher’s Journal Entries: Monday, February 27, 1905 cold all day Received word this morning of old Mrs. Richardson formerly of this place but died at Middletown.

Tuesday, February 28, 1905 cold, raw windy all day Attending funeral of Mary A. Richardson (colored) Born: March 20, 1815 Rutherford 109

Died Feb 25, 1905 aged 89 years 11 months, 5 days. Rev. P. P. Gaines preached from Rev. 22:4 They will see His face and His name will be on their foreheads. Bearers: Henry Nelson, Edward Mellen, C.B. Bray, Persy (sp) Richardson, Samuel Bond and William Hallegar 6 teams, the body was shipped from Middletown

I gave Eli Richardson [son of Mary A. Richardson] $1.00 toward putting new roof on colored church. Nancy’s pallbearers were “Henry Nelson, Edward Mellen, C. B. Bray, Persy (sp.)

Richardson, Samuel Bond” and “William Halliger.” The cost of her funeral bill is listed as

$5, which was paid in cash, but the payer and the date of payment is not listed (Zercher

1905: 117). It is possible the bill was paid by Eli Richardson, Mary’s son, as we see his

name appear in a later entry, that of Abram Richardson.

Clara Rebecca Peaco (Infant) Zercher’s Journal Entries: Monday, July 17, 1905 hottest day of season Received word this morning of the death of Ed Peaco (colored) infant child. Went down and took charge of body

Tuesday, July 18, 1905 very warm, reported 100 - 106 in shade Lining casket and attending funeral of Clara Rebecca Peaco. Daughter of Edward and Ella Peaco. Born 1905 Died July 17, 1905 Aged 3 months Rev. John Peaco preached from 1 Corinthians 15:22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

Casket white ($30) - shroud ($5) paid in full Clara Rebecca Peaco of was the infant daughter of Edward and Elnora (“Ella”)

Peaco, Dr. Hopkin’s maternal grandparents. Her funeral was held at the “Colored” Church

and Zercher describes the funeral services. Regarding the cost of her funeral, Zercher Rutherford 110

puts forth two different descriptions. The first is noted in the above entry: “Casket white

($30) – shroud ($5) paid in full” (Zercher 181905: 12). The first is in the ACME Funeral

Register, where her casket (and the total bill) is listed for $6.50. The “Payments” Column

indicates a payment was not made until June 13, 1928, when Zercher supposedly

informed the “Collecting Agency” of the unpaid account, after which $12.00 “was paid to

cover all debts due” (Zercher 1905: 148). It is unclear whether Zercher simply listed the

remaining debt Edward Peaco owed to Zercher for his undertaking services ($6.50) in a

random empty row on the funeral register (since it is in fact the only cost listed on the

entire page) or whether Zercher simply erred in his journal or on the funeral register.

Given the fact that there are two items listed in the journal (the casket and the shroud)

versus only one in the register, and that Zercher explains his undertaking duties in detail

in his journal, one is more likely to lean toward the $35 cost being the correct total cost,

or at least the bulk of the cost, since it is possible the total bill was the sum of both

descriptions.

William J. (Craig) Cooper (child) Zercher’s Journal Entries: Friday, May 4, 1906 pleasant day Received word of the death of Jerry Cooper grandchild

Saturday, May 5, 1906 quite warm all day Went to Jeremiah Cooper’s to look after body to make arrangements for funeral of his grandson, J. Craig Cooper. Funeral will be held on Monday at nine o’clock at A.M.E. church Conestoga, PA

Sunday, May 6, 1906 pleasant all day Went down to Colemanville to look after body of Cooper child, found it OK.

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Monday, May 7, 1906 cool all day Attending funeral of William J. Cooper (Craig) Born February 26, 1901 Died May 4, 1906 Aged 5 years, 2 months, 8 days. Rev. J. L. Hunt spoke from Matthew 19:15 Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these”. Bearers: Thomas Johnson, Isaac Jackson, Edward & Rodney Peaco 7 carriages - services held in colored church and interred in colored cemetery - Conestoga Centre

Son of Howard Bond (Infant) Zercher’s Journal Entries: Tuesday, October 10, 1906 Received word on death of a child – [at] Jerry Cooper[‘s] (colored) Martic Forge Funeral, Friday at ten o’clock at Conestoga Centre

Friday, October 12, 1906 At Dukes early this morning looking after body and then to Coopers attending funeral of son of Howard Bond Born: April 11, 1904 Died: October 9, 1906 Aged 1 years, 5 months, 28 days Rev. J. L Hunt spoke from scripture (“God’s child) Colored Cemetery, Conestoga Centre

William Green Zercher’s Journal Entries: Wednesday, November 7, 1906 cold, raw windy all day Received word of the death of a colored man at Harry Souders house in Pequea in A.M. John C. went down to Pequea embalmed body of William Greene, the colored man that died there and arranged for funeral Friday or Saturday.

Thursday, November 8, 1906 pleasant day but raw wind Went to Pequea and made final arrangements for funeral on Saturday at nine o’clock at house and bury at colored cemetery Conestoga Centre. They are very poor and will bury cheap.

Rutherford 112

Saturday, November 10, 1906 cloudy, cool damp day Attending funeral of William Greene who died at Henry Souders near Pequea in 94th year (supposed) no services. No one but widow, daughter, son and son-in-law and Henry Souders at the house. John C and I carried him from house to wagon. Buried him in Colored cemetery in Conestoga Centre. They expect to hold services in York Co., his former home on Sunday 18th.

Henrietta Cooper Zercher’s Journal Entries: Thursday January 3, 1907 damp cold all day, roads bad Called to Martic Forge to take charge of the body of Henrietta, daughter of Jeremiah Cooper. Funeral on Sunday, AM

Sunday, January 6, 1907 cloudy all day Attending funeral of Henrietta, daughter of Jerry and Mary Ann Cooper. Born April 23, 1878 - Died on January 4, 1907 aged 28 years 7 months 11 days Rev. Matt Groff spoke from Isaiah 38: 1 In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amos went to him and said, “This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die, you will not recover.” Bearers were: Thomas Johnson, Samuel Bond, Eli Richardson and Samuel Nash 12 carriages

Abram Thomas Richardson (Infant) Zercher’s Journal Entries: Tuesday, March 12, 1907 raw day, windy Went to Eli Richardson’s and took charge of body of infant son. Funeral Friday morning.

Friday, March 15, 1907 clear, pleasant day Attending funeral of Abram Thomas, infant son of Eli Richardson Born: October 29, 1905 Died March 12, 1907 Aged: 1 year, 4 months, 11 days Rev. P. P. Gaines spoke very ably from 2 Samuel 12: 22 & 23 He answered, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, “Who knows? The Lord may be gracious that he is dead, why should I fast? I bore casket; 8 carriages - Received $20. Cash Rutherford 113

The funeral service for the infant was held Eli Richardson’s house in New Danville

(AMCE Funeral Register 1910: 274).

Hunter Twins (Infants) Zercher’s Journal Entries: Sunday, March 31, 1907 cloudy, few drops rain Received word of the death of twin babies of Samuel Hunter at Colemanville. Will bury them Tuesday, PM -- no funeral

Tuesday, April 2, 1907 clear, pleasant day Buried twins for Samuel Hunter (stillborn) no services, buried in Colored Cemetery here. The total bill of Zercher’s mortuary services was $10 and was rendered to Samuel

Enos Hunter (c. 1870-1950), who lived (as noted) in Colemanville in 1907 and is listed in the 1910 census in Conestoga doing “Odd Jobs,” living with his wife Henrietta and their seven living children. Samuel Hunter was the younger brother of George Hunter, one of the trustees of the Conestoga AME Church in 1882.

Though the bill for burial was rendered to Samuel, it was paid by A. F. Bortzfield on April 29, 1907 (Zercher 1900-1910: 279). This was likely Adam F. Bortzfield, a fellow white laborer who also lived in Colemanville and was 57 at the time of the twins’ death

(Pennsylvania Death Certificates 1906-1967: Adam F. Bortzfield). Bortzfield’s payment of

Hunter’s mortuary expenses indicates a possible friendship or economic relationship between the two men. Hunter is later listed in the 1920 census as a farm laborer, and

Bortzfield’s father, also named Adam, was a farmer and owned a large farm. Perhaps

Hunter secured work on the Bortzfield family farm at one point, though this is simply speculation. Rutherford 114

The stillborn babies would have been Henrietta

Hunter’s second set of twins (daughters Elizabeth

(“Lizzie”) and Mary S. were born in 1894) and her sixth and seventh child, respectively (Family Tree of Anthony

Collins, Ancestry.com 2020; United States Bureau of the

Census 1900,1910). This is assuming she had no other miscarriages or stillborn children prior to the twins, though the likelihood of this happening is relatively high (Hopkins Elmira Quamony Halliger 2020). Henrietta was the younger sister of Elimira (1860-1949). Sister of Henrietta Quamony Hunter; Quamony Halliger (pictured right), making Henrietta the Aunt of the stillborn Hunter twins. aunt of Elmira (“Ella”) Halliger Stewart, the eventual owner of the Conestoga AME Bible (including the page listing the Richardson family names and baptisms) in 1921. The twins’ younger brother, Samuel Hunter Jr. unfortunately died aged eight or nine, and is buried in Steven’s Greenland Memorial Cemetery on S. Duke Street, located at the southeastern border of Lancaster city. Little Samuel’s grave is pictured earlier in this chapter. This grave provides us with a realistic expectation of what the memorial markers of the stillborn twins could have looked like in Conestoga AME

Cemetery.

Delva May Cooper (Infant) Zercher’s Entries: Wednesday, June 24, 1908 partly clear Received word last night by hone of the death of a colored child at Lancaster went in this morning and fetched out the body of the child to our place. The funeral will be held tomorrow at 2 PM at the house of Cyrus Turner a[s] being stepdaughter child -- line casket [this] PM

Rutherford 115

Thursday, June 25, 1908 partly clear - very pleasant day not near so warm as yesterday Attended funeral of Delva May Cooper Born November 8, 1906 Died June 23, 1908 Aged 1 year, 6 months, 17 days. Rev. Gray of Lancaster A.M.E. Church preached Rev. 22:7 “Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book.” Bearers: Isaac Jackson, David Cooper, Rodney Peaco and self [Andrew Zercher]

This entry documents the deep connection of various families in the AME

congregation, both in Conestoga and in Lancaster, and Zercher’s commitment to his

occupation. The pallbearers include three black and mulatto men of three different

Conestoga AME families, and Zercher himself. The reverend is from Bethel AME Church

in Lancaster city, strengthening the relationship between the black Conestoga residents

and black community in Lancaster city in the early twentieth century.

Paul Greene (Infant) Zercher’s Journal Entries: Friday, February 11, 1910 cold, stormy, snowing John C. was called to Ben Green[e‘]s (colored) to take charge of little boy down near the Union-Martic Township. Funeral on Sunday

Sunday February 13, 1910 John C. and I went to the funeral of Paul, infant son of Benj. Greene, near Clearfield (colored). We took body to Abram Eshbach who prepared dinner and had the house service there and from there to the colored church near Rawlinsville. It was very kind of Mr. & Mrs. Eshbach to open their home for them. There were two funerals at the church at the same hour. Mr. Stevenson (sp?) had a Miss Stewar[t] (colored). I received pay from Mr. Eshbach for casket - $18.00

Dora Belle Greene (Infant) Monday, February 14, 1910 clear John C. took rough box to church, Willow Street and on his return was called to take charge of body of Mary Crosson and from there to Benj. F. Greene’s to take charge of body of their only child (a daughter) they having buried their only son yesterday. Feel Rutherford 116

sorry for them… Both funerals Thursday.

Thursday, February 17, 1910 heavy rain John C. attended funeral of Dora Belle, infant daughter of Benj. Green[e] (colored) body taken to Abram Eshbach and the same as previous funeral and from there to the colored church where it was buried. Received pay for same $10.00

Wednesday, March 9, 1910 cold, raw day Received word in evening of death of Thomas A. Johnson (colored) at Safe Harbor. John C. and I went down and took charge of the body -- washed and embalmed.

Thomas A. Johnson Zercher’s Journal Entry: Sunday, March 13, 1910 Funeral at Mt. Zion church of Thomas Johnson. Rev. Martin Groff preached regular sermon, Joseph McDonald exhorted and a colored gentleman, Rev. Wilson of Lancaster made a just closing remark. My class of Sunday school had charge of singing and Family very pleased with arrangements and services. Paid me $70. Cash.

John Edward Peaco (child) Zercher’s Journal Entries: Thursday, May 19, 1910 Called out last night to take charge of the body of John Edward [age 8], son of Edward and Ella Peaco (colored) arranged funeral for Sunday AM

Friday, May 20, 1910 Blanche lined casket for Peaco’s child. Cotton muslin $1.64; basket “Peaco” - .35; screws - .92; cashmere - $1.00

Saturday, May 21, 1910 Blanche and Harry put Peaco’s child in casket this evening.

Sunday, May 22, 1910 In bed all day. Something like the grippe. Have such pan in head and back. Harry and Blanche took charge of funeral of John Peaco. Their first attempt. Very well pleased. Rutherford 117

Edward Franklin Scott Peaco (Infant) Zercher’s Journal Entries: Saturday, September 23, 1911 Was called out early this morning to come to Edward Peaco’s to take charge of the body of their infant son, Edward Franklin Scott Peaco. Washed and embalmed the body and arranged funeral for Monday.

Monday, September 25, 1911 very warm all day Funeral of Peaco’s child Casket - $15.00; shroud $1.50 Collection agency settlement in full for $12.00 for bills due of $25.00 - June 13, 1928

Martha Elizabeth Greene (Infant) Zercher’s Journal Entries: Sunday, January 7, 1912 cold all day - snowing in AM Attending funeral of Martha Elizabeth (twin) daughter of Benj. and Mary Greene. Born August 10, 1910 - Died January 3, 1912 aged 1 year - 4 months, 23 days Rev. Charles and John O. Stewart spoke very appropriately from Job 1: 21 And said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” Bearers: Jeremiah, David, Malachi and Samuel Stewart Services and burial at the colored church near the Union

Martha Greene (Child) Zercher’s Journal Entry: June 7, 1912 Benjamin Greene’s child Martha casket $18.00; by cash $15.00; Added note: (cancelled rest of bill as their house burned down February 1913 -- very poor)

Susan Wilson Zercher’s Journal Entries: Monday, January 13, 1913 beautiful winter day (but much colder) Rutherford 118

Received call last night of death of Susan Wilson (colored) Shenks Ferry

Friday, January 17, 1913 damp cloudy all day Walter and Blanche attended funeral of Susan Wilson (colored) died January 12 - 13 about 88 years old. Rev. Martin Groff - Text: 1 Samuel 20:4 Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do for you.” Bearers: Thomas, Amos and Abram Wilson and S (spelling not clear) Services at house Wash Martin buried at Conestoga Centre AME

Daughter Halliger Stewart (Stillborn) Wednesday, February 18, 1914 cold damp all day feels much like snow Received word this morning of stillborn a baby granddaughter of William Hallegar (sp) colored. Walter buried same in colored cemetery this PM

Annie Halligar [Stewart]’s child casket $4.00 paid by cash

Daughter Halliger (Infant/Child) Zercher’s Journal Entries: Friday, January 1, 1915 clear, cold all day Received word of death of Sarah Halligar child.

Saturday, January 2, 1915 cloudy, cold raw wind all day Walter buried child of Sarah Halligar (colored) this A.M. in cemetery here. Casket $4.00 paid by cash

Samuel Bond Monday, February 8, 1915 cold all day and getting colder Samuel Bond (colored) of Safe Harbor died this AM. Blanche and Walter took charge.

Thursday, February 11, 1915 rather pleasant all day Blanche and Walter attended funeral of Samuel Bond aged about 77 years. Rev. Robert Fex (sp.?) from text Matthew 25:2 Five of them were foolish and five of them were wise. Rutherford 119

Bearers: George Eckman, A. S. Benedict, Casper Hiller and Jacob Murray [all white men] Small funeral at AME cemetery (colored)

Infant Greene (Stillborn) Zercher’s Journal Entry: Tuesday, April 4, 1916 cool day all day Benj. Green[e] got small casket to bury stillborn baby. Casket $3.00 paid by cash (09/16/1918)

Mary C. Richardson Zercher’s Journal Entries: Tuesday April 20, 1920 Mrs. Eli Richardson (colored) died this morning. Blanche called.

April 23, 1920 Mrs. Eli Richardson buried today.

Casket $150.00 Dress 7.00 Blanket 4.00 4 sprays flowers 14.00 Total $175.00 by cash on March 3, 1921

Disinterment of Two Burials Zercher’s Journal Entries: November 23, 1921 Mrs. Stewart of Lancaster Disinterring 2 bodies Grave digging $10.00 Removal permits 1.00 Outside case & trip 5.00 Total $16.00 Received payment December 7, 1921 Rutherford 120

Washington Martin Zercher’s Journal Entries: Wednesday, January 13, 1926 very cold Walter and I went to Tucquan, Martic Township, and my old friend Washington Martin passed away.

The following was copied from the discharge papers of Washington Martin. Enlisted December 21, 1863 at the age of 30 years from Conestoga Township, Lancaster, PA and mustered into the U S Service at Philadelphia to serve 3 years under Captain William B. Clark and Colonel James B .Kidds as a private in Co. K. 22 Reg US Colored Infantry. The Regiment was assigned to the 3rd Brigade - 10th Division 18th Corp Army of the James. Comrade Martin shared the fortunes of his Regiment in the following engagements:

Petersburgh - June 15, 1864; Chapin’s Farm, September 29, 1964; Deep Bottom, April 6, 1865 where he was wounded by a minney(sp) ball on forehead and confined to hospital a short time. Rejoined regiment and took part in Battle of Malvern Hill. June 15 also did guard duty at Fort Harrison and participated in the expedition to Texas, May 15. He was honorably discharged October 16, 1865 at Brownsville, Texas by reason of A. G. D. No. #54 War Department. Member of Capt. Hess Post #571 - Safe Harbor GAR Died January 13, Inst 10:30 AM at home of Maris Green in his 94th year. 5 foot 2/12 in tall when enlisted -- Interred in African M. E. Cemetery Conestoga.

Saturday, January 16, 1926 Clear beautiful day. Helping Walter with funeral of Washington Martin.

Washington Martin Casket $75.00 Shirt, tie 1.35 Phone, NJ 1.05 Phone, Reading .40 Total $77.80 Rutherford 121

Paid by: money order Nora Greene 02/01/26 $2.80 Check - county commission for soldiers 75.00

Lucinda (Lucy) Martin Zercher’s Journal Entries: Saturday, January 26, 1929 cold raw air all day Very sorry to hear of the death of Lucy Martin (colored), a very nice old lady. A kind friend to all. Blanche called - brought body here and will hold funeral from our home on Tuesday, PM.

Sunday, January 27, 1929 Gave Dan Martin loan of $10 to get things for funeral of mother.

January 29, 1929 very high wind & below freezing point all day About house and getting ready for funeral of Lucy Martin this PM. Had short service here at home and went to ME church where further service was held. A good attendance and a fine display of flowers from her friends. Blanche and Walter attended funeral of Lucy Martin at M.E. Church here.

Lucy Martin Casket $165.00 Comfort 8.00 Slippers 3.00 Total $176.00 Paid by cash Frank Martin $160.00 Credit for friendship 16.00

Henry Rodgers (Fire Victim) Zercher’s Journal Entries: Wednesday, December 24, 1930 light snow this AM, cold all day Called to Safe Harbor to take charge of body of colored man who was burned in one of the frame shacks destroyed yesterday. Rutherford 122

Friday, December 26, 1930 very damp light rain, heavier rain PM Went along with Walter and Blanche with regard to body we have here that was burned at Safe Harbor. Another case of going under fictitious name. Hard to locate.

Wednesday, December 31, 1930 cloudy, 20° Helped Walter get body of colored man that burned at Safe Harbor on the 24th. Buried in colored cemetery here.

December 31, 1930 Henry Rodgers Pine basket & service $18.00 Grave (Eli Richardson) 2.00 Open Grave 5.00 Total $25.00

Paid by check by County Poor Directors February 25, 1931 $25.00

Ann Hughes Zercher’s Journal Entry: Sunday, February 15, 1931 a beautiful day Buried the body of A. Hughes (colored) in colored cemetery here at 1:30 PM. Rev. Elliott of M.E. Church officiated.

Unknown Accident Victim Zercher’s Journal Entries: Sunday, May 24, 1931 cool in AM, warmed during day & evening Blanche called to take charge of man (colored) who was killed on Port [& Columbia Deposit Rail] Road by train. Body literally cut to pieces. Walter & Charles brought body here to morgue.

Thor Snipe (Victim of Police Shooting) Zercher’s Entries: Monday, October 26, 1931 Blanche called to take charge of body of Thor Snipe (sp) colored of Safe Harbor who was Rutherford 123 shot by a state policeman in self [-] defense at Carolina Hill camp.

Tuesday, October 27, 1931 cool, pleasant all day Walter and William buried colored man who was shot by state police at Safe Harbor In colored cemetery here.

Reflections on Burials

It should be clear at this point that the number of burials in the cemetery is well over fifty, since at least forty-two burials took place after 1883, when the burial ground’s capacity is listed at approximately fifty individuals (Ellis, Evans, and Hiller 1883: 743).

However, the exact number and extent of the burials at the Conestoga AME Cemetery remains unknown, but the fifty burials in the main clearing of the cemetery were confirmed by geophysical testing, thanks to the efforts of Ms. Colón. This testing, as well as other cleanup efforts and fieldwork at the cemetery site, is discussed in the next chapter.

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Chapter 5: Geophysical Testing and Field Work at the Conestoga AME Cemetery

At least two previous cleanups of the site were planned and enacted by Ms. Colón

and several public partners over a period of several decades, with little long-term success

(Colón 2019). However, the Ground Penetrating Radar report produced in November

2006 by William Johnson, a geologist and engineering consultant from Monroeville who

“was brought to the area through the combined efforts of Colón, the Conestoga [Area]

Historical Society, Lancaster County Destination Management and Shell's Disposal and

Recycling Center” helped to identify at least fifty burials in cemetery, several of them

unmarked (Crisp 2006). He used “a machine shaped like a large lawnmower, watching the computer screen on the bars of his GPR (ground penetrating radar) to spot ‘breaks in

the soil horizon’ (Crisp 2006). Johnson explains the technology behind his equipment in

his report:

The typical result of a GPR survey is a profile that presents radar wave amplitude as a function of distance along the line and two-way travel time. To know the depth to a reflector, it is necessary to know the average propagation velocity from the ground surface. The velocity of a radar pulse in an earth material is dependent on the relative dielectric constant (er) of the material according to the following relationship: V = c/(er)½ where: V = velocity in a propagating material c = speed of light (3 x l08 m/sec)

This velocity can sometimes be estimated from knowing the characteristics of the subsurface lithology. Table 1 presents the typical velocities in terms of two-way travel time (nanoseconds/meter) for various earth materials along with their approximate

relative dielectric constants (Johnson 2006: 4).

The soil in the cemetery was consistent with average dirt, according to Johnson’s table. Rutherford 125

Johnson also performed direct-current (D.C.) electrical resistivity testing on a section of the survey area. This test is performed primarily to detect archaeological features in the ground, such as building foundations, caches, or in this case, human burials. Grant, Gorin, and Fleming (2015) provide a useful explanation of this geophysical test:

[Resistivity survey] involves passing an electric current through the ground and

noting differences in the ability of the subsoil to conduct electricity. Electricity is

conducted through the soil by mineral salts contained in water. The more moisture

there is, the better the conductivity of the soil. A buried ditch or grave will generally

retain water better than the surrounding soil (24-25).Noting this pattern of low

resistivity for graves, Johnson’s (2006) full interpretation of the geophysical data

at the cemetery, including the GPR and DC resistivity, is pictured below:

Rutherford 126

While this report is helpful, Johnson indicated that the surveyed area may not encompass

all the burials on the property. Dr Hopkins, Ms. Colón and I agree with this assessment,

given that Ellis & Evans’ (1883) lists the number of burials in the cemetery as

approximately fifty, and several more individuals, as noted in Zercher’s journals, were buried in the cemetery following 1883 until 1946. We subsequently determined that more extensive GPR testing was needed in the future to determine the full extent of burials in the cemetery.

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Noninvasive Fieldwork at the Site

On November 16, 2019, a small-scale cleaning of the cemetery site was completed with the intention of clearing overgrowth, litter, and other debris from the walking trails into and through the cemetery property to provide access to future cemetery visitors and geophysical testing. Two fellow anthropology majors and I meticulously raked the forest floor, careful not to disturb visible gravestones or any large pieces of metal debris. During this period, there were hopes of performing an archaeological pedestrian survey of the space using student and community volunteers. With this in mind, we did not disturb prominent metal or stone artifacts that had the potential of being geographically plotted and properly provenienced later. We focused primarily on clearing dead leaves, using hand-held garden clippers to trim branches and clip back and/or pull out thorn bushes. We also picked up and disposed of obvious pieces of contemporary litter along the trail from

Valley Road. Ten industrial trash bags of debris were collected during this period and sifted through 1mm mesh Damaged gravestone. to catch any small artifacts and litter we incidentally picked up by our rakes. Artifacts included the tops of beer cans, plastic beverage carriers, the broken head and upper neck of a glass bottle, thin metal wiring, broken glass, small plastic wrappers, and other miscellaneous items. I will discuss the implications of these Rutherford 128

items in combination with the findings of an additional field

day that included the aid of four professionals: four

archaeologists and one geophysicist.

With the aid of Professor Timothy Bechtel, a geophysics professor and Director of Science Outreach at

F&M, and his of two geophysics students, a combined day of magnetometry testing was performed at the site on

December 8, 2019. Archaeologists Mary Ann Levine, Jim

Delle, and Thomas Hart arrived to observe the Professor Tom Hart and the thesis author clearing away magnetometry testing and learn more about the site. They brush to uncover a damaged gravestone. ended up helping during an impromptu field session,

identifying and marking suspected grave markers,

architecturally cut stones (possible foundation

material for the church or Eli Richardson’s barn),

pieces of slate (possible roofing material) and any

other significant features in the cemetery with pink pin

flags. Jim Delle had the unfortunate honor of finding a

disposable plastic pipe in the cemetery, used to

smoke crack cocaine (Delle 2019). Professor Bechtel

also collected a small sample of the white residue

covering sections of one of the architecturally cut Piece of architecturally cut stone, covered in whitewash. stones to be tested for high lime content (pictured right). Rutherford 129

The sample was positively identified as whitewash, a common waterproofing material for

the stone foundations and wooden walls of nineteenth-century buildings.

Meanwhile, Professor Bechtel and his students carried the magnetometer on their

backs and the censor wand in their hands and elbows as they strategically made their

way through the property. The magnetometer picked up any magnetic anomalies in the

soil and produced a chart of the intensity of these anomalies for us to analyze, with higher intensity anomalies depicted in red and yellow.

Burned stone foundations and the charcoal

covering it around it, as would be expected in a

nineteenth-century church fire, produces a

strong magnetic realignment in the soil particles

around this material which is visible with the

magnetometer. The following chart was produced after being compared to historic maps and photographic images of the site, with white dots indicating architecturally cut pieces of From foreground to background, stone, the green dots indicating the boxwood thesis author (far right), Profs. Hart (left), Levine (middle), and Bechtel trees, and yellow crosses indicating burial (right), and two junior geophysics students, conducting noninvasive markers. Unfortunately, due to the high amount fieldwork at the cemetery. of dumping, there were numerous pieces of metal and other pieces of debris that covered the cemetery, making the magnetometer spike continuously. The following chart shows the extent of the debris in the cemetery property. While it is impossible to distinguish between debris and significant anomalies in this chart, there is a suspicious-looking Rutherford 130

pattern of anomalies in the shape of a red rectangle in the right section of the chart. Could

this be the ruined foundations of the Conestoga AME Church? A full-scale cleanup of

metal debris from the cemetery and a second round of magnetometry testing is needed to determine this answer.

The results of this non-invasive fieldwork indicate that the site has been used for

some time as a place to dump large and small items of personal and household trash, as

well as a secluded spot for locals to drink alcohol and partake in illicit substances. The

artifacts collected do not resemble any African American mortuary artifacts, like the 1816

silver coin and rusted metal coffin-lid handles found by the Halls at an earlier time. Rutherford 131

Perhaps these types of mortuary artifacts, coins tossed on graves to pay the deceased’s toll to enter the afterlife, or ceramic food containers serving as provisions for their journey, have already been removed from the cemetery (Delle 2019: 153-154). Ms. Colón did

mention a white woman on Valley Road who claimed to have salt and pepper shakers

that she found in the cemetery (2019). Regardless, a more thorough cleanup and survey

of the property is needed if we hope to find any physical evidence of mortuary and

religious practices at the site.

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Chapter 6: Public Response to the Project, Recommendations for the Future, and

Conclusion

I only experienced one negative encounter with a Conestoga resident, and this

was very early on in the project. I had just finished my second visit to the cemetery and

had stopped for gas at the Conestoga Wagon, the main restaurant, general store, and

gas station in town. I had worn a plain yellow T-shirt that day, something I did not care

about getting torn or dirty in the forest (I promise this is relevant). I got out of my car to

pump gas, and there was a sedan parked at the pump in front of me. The driver, a young

white man, was pumping gas into the car. He couldn’t have been older than 25. We made

brief eye contact as strangers often do while waiting for their gas tanks to fill. When the

man was finished pumping gas, he went to get into his car, and with one foot still out of

the vehicle, ready to slam the door behind him, he looked at me and said with derision,

“yellow-shirted nigger.” One second after this, the car door was shut and the driver was

laughing with his passenger (who I just noticed), before driving out of the lot. My mouth

hung open slightly, more from utter shock and confusion than offense. I have super pale white skin, so the man’s attempt to offend me was ridiculous. He ended up relying on my

T-shirt to link me to the awful word.

I have two speculative ideas as to why the man used this racist slur on me. First, that he had somehow found out about my visit to the cemetery and the project ideas for the space. Word travels fast in a small town, and I spoke with a hairstylist and a businessman before my first visit to the cemetery and explained my questions and goals about the space to them. Maybe this young man found out about me through this social grapevine. My Minnesota license plates also gave away the fact that I was not a local. Rutherford 133

Perhaps he put these pieces together, and was trying (and miserably failing) to call me a

“nigger lover,” a common Democratic slur targeted toward abolitionists and those who

possessed sympathy and affection for black people in the nineteenth and twentieth

century (White, Martin & Bay 2017). The critical observation I took away from the event

was that there was still a modern legacy of anti-black racial bigotry in Conestoga.

Thankfully, the employees and other patrons of the Conestoga wagon gawked at my story when I went in to pay for my gas, acknowledging the utter wrongness and weirdness of the situation. My main contact at the Conestoga Area Historical Society,

John Forewood, also agreed that the situation was highly unusual and told me that

“there’s still some idiots running around here.”

John and his colleagues at the Conestoga Area Historical Society were much more

welcoming and excited about the project, which represented the typical response I

received when discussing the project with community members. When I first met the

board members of the historical society, many of them did not know that a church existed

on the cemetery site at one point in time. They expressed great interest in learning more about my work and research and felt saddened that they could not help me as much as they wanted to insofar as their knowledge of the site. But they happily allowed me to take a free copy of any documents available at the museum’s bookstore that I found relevant to my studies. This included Reflections of a Country Village and the published diaries of

Peter C. Hiller. They later allowed me to take close-up photographs of artifacts out of their display cases for this thesis, like the Ku Klux Klan sword. Finally, in the biggest display of their interest for my work, John asked me if I could present the preliminary results of my thesis work to the society board. This presentation ended up taking place on Thursday, Rutherford 134

March 12, 2020. Every major site descendent of the cemetery attended this presentation, i.e. Dr. Hopkins, Ms. Colón, Mr. Wilson, and Reverend Bailey, as well as over fifty white township residents. The presentation was an outstanding success and by the end of the night thoughts and plans for an inter-community history project were being actively discussed. My recommendations for the future include these Intercommunity plans and ideas.

My recommendations for the future are as follows:

1. Establishing an intercommunity research project centered on the Conestoga AME

site. Community partners would include the following: Reverend Bailey, Dr.

Hopkins, and the Bethel AME Church community in Lancaster city; Ms. Colón and

Mr. Wilson and any other site descendants interested in taking part; The

Conestoga Area Historical Society and its members; and F&M professors and

students. I suggest a) establishing an online portal or phone line where Conestoga

residents can report any oral histories they may have about the site and the black

Conestoga population during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; b) organizing

a full-scale cleanup and survey of the cemetery using landscapers, community

volunteers, archaeologists, and property surveyors to determine the boundaries of

the cemetery, perform further geophysical testing of the space, and restore and

protect the space from further neglect and disrepair.

2. The initiation of a letter-writing campaign in Conestoga and Lancaster city, directed

to Pennsylvania legislators to urge their support and passage of S.2827, or the

African American Burial Ground Network Act. This national legislation seeks to

establish a database and funding pool within the National Park Service to a) Rutherford 135

find/rediscover and b) repair/restore African American burial grounds from any

point in American history. The bill has been sitting in Committee since February of

2019. Should it pass, I think the Conestoga AME Cemetery would serve as an

excellent first recipient of this federal aid in the state of Pennsylvania.

3. Create a regional religious perspective for the African American experience in

Lancaster County (or even just the Conestoga township). Using the 1890 and 1910

maps and 1890s atlases, one could potentially contextualize the different faith

communities into which Bethel AME belonged. Looking at Conestoga AME, Bethel

AME, and the other AME churches across the county, how does their perspective

compare to the other traditional African American communities in the county, such

as the Baptist community, and do these communities significantly overlap in

experience?

4. Using architectural evidence from the known churches and houses of other African

American AME communities, create a material sensibility of architectural

possibilities, so that when the time comes to continue searching for the Conestoga

AME Church remains, one can have comparisons at hand. For instance, is the

design of stone foundations with wooden superstructure more common? Would

the church building look similar to normal houses at the time? What would the

typical house in the AME Hollow in Conestoga look like?

Conclusion

Reflecting on my year of research and community engagement, the thesis project surrounding the Conestoga AME Cemetery blossomed into something I never expected when I first connected with Dr. Hopkins in October 2019. The memory of the historic Rutherford 136

community of black Conestogans has been partially resurrected and reconstructed with

the assistance and dedication of the site descendants, professors, historical society

members, students, and Conestoga residents. The township and Conestoga AME Church

have been newly confirmed as active locations of assistance for the Underground

Railroad during the mid-nineteenth century, as indicated by Samuel Bond and the white

teacher, Joseph R. Urban. In sum, this investigation of the historic black enclave in

Conestoga serves as an exceptionally useful case study for the investigation of African

American community building, maintenance and migration in the county and serves as a reminder that the experiences of real people often challenge or help add nuance to the cookie-cutter theories of African American migration patterns and theories on race relations in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (White, Bay & Martin 2017).

Finally, the public archaeology project enacted by this research led to the awarding of a $1000 grant from Franklin and Marshall College’s Committee on Grants to fund plans for historic preservation of the site, including cleanup, a boundary survey of the property, and the installation of signs to denote the cemetery’s existence on Valley Road. These plans have been postponed temporarily due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in the United

States, but communication about the future of the site has not slowed down at all. I have high hopes for the future of the Conestoga AME site and the intercommunity project

centered around it. I believe the citizens of Lancaster county will be delighted to learn

about the sacred cemetery in the silent AME Hollow in Conestoga Township, and I look forward to Bethel AME and the African American Historical Society of South-Central

Pennsylvania’s incorporation of the site into their community education programming. In Rutherford 137 the end, my goal was to preserve the hallowed memories of the Conestoga black community, and this goal is now shared by many.

Rutherford 138

Appendix I

Transcript of the Will of Harriet J. Sweeney by Darlene Colón

Harriet J. Sweeney died 27 July 1884 at 4:30 o’clock in the fore noon as per affidavit filed.

In the name of God, Amen, I, Harriet J. Sweeney of the township of Conestoga County of Lancaster and State of Pennsylvania, being weak in body but of sound mind and memory do make and publish this my last will and testament. It is my will that my just debts and funeral expenses be duly paid as soon after my decease as can be. Item: I give and bequeath unto my friend Jacob Warner, one of my beds and one of the rooms in my house for a home as long as Sarah Robinson and David Robinson shall live. Item: I give and bequeath unto the African Methodist Episcopal Church two rooms of furniture with two beds and other furniture such as they are at present for the use of the ministers of the said African Methodist Episcopal Church of Conestoga Center, Conestoga Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, who may from time to time be stationed here to preach in this charge the said church to have and to hold the use of the said rooms during the lifetime of Sarah Robinson and David Robinson and no longer. Item: I give and bequeath unto Sarah Robinson and unto her husband David Robinson all the rest of my estate, personal and real during their lifetime or the life time of the survivor of them and at their death, direct that all be sold including the rooms and furniture reserved to others during the lifetime of said Sarah Robinson and David Robinson and the proceeds shall be divided share and share alike to the ones then living of the following named persons: Mary Hill, Mary A. Richardson, Ellen Wilson, Barbara Grant, Harriet Harley, Harriet Gregg, Agnes Robinson, Sarah Harley, Ellen Johnson, Emma Evans, Mary A. Bair, William Harley, William Greenly, George Hill, Samuel Hill, Eli Richardson, Thomas G. Richardson, Harry Richardson, Urias Holsinger, John W. Cooper, David Robinson and Elmer Holsinger Item: I direct that the said Sarah Robinson and David Robinson keep the rooms and furniture set aside for the use of the ministers in good condition and repair at all times that they shall keep up the fire insurance, pay the taxes and keep the property in repair. Item: I direct that the said Sarah Robinson and David Robinson do not occupy the said premises themselves, I hereby direct that the said premises shall be rented to none but members of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. If the said Sarah Robinson and David Robinson do not desire the residue of my Rutherford 139

personal effects after furnishing the alm rooms for ministers and others, it is my desire that the same be not sold but divided as the said Sarah Robinson and David Robinson may think proper among the all named persons. Should the buildings be destroyed by fire, I direct that the insurance money shall be immediately used for the rebuilding of the same. I hereby constitute and appoint my friend, Sarah Robinson, my sole executrix of this my last will and testament. In witness whereof I, Harriet J. Sweeney, the Testator have to this my will written in one sheet of paper set my hand and seal this Eleventh day of June, One thousand eight hundred and eighty-four.

Harriet J. Sweeney.

Rutherford 140

Rutherford 141

Appendix II

Transcript of 1882 Deed Indenture by Darlene Colón Harriet J. Sweeney to the Trustees of the A. M. E. Church of Conestoga Centre

This Indenture made this 11th day April in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and eighty two between Harriet J. Sweeney of the city of Lancaster and State of Pennsylvania of the one part and Jacob B. Warner, Thomas Johnson, Jeremiah Cooper, Wilson H. Butler and George Hunter trustee in trust for the use and purpose hereinafter mentioned all of the Township of Conestoga Lancaster County in the State of Pennsylvania aforesaid of the other part. Witnesseth that the said Harriet J. Sweeney for the consideration of the sum of one dollar lawful money of the United States in hand paid at and before the sealing and delivery of these presents the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged hath or have given, granted, bargained, sold, released, confirmed, conveyed and by these presents doth or does give grant, bargain, sell, release, confirm and convey unto them, the said trustees, and their successors/trustees in trust or the uses and purposes hereinafter mentioned, and declared and the estate right title interest property claim and demand whatsoever either in law or equity which the said, Harriet J. Sweeny hath or have into or upon all and singular a certain lot or piece of land with a one story frame church situate lying and being in said Conestoga Township of Conestoga, Lancaster County in the state of Pennsylvania aforesaid bounded as follows having a front of thirty feet on the public road (formerly new alley) on the west a depth of forty feet along Amos Musser’s land on the south a width of thirty feet by other land of said Harriet J. Sweeny and along the same a depth of forty feet to said front on said public road containing twelve hundred feet of land together with all and singular the house/church, woods, waters ways, privileges and appurtenances thereto belonging or in any way pertaining to have and to hold all and singular the above mentioned described lot or piece of land situate lying and being as aforesaid with all and singular the houses, woods, water ways and privileges belonging unto the said Jacob B. Warner, Thomas Johnson, Jeremiah Cooper, Wilson H. Butler and George Hunter and their successors in office forever in trust a place of worship for the use of the members of the African Methodist Episcopal Church n the United Sates of American according to the rules and discipline of said church which from time to time may be adopted and agreed by the members and preachers of the said church at their General conferences in the United States of America and in further trust and confidence that they shall at all times forever hereafter permit such ministers and preachers belonging to said church, as shall from time to time be duly authorized by the General Conferences of the Ministers and preachers of the said African Methodist Episcopal Church or by Annual Conference authorized by the said Conference to preach and expound God’s holy word therein and in further trust and confidence that as often as any one or more trustees hereinbefore mentioned shall die or cease to be a member or members of said church according to the rules and discipline aforesaid then and in such case it shall be the duty of the stationed minister or preacher (authorized as aforesaid) who shall have the pastoral charge of the members of said church to call a meeting of the members for the election of all the Board or apart according to law, as Rutherford 142

soon as convenient may be and when so that the said Minister or Preacher shall proceed to nominate one or more persons to fill the place or places of him or them whose office or offices has (or have) been vacated as aforesaid. Provided the person or persons so nominated shall have been one year a member or members of the said church immediately preceding such nomination and be at least twenty one years of age and the said members so assembled shall proceed to elect and by a majority of votes appoint the person or persons so nominated to fill such vacancy or vacancies in order to keep up the number of trustees forever; and in case of an equal number of votes for and against the said nomination the stationed minister or preacher shall have the casting vote, doth by these presents warrant and forever defend all and singular the above and within mentioned and described Church and lot or piece of ground with the appurtenances thereto belonging unto them the said Jacob Warner, Thomas Johnson, Jeremiah Cooper, Wilson H. Butler and George Hunter and their successors chosen and appointed as aforesaid from the claim or claims of her the said Harriet J. Sweeney, her heirs and assigns and from the claim or claims of all persons whatever. In testimony whereof the said Harriet J. Sweeney has set her hand and seal the day and year aforesaid.

Sealed and delivered in the presence of us. Harriet J. Sweeney William S. Amweg - J. K. Barr X

Received the day of the date of the above written Indenture the consideration therein mentioned in full Attest. Wm. S. Amweg - J. K. Barr Harriet J. Sweeney X

Lancaster City State of Pennsylvania. Be it remembered that on the 11th day of April in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighty two (1882) personally appeared before me an alderman in and for said city and state aforesaid, Harriet J. Sweeney, acknowledged the within Deed of Trust to be her act and deed for the uses and purposes therein mentioned and desires that the same may be recorded as such according to law. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal the day and year first above written.

J. K. Barr Alderman Recorded April 12th, 1882 John P. Good - Recorder

Rutherford 143

Appendix III November 2006

REPORT GEOPHYSICAL INVESTIGATION AME CEMETERY CONESTOGA, PENNSYLVANIA

Ground penetrating radar at AME cemetery

Prepared for

CONESTOGA AREA HISTORICAL SOCIETY CONESTOGA, PENNSYLVANIA

Rutherford 144

REPORT GEOPHYSICAL INVESTIGATION AME CEMETERY CONESTOGA, PENNSYLVANIA

Prepared for

CONESTOGA AREA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

November 2006

William J. Johnson 1744 JAMES STREET MONROEVILLE, PA 15146-2144 PHONE: (412) 956-2262 [email protected]

Rutherford 145

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE 1 INTRODUCTION 1 2 BACKGROUND 3 2.1 GROUND PENETRATING RADAR (GPR) 3 2.2 DC RESISTIVITY 5 3 FIELD ACTIVITIES AND DATA PROCESSING 9 4 INTERPRET ATION AND CONCLUSIONS 11 FIGURES APPENDIX A – INTERPRETED GPR PROFILES

Rutherford 146

LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE NO. TITLE

1 LOCATION OF SURVEY AREA 2 SITE TOPOGRAPHY AND PHYSICAL FEATURES 3 LOCATION OF GPR PROFILES 4 GPR ANOMALIES 5 SHALLOW SOIL RESISTIVITY WENNER CONFIGURATION (A=4 FT) 6 INTERPRETATION OF BURIALS FROM COMBINED GEOPHYSICAL DATA 7 INTERPRETATION SUMMARY FROM COMBINED GEOPHYSICAL DATA Rutherford 147

REPORT GEOPHYSICAL INVESTIGATION AME CEMETERY CONESTOGA, PENNSYLVANIA

1 INTRODUCTION

This report presents the results of a geophysical survey conducted at the AME cemetery in Conestoga, Pennsylvania (Figure 1) by William J. (Bill) Johnson P.G. and Marcella J. (Marcy) Gallick, P. E., on behalf of the Conestoga Area Historical Society. The survey was conducted November 4-5, 2006. The scope of the investigation was to survey the AME cemetery with the ground penetrating radar (GPR) technique with the goal of locating any unmarked graves. The survey was conducted with a RAMAC X3M GPR system with a 250 MHz antenna. In addition to GPR, a soil resistivity survey was also conducted with the goal of obtaining images of the site based on its electrical properties that might also assist in an interpretation of unmarked burials.

In the 19th century, Conestoga was the home to a community of enough African- Americans to have their own African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church, whose foundations are believed to serve as the foundations for a relatively modern home located about 150 feet NNW of the NW corner of the survey area (Figure 1). This community eventually left Conestoga, partly because of Ku Klux Klan activities that resulted in the destruction of the church. As a result, the cemetery fell into neglect and many of the headstones were lost and the site overtaken by woods. Through the efforts of many volunteers headed by Ms. Darlene Colón, several of whose ancestors are buried in this AME cemetery, the site is being cleaned up and its history revealed. This survey was conducted to identify the location of unmarked graves such that the extent and arrangement of the cemetery could be better delineated. Subsequent sections of this report present the background theory of the GPR and resistivity techniques (Section 2.0) and the field procedures and data processing (Section 3.0). Section 4.0 presents an interpretation of the data gathered during the survey, which concludes that there appears to be numerous unmarked graves. Most of the headstones appear to correspond to burials, although some may not be in their original location.

Geophysical Survey, AME Cemetery` Conestoga, PA 2 of 13 Rutherford 148

Shallow depressions in the ground do appear to relate to burials. There are other areas where the geophysical data suggest the presence of unmarked burials. In total, approximately 50 possible burials have been identified with the geophysical measurements, but the presence of burial markers at the edge of cleared ground may indicate that additional burials might be present outside of the survey area. Geophysical Survey, AME Cemetery` Conestoga, PA 3 of 13 Rutherford 149

2 BACKGROUND

Geophysics can have potential success in detecting unmarked graves because of general characteristics of grave shafts:

FILL (Multiple possibilities for • Grave shafts disrupt natural having different physical properties) soil layering. Techniques sensitive to mapping the DISRUPTION TO NATURAL SOIL LAYERING

continuity of soil horizons such as GPR can be

effective. COFFIN (May or may not be present) • Fill in a grave shaft is usually an average of the A grave as a geophysical target physical properties of intact soil horizons, which means that if there are vertical soil changes, the fill will probably have some physical contrast with the natural ground.

• Grave fill is often of a lower density, higher porosity and higher moisture content than natural soil, and can be detected as a resistivity low, primarily because of the higher moisture content.

Two geophysical techniques have the greatest potential application in detecting unmarked graves: ground penetrating radar (GPR) and electrical measurements. Both of these techniques were applied at the AME cemetery site. The following sections review these techniques.

2.1 Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR)

Ground penetrating radar (GPR) has evolved over the past two decades into one of the most commonly applied techniques for imaging the shallow subsurface. The method offers the highest resolution of geophysical techniques commercially available today. In many cases, the time required for the acquisition of GPR profiles is minimal and subsurface profiles can normally be obtained in real time, making this tool very cost- Geophysical Survey, AME Cemetery` Conestoga, PA 4 of 13 Rutherford 150

effective. GPR works best in non-conductive soils, such as dry sand or sand saturated with fresh water.

The typical result of a GPR survey is a profile that presents radar wave amplitude as a function of distance along the line and two-way travel time. To know the depth to a reflector, it is necessary to know the average propagation velocity from the ground surface. The velocity of a radar pulse in an earth material is dependent on the relative dielectric constant (er) of the material according to the following relationship:

V = c/(er)½

V = velocity in a propagating material c = speed of light (3 x l08 m/sec)

This velocity can sometimes be estimated from knowing the characteristics of the subsurface lithology. Table 1 presents the typical velocities in terms of two-way travel time (nanoseconds/meter) for various earth materials along with their approximate relative dielectric constants.

Until the advent of commercial systems with separate transmitting and receiving antennas, depth estimation based on subsurface material properties or from observations from reflectors of a known depth was the only means to interpret a GPR profile. Modern systems with the ability to record reflections at varying distances from the transmitting antenna allow for the calculation of the subsurface velocity profile by means of a normal moveout (NMO) correction.

NMO calculations were conducted based on the parabolic reflections from features encountered at the site. On this basis, a velocity of 0.1 m/ns (meters/nanosecond), equivalent to 20 ns/m (nanoseconds/meter) two-way travel time as shown on Table 1 was determined for the site. This velocity is in the range of average “dirt” in Table 1. Geophysical Survey, AME Cemetery` Conestoga, PA 5 of 13 Rutherford 151

TABLE 1 PHYSICAL PROPERTIES AND TYPICAL RADAR WAVE VELOCITIES FOR COMMON EARTH MATERIALS

Approximate Approximate Two-way Travel Time Material Conductivity Relative Dielectric (nanoseconds/meter) (mS/m) Constant Air 0 1 6.6 1 Fresh Water 10- - 30 81 59 1 Fresh Water Ice 10- - 10 4 13 2 Permafrost 10- - 10 4 - 11 13 - 15 6 Limestone 10- - 1 6 - 8 22 6 Granite 10- - 1 5.6 - 8 18.7 4 Dry Sand 10- - 1 4 - 6 13 - 16 1 2 Sand, 10- - 10 30 32 - 36 Saturated 2 Silt, 10 - l0 l0 21 Saturated 2 4 Clay, 10 - 10 8 - 25 18.6 - 23 Saturated 1 2 Average "Dirt" 10- - 10 16 20 - 30

Another factor affecting the depth of penetration of the radar signal is attenuation. This attenuation is caused by spreading and scattering losses, as well as electrical losses. Scattering and electrical losses are due primarily to the conductivity of the subsurface materials, which in soils is due mainly to clay and moisture content. Conductive soils with a high percentage of water-saturated clay permit only a limited penetration of the radar signal. Typical penetration at this location exceeded about 10 feet, more than enough to image possible burials.

2.2 DC RESISTIVITY

The purpose of a DC electrical survey is to determine the subsurface resistivity distribution of the ground, which can then be related to physical conditions of interest such as lithology, porosity, the degree of water saturation, and the presence or absence of voids in the rock. The basic parameter of a DC electrical measurement is resistivity. Geophysical Survey, AME Cemetery` Conestoga, PA 6 of 13 Rutherford 152

Resistivity is not to be confused with resistance. Resistance (R), measured in ohms, is the result of an electrical measurement, where according to Ohm’s Law:

Voltmeter V = I/R or R = V/I Current meter V where V = voltage in volts and I = A + - i current in amps. Battery

Resistivity of a material is a R fundamental physical property A related to the ability of a material to L conduct electricity. If R is the resistance of a block of conductive material having length L and cross- Sketch of parameters to define resistivity sectional area A (see sketch), then resistivity is given as: ρ = RA/L Resistivity measurements of the ground are normally made by injecting current through two current electrodes and measuring the resulting voltage difference at two potential electrodes. From the current (I) and voltage (V) values, an apparent

resistivity (ρa) value is calculated.

ρa = kV/I

where k is the geometric factor which depends on the arrangement of the four electrodes. The “k” value can be calculated for any - + four-electrode configuration. The I electrode configuration used for the V survey at the AME cemetery site was the C1 P1 P2 C2 A A Wenner configuration, where the current A Setup for Wenner survey electrodes are located on both sides of the two voltage electrodes at multiples of the Geophysical Survey, AME Cemetery` Conestoga, PA 7 of 13 Rutherford 153

“a” spacing between the voltage electrodes. With this configuration, the “k” parameter is 2πa and the signal to noise ratio is generally favorable. The overall goal of making resistivity measurements is to map variations of shallow ground resistivity such that features in the ground can be imaged. The starting point of any geophysical investigation must be basic physics. Geophysics will be effective only if a target of interest has a physical contrast with the surrounding ground, which for this project is the top few feet of ground that could be of interest to an archaeologist or an environmental scientist. Natural earth materials exhibit one of the largest ranges of all physical properties, from 1.6 x 10-8 ohm-meters for native silver to 1018 ohm-meters for pure sulfur. Commonly encountered earth materials do not exhibit this much variation, but can range over several orders of magnitude, as shown in Table 2.

TABLE 2 – TYPICAL RANGE OF EARTH MATERIALS IN OHM-

m

- m

- m -

m - m - 1Ώ 10 Ώ 100 Ώ 1000 Ώ 10000 Ώ Clay Loam Top soil Clayey soils Sandy soils Typical surface water Shale Limestone Sandstone

Our ability to detect subsurface features of interest depends on the degree of contrast with the surrounding soil. In the case of burial detection, a grave shaft usually is a mixture of the soils excavated for the burial, which frequently allows for an electrical contrast to be measured. Also, the fill soil over a grave is often not as compacted as the surrounding natural soil. As such, the fill soil can sometimes have a higher porosity and higher moisture content than the natural soil, which can cause the fill to have a relatively

Geophysical Survey, AME Cemetery` Conestoga, PA 8 of 13 Rutherford 154

as the fill will tend to become more compact with time. In summary, the ability of electrical measurements is highly dependent on soil conditions and to a certain degree on

Geophysical Survey, AME Cemetery` Conestoga, PA 9 of 13 Rutherford 155

3 FIELD ACTIVITIES AND DATA PROCESSING

The survey was conducted November 4-5, 2006 by Bill Johnson and Marcy Gallick. Several people assisted with the survey. In particular Darlene Colón and James Stokes deserve special recognition, as well as the Boy Scout troop that cleared the site prior to the survey. The first step in conducting the survey was to establish a survey grid. This grid was related to the location of burial markers and other physical features at the site as shown on Figure 2. The physical survey of the site included obtaining detailed relative elevations across the site, including shallow depressions that were thought to possibly relate to settlement over grave shafts. The GPR survey was conducted with the RAMAC X3M GPR system on the basis of 20 profiles separated by 3 feet as shown on Figure 3. The survey parameters were set to allow for a full definition of waveforms that could be recorded from depths at least as great as the base of a typical grave shaft (~6 feet).

Processing of the GPR profiles was conducted by means of the RAMAC software provided by Malå Geosciences. This program has a wide range of options to present the profiles in color or gray scales as functions of reflection amplitude with depth and apply various gains and filters to the data. For most applications, it is sufficient to RAMAC X3M GPR in operation at the AME plot the profile after subtracting the average amplitude to reduce horizontal instrument noise. The processed GPR profiles with interpretation are provided in Appendix A. Several basic features were identified along each of the profiles: strong reflections from discrete Geophysical Survey, AME Cemetery` Conestoga, PA 10 of 13 Rutherford 156

objects (observed as strong downward-opening hyperbolas); weak reflections from discrete objects, soil changes and zones of general soil disturbance. These observations are presented in plan view on Figure 4.

DC resistivity measurements were obtained with the Syskal Junior multi- electrode measurement system manufactured by Iris Instruments of Orleans, France along 15 N-S profile using the configuration. Data were obtained

with “A” spacings of 1.5, 3 and 4.5 feet. The overall survey area is shown on Figure 5. 129 measurements were obtained along each profile. This allowed for a View of the AME cemetery with deployment Syskal depth of penetration of Junior approximately 3.5 feet, sufficient to image grave shafts that might be present. The apparent resistivity values for the “A” spacing of 4.5 feet are contoured in plan view on Figure 5 with the Surfer 8 program. The profiles obtained at the lines located at 48, 52 and 56E were found to have a systemic instrumental error. The results from these profiles were not contoured in the results shown on Figure 5. Geophysical Survey, AME Cemetery` Conestoga, PA 11 of 13 Rutherford 157

4 INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSIONS

The primary basis for interpreting the presence of burials was the strength of discrete GPR reflections. If the reflections were strong from a depth of about 4 – 6 feet, the reflection was considered to most likely originate from a coffin or the base of the grave shaft. Another means to identify grave shafts with GPR was to locate disturbances to the natural layering of soil. If the reflections were strong from a depth of about 3 feet or less, the reflections were interpreted to probably originate from truncations of soil horizons or soil breaks within fill. Where possible burials were identified on the basis of weak reflections, it is not likely that an intact coffin is present and the reflections probably originate from the truncation of soil horizons or structure within the fill. Figure 4 provides an interpretation of the GPR anomalies that were compared to the results of the resistivity imaging on Figure 5 to form the basis for the interpretation of graves shown on Figure 6. Figure 7 presents the basic interpretation overlain on the resistivity image.

To plot the location of potential burials on Figures 6 and 7, the assumption was made that the graves would all be oriented in an E-W sense, as would have been the practice in the 19th century, although the anomaly pattern is suggestive that some of the burials might have been slightly skewed to follow the natural slope. The interpretation presented on Figures 6 Reflections from possible burials along Line 42E – the relatively deep reflection at a position between and 7 depicts slight variations in the about 75 and 80 feet along the profile might orientation of the interpreted burials to indicate the presence of a coffin. reflect the Geophysical Survey, AME Cemetery` Conestoga, PA 12 of 13 Rutherford 158

anomaly pattern. In most cases, the GPR results appear to indicate that the well-defined headstones (those that appear to be in situ) are associated with grave shafts. Some of the headstone locations do not appear to be associated with grave shafts, but in most of these cases it is likely that the headstones are not in their original location. Several small stone markers that appear to be headstones in the area of 30-40E – 20S are in an area where there are ground disturbances, but it is not practical to identify individual grave shafts. Based on the closeness of these stones, it appears likely that they represent infant burials that are too small to be clearly resolved with GPR obtained on the basis of profiles separated by 3 feet. The shallow depressions in the ground are typically associated with GPR anomalies, indicative that they likely originate from settlement within grave shafts. The burials interpreted from the GPR records do not show a good correlation with the resistivity results in that the possible graves are not consistently associated with resistivity lows, as might be expected (Figures 4 and 7). Nevertheless, the resistivity results do indicate sufficient variability such that the ground does appear to be disturbed. The resistivity results define breaks in the electrical properties of the soil that tend to follow a trend that is parallel to the slope of the ground and may be related to soil disturbances associated with slope movements. Also, there is a tendency for the resistivity lows to be associated with the location of trees. The overall variability of the shallow soil resistivity is typical of what is commonly encountered at historic cemeteries, and in many cases the interpreted burials are associated with resistivity lows, consistent with what would be expected. Nevertheless, at this site the known and interpreted burials are just as likely to be located in an area of relatively high resistivity, so the variability is not easy to interpret in terms of human activity.

In summary, there appears to be numerous unmarked graves. Most of the headstones appear to correspond to burials, although some may not be in their original location. The small stones that appear to mark infant graves are in an area of general soil disturbance, but the GPR line spacing does not allow for the delineation of individual grave shafts in this area. Shallow depressions in the ground do appear to relate to burials. There are other areas where the geophysical data suggest the presence of unmarked burials. Geophysical Survey, AME Cemetery` Conestoga, PA 13 of 13 Rutherford 159

In total, approximately 50 possible burials have been identified with the geophysical measurements, but the presence of burial markers at the edge of the survey area may indicate that more burials might have been missed by this survey.

Respectfully

William J. Johnson, Marcella J. Gallick, P.G. Professional P.E. Geophysicist

Rutherford 160

FIGURES Rutherford 161

N 4422400

4422350

AME CEMETERY SURVEY AREA 4422300

4422250 UTMNORTHING (M)

4422200

4422150

385000 385050 385100 385150 385200 385250 UTM EASTING (M)

SCALE (M)

0 20 40 60 80 100 SCALE (FT)

0 100 200 300 400 FIGURE 1 LOCATION OF SURVEY AREA AME CEMETERY, CONESTOGA, PA

NOTE: Aerial photograph taken June 1, 2004 and obtained at www.terraserver.com Rutherford 162

N

metal marker 60

LEGEND Hiram Lewis slate Lewis Martin Martin Burial marker Sgt. Alf Abraham shingle Martin

Webster Webster Possible burial marker

Tree star ? memorial Tree stump 40

quartz marker?

20

Area of Boxwoods

burn area

w/charcoal

0 0 20 40 60 80 headstone? 100

SCALE (FT)

0 5 10 15 20 25

FIGURE 2

SITE TOPOGRAPHY AND PHYSICAL FEATURES AME CEMETERY, CONESTOGA, PA Rutherford 163

N

metal marker 60

LEGEND Hiram Lewis slate Lewis Martin Martin Burial marker Sgt. Alf Abraham shingle Martin

Webster Webster Possible burial marker

Tree star ? memorial Tree stump 40

GPR line

quartz marker?

20

Area of Boxwoods

burn area

w/charcoal

0 0 20 40 60 80 headstone? 100

SCALE (FT)

0 5 10 15 20 25

FIGURE 3

LOCATION OF GPR PROFILES AME CEMETERY, CONESTOGA, PA Rutherford 164

N

metal marker 60

LEGEND Hiram Lewis slate Lewis Martin Martin Burial marker Sgt. Alf Abraham shingle Martin

Webster Webster Possible burial marker

Tree star ? memorial Tree stump 40

Strong reflector (>3 ft depth)

quartz Strong reflector (<3 ft depth) marker? Weak reflector (>3 ft depth)

Weak reflector (<3 ft depth)

20

Area of Boxwoods

burn area

w/charcoal

0 0 20 40 60 80 headstone? 100

SCALE (FT)

0 5 10 15 20 25

FIGURE 4

GPR ANOMALIES AME CEMETERY, CONESTOGA, PA Rutherford 165

N

metal marker 60

LEGEND Hiram Lewis slate Lewis Martin Martin Burial marker Sgt. Alf Abraham shingle Martin

Webster Webster Possible burial marker

Tree star ? memorial Tree stump 40

quartz marker?

20

Area of Boxwoods

burn area

w/charcoal

0 0 20 40 60 80 headstone? 100

SCALE (FT)

0 5 10 15 20 25 Apparent resistivity (ohm-ft)

FIGURE 5

SHALLOW SOIL RESISTIVITY WENNER CONFIGURATION "A" = 4.5 FT AME CEMETERY, CONESTOGA, PA Rutherford 166

N

metal marker 60

LEGEND Hiram Lewis slate Lewis Martin Martin Burial marker Sgt. Alf Abraham shingle Martin

Webster Webster Possible burial marker

Tree star ? memorial Tree stump 40

Strong reflector (>3 ft depth)

quartz Strong reflector (<3 ft depth) marker? Weak reflector (>3 ft depth)

Weak reflector (<3 ft depth)

Possible burial

20

Area of Boxwoods

burn area

w/charcoal

0 0 20 40 60 80 headstone? 100

SCALE (FT)

0 5 10 15 20 25

FIGURE 6

INTERPRETATION OF BURIALS FROM COMBINED GEOPHYSICAL DATA AME CEMETERY, CONESTOGA, PA Rutherford 167

N

metal marker 60

LEGEND Hiram Lewis slate Lewis Martin Martin Burial marker Sgt. Alf Abraham shingle Martin

Webster Webster Possible burial marker

Tree star ? memorial Tree stump 40

Possible burial

quartz

marker?

20

Area of Boxwoods

burn area

w/charcoal

0 0 20 40 60 80 headstone? 100

SCALE (FT)

0 5 10 15 20 25

FIGURE 7

INTERPRETATION SUMMARY FROM COMBINED GEOPHYSICAL DATA AME CEMETERY, CONESTOGA, PA

Rutherford 168

APPENDIX A -- INTERPRETED GPR PROFILES Rutherford 169

Distance (ft) 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95

0

1

-10 2

3

-20

4

Depth(ft) way(ns)time Travel -

-30 5 Two

6

-40 7

8 -50

LEGEND

Strong reflector (>3 ft depth)

Strong reflector (<3 ft depth) LINE 0E Weak reflector (<3 ft depth)

Weak reflector (<3 ft depth) Rutherford 170

Distance (ft) 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95

0

1

-10 2

3

-20

4

Depth(ft) way(ns)time Travel -

-30 5 Two

6

-40 7

8 -50

LEGEND

Strong reflector (>3 ft depth)

Strong reflector (<3 ft depth) LINE 3E Weak reflector (<3 ft depth)

Weak reflector (<3 ft depth) Rutherford 171

Distance (ft) 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95

0

1

-10 2

3

-20

4

Depth(ft) way(ns)time Travel -

-30 5 Two

6

-40 7

8 -50

LEGEND

Strong reflector (>3 ft depth)

Strong reflector (<3 ft depth) LINE 6E Weak reflector (<3 ft depth)

Weak reflector (<3 ft depth) Rutherford 172

Distance (ft) 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95

0

1

-10 2

3

-20

4

Depth(ft) way(ns)time Travel -

-30 5 Two

6

-40 7

8 -50

LEGEND

Strong reflector (>3 ft depth)

Strong reflector (<3 ft depth) LINE 9E Weak reflector (<3 ft depth)

Weak reflector (<3 ft depth) Rutherford 173

Distance (ft) 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95

0

1

-10 2

3

-20

4

Depth(ft) way(ns)time Travel -

-30 5 Two

6

-40 7

8 -50

LEGEND

Strong reflector (>3 ft depth)

Strong reflector (<3 ft depth) LINE 12E Weak reflector (<3 ft depth)

Weak reflector (<3 ft depth)

174

Appendix IV

Partial Transcription of the Andrew Zercher & Peter Hiller Journals by Darlene Colón.

Edited by Emily Rutherford

Note: This transcription merges the journal entries written on the same dates by both men to form a nuanced chronological timeline of events. Transcriptions from Zercher are dictated in black, and those from Hiller are dictated in blue. Text bounded in [brackets] are editorial additions made by the thesis author to better clarify and contextualize the journal entries. These additions draw on information from the published Diaries of Peter

C. Hiller and the nineteenth-century U.S. Census rolls for Conestoga Township.

September 12, 1880 John & I (Peter Hiller) went to Aaron Shultz’s and from there to Colored Camp meeting near Rawlinsville. Large crowd of whites but small one of blacks.

Saturday, February 26, 1881 Visited old Nancy Sterrett this forenoon.

Wednesday, December 26, 1883 Father [Casper Hiller] wrote deed for me for Aaron Martin to Harriet Sweeney.

Wednesday, June 4, 1884 Today I filled pension papers and went down to see Mrs. Sweeney.

Saturday, June 7, 1884 Was down to Harriet J. Sweeney’s to draw up some papers for her [note: these papers were likely her last will and testament].

Monday, December 1, 1884 Gave D. K. Lines summons for Lewis Kirk

175

Monday, December 8, 1884 Suite H. Lawrence vs. L. Kirk 6 - 7 PM In this claim gave judgment against Kirk. I did not consider his claim a just one. Kirk asks for transcript and appeals. J. Hay Brown says Kirk must give bail in double the amount and pay costs. Kirk does not deny Lawrence’s claim, but Lawrence denies part of Kirk’s and denies owning him any money hence Judgment for Plaintiff.

December 23, 1884 Kirk agreed to furnish bail on Saturday.

December 29, 1884 Kirk gave security this A.M. and no execution will issue.

Monday, March 2, 1885 Received a letter from Charles W. Harley asking about Mrs. Sweeney’s will.

Tuesday, March 3, 1885 Wrote to C. W. Harley offering to get a copy of Mrs. Sweeney’s will for $3.00.

March 29, 1885 Married W. H. Halliger and Elimir (sp) Elmira Quamony [parents of Ella Halliger Stewart] this afternoon. Witnesses: Lizzie Hess & Mattie

December 14, 1887 Filled pension papers for Abe Warner with L. Kirk and Thomas Butler as affiants.

Friday, January 25, 1889 John Smith [white plasterer, age 50] said this evening that Mary Eckman [white] told Mrs. Amos [Lizzie] Martin and Mrs. Fred [Paulina] Hupper [both white ladies aged 37] that Lew Kirk was the father of her child. Excitement in regard to the matter at present is running very high.

Wednesday, January 30, 1889 Had a talk with Kirk in presence of A. J. Zercher at noon.

176

Thursday, January 31, 1889 Ed Caldwell told me that Kirk blames J. B. U. for being about Mary Eckman too much.

February 12, 1889 Mary Eckman entered a complaint against Lewis Kirk for fornication and bastardy

Thursday, February 12, 1889 partly cloudy all day Mary Eckman (widow) made a complaint before Squire Hiller charging Lewis Kirk for fornication and bastardy naming him as father of her illegal child (colored)

Wednesday, February 13, 1889 cold, partly cloudy Lewis Kirk was arrested by E. M. Caldwell for fornication and bastardy on a warrant issued by P.C.Hiller. He gave bail (Daniel Williams) for his appearance to court ($300)

Lewis Kirk was arrested this A. M. He waived a hearing and gave Daniel Williams as security for his appearance at April Court.

Wednesday, July 10, 1889 Deputy Coroner asked me to come over to Lewis Kirk’s limekiln to take charge of the body of an unknown man found there.

Thursday, July 11, 1889 Took body of the unknown man to Lancaster. Jury decided that the came to his death by drowning. I brought the body back to the shop. Did not get to bed until one o’clock in the morning. Took body to hospital where he was identified as Frank Wilson, aged 70 years.

October 26, 1889 Filled up 5 affidavits for pension for Mary Beatty

Tuesday, July 15, 1890 John Clark brought suit against Lewis Kirk for assault and battery & surety of peace Thursday, July 21, 1892 Ed Peaco[‘s] child died. Funeral on Saturday at 10:00 AM. (very sad)

177

Friday, July 22, 1892 cloudy Making coffin for Ed Peaco’s child. Dug grave for Peaco’s child in PM.

Saturday, July 23, 1892 clear & warm Attended funeral of Edward Peaco’s child, aged 25 days. Rev. M. Deacon spoke, buried at colored cemetery, this place.

Sunday, December 25, 1892 cold, partly cloudy all day Got word of the death of Eli Richardson[‘s] child of Middletown. To meet them at Safe Harbor tomorrow at 9:30 AM

Monday, December 26, 1892 clear, cold At Safe Harbor, bought Eli Richardson’s child up and buried in the colored cemetery. $2 Received from Abe Warner - $1.65 Received from Ed Peaco - $2.00

Monday, March 19, 1894 In shop, got word of death of William Halligar’s daughter (colored). Funeral tomorrow (A.M.) working at coffin and delivered rough box to colored cemetery this place. Mrs. William Smith made the shroud.

Tuesday, March 20, 1894 partly cloudy Attending funeral of Mary E. Warner (colored) at the Duck, aged 11 years, 10 months, 24 days. In the absence of a minister, Simon Hart had the service by singing hymns, prayer and short exhortation. Buried at colored cemetery.

Thursday, December 6, 1894 B. L. Harnish had several warrants issued against Lewis Kirk

Tuesday, December 11, 1894 Lewis Kirk came for copy of complaint in B. L. Harnish case. I said I would give it to him if I would give it to him if I could do so. He also told me that he blamed his wife for starting the whole trouble.

178

Thursday, December 27, 1894 Drive to Lancaster to attend lawsuit of Lewis Kirk and B. L. Harnish. Suit was dismissed.

Saturday, June 1, 1895 clear, very warm Startled to hear this evening that Lewis Kirk (colored) had shot Ed Peaco (colored) with a shotgun. The shot taking the whole left side from knee to neck about. If it had not been for his heavy shirt, would have been killed. What the effect will be is not known.

Lewis Kirk shot Ed Peaco this afternoon, shortly after 5:00 putting 27 No. 2 shot into his body. He was not seriously hurt.

Memorandum in back of diary June 1st 1895 Just to think that a man should stand up and deliberately shoot his neighbor in a community like this and be allowed to walk around and boast about it. That he shot the d____ niggar (sp) and that he shot to kill. I think the people should rise up as one man against such a sinner (word unclear). Especially one who raised such a disturbance as he did already. I do not know but what there will be something one yet.

Wednesday, June 5, 1895 partly cloudy Lewis Kirk was arrested Sunday night down at David Kendig Wheatland Mills and taken to jail and locked up. The folks of the village seem to be well pleased that he is in jail. Ed is better.

Thursday, June 6, 1895 partly clear - rather cool all day Kirk is boasting with regards to shooting Peaco and says that he shot to kill.

Monday, June 10, 1895 Kirk waived hearing and gave $300.00 bail for court.

Monday, August 19, 1895 clear, cooler A.M. attending court. Lewis Kirk suit put off until tomorrow.

Tuesday, August 20, 1895 partly clear, cool all day At Lancaster attending court all day. Lewis Kirk was found guilty of assault and battery, aggravated assault and battery, assault and battery with intent to kill Ed Peaco.

179

Wednesday, August 21, 1895 pleasant but cool all day At Lancaster all day attending court. The cases with Scott Stumpf and Lewis Kirk were withdrawn.

Sunday, September 5, 1897 Lewis Kirk’s house was set on fire about 9:00 PM and was completely consumed with all its contents.

Tuesday, September 7, 1897 Rode wheel to Lancaster and back to look after some things regarding the fire of Sunday night.

Wednesday, May 13, 1896 clear, warm all day Got word of death of Abram Warner at Harrisburg. Will be shipped to Lancaster tomorrow AM to bring him out for burial here.

Thursday, May 14, 1896 clear, pleasant day Went to Lancaster, met the 8:05 train and brought out the body of Abram Warner. He died at Harrisburg in the Almshouse. Will keep him in the shop till tomorrow. Funeral at 2 PM. Embalmed the body in AM furnishing a 3 piece of [illegible] and made rough box and took it to cemetery. He was shipped in a pine case. I furnished shroud, coffin and case.

Friday, May 15, 1896 clear, beautiful day Working on coffin and am attending funeral of Abram Warner aged 56 years, 7 months, 15 days. Rev. W. G. Beals spoke services only at grave. He was buried under Act of Assembly relative to Soldiers & Sailors; he looked and kept all right.

Wednesday, July 1, 1896 clear, warm all day Was paid for Abram Warner coffin by the county through B. F. Hookey, one [member] of the committee on burials. $32 including ex from Harrisburg $5.00

Thursday, August 19, 1897 cloudy, pleasant Received word of the death of one of Thomas Richardson’s children at Middletown. To meet them at Safe Harbor tomorrow morning.

180

Friday, August 20, 1897 clear, pleasant day; cool morning & evening Went to Safe Harbor and brought infant body of Lloyd Richardson, infant son of Thomas Richardson, aged 1 month and 19 days. Services were held at Steelton.

Wednesday, October 6, 1897 Note: I am sorry that I have not kept up with my diary but it was to (sp.) much. I could not spair (sp.) the time;

Thursday, April 7, 1898 In store all day. Mrs. Lucy Martin washed for my wife today.

April 13, 1898 In store all day. Daniel Martin working for me all day.

Friday, June 3, 1898 clear Another of Elisa Smith’s buildings were burned. A barn, formerly owned by Lewis Kirk. This is the third building burned without a doubt set on fire about one o’clock. Fire was first seen as a disgrace on the community.

Saturday, June 4, 1898 partly cloudy Went down to see condition of barn. I found it with some straw and oats in the sheaf. Hired Daniel Martin to take all straw and rubbish out of the barn and take away.

Friday, June 24, 1898 a very warm day Lewis Kirk died today at asylum. Was buried there.

Sunday, January 15, 1899 clear, cool all day Attended funeral of Isaiah Cooper, Aged 25. Rev. J. E. McVeigh preached from the book of Luke 9:35 And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son, hear him. Note: Isaiah died at 341 North St in Lancaster on January 11, 1899 at12:45 PM From pneumonia Bearers: Morrice (sp.) William, Oliver Quamony, George Carey, Calvin Johnson 19 carriages, large funeral, buried at colored cemetery - this place [Conestoga].

181

Friday, February 24, 1899 clear cool day Attending funeral of Miss Sarah Jane Wilson aged about 35 years. Rev. J. E. McVeigh preached from Numbers 3:10 And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons and they shall wait on their priest’s office. And the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death. Bearers: Joseph Turner, Jerry Cooper, Thomas Richardson, Abram Quamony 5 carriages - she died down at Washington Martin’s near Gephards.

Friday, May 12, 1899 clear Attending funeral of Harriet Webster in her 62nd year. Rev. M. Johnson preached from St. John’s 11:11 These things said He and after that he said unto them, our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go that I may awake him out of sleep. Bearers: H. H. Kurtz, John C. Warfel, John S. May, and Samuel Brady 10 carriages - buried at colored cemetery Coffin #2 - $35.00; shroud - $4. John Stumpf paid balance and Ralph Turner paid in full cash $14.00

Wednesday, October 5, 1898 partly cloudy In store all day. Mrs. [Mary C.] Richardson, an old colored lady who used to work for us - now at Middletown, took dinner with us.

Wednesday, September 26, 1900 Edward Peaco (colored) baby died last night. W. Y. Henry took charge of body and made coffin. First one he ever covered. Done first rate.

Friday, October 11, 1901 Clear Received work this PM of the death of Barbara Bond (Wanner) [Warner, sp.] at Safe Harbor. Went down, took charge of body. Funeral on Sunday PM colored cemetery, Conestoga Centre.

Saturday, October 12, 1901 Partly clear At Safe Harbor and brought coffin in from station AM. Charles took casket to colored cemetery.

182

Sunday, October 13, 1901 Went to Safe Harbor to attend of Barbara Bond (colored) aged 69 years, 3 months, 23 days. Rev. Martin Groff presided Preached from Deut. 12:9-10 Since you have not yet reached the resting place and the inheritance the Lord your God Is giving you. 10 But you will cross the Jordan and settle in the land the Lord your God is givng you as an inheritance, and he will give you rest from all your enemies around you so that you will live in safety. Rev. Hiram McVey opened with prayer; Rev. H. M. Stauffer closed -- 9 Carriages

Tuesday, February 25, 1902 raining all day - snow melting fast! Wreck on C&P [Columbia & Port Deposit] Railroad last night near Cully falls. Killed 3 or 4 men. A [mud] slide was the cause.

Monday, March 31, 1902 partly cloudy - very much colder At Lancaster took parlor furniture along for Ed G. Diffenbaugh. Took Ed Peaco along and had our property business fixed up.

Wednesday, October 1, 1902 rained heavy all night Received work this P.M. of the death of Daniel Williams. Took charge of body and embalmed same.

Thursday, October 2, 1902 Took stools to Williams for funeral and went to station and brought up coffin in AM.

Friday, October 3, 1902 Took case to cemetery and worked on coffin in AM and brought shroud

Saturday, October 4, 1902 partly cloudy, very damp Attending funeral of Daniel Williams (colored) Born 12-12-1821 Died 10-01-1902 aged 80 years, 7 months, 19 days. Rev. Hiram McVey preached from Isaiah 57:15 and the word eternity. Rev. Tobias Finefrock made a few remarks. For this is what the high and lofty One says --- He who lives forever, whose name is holy; I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite Bearers: Edward Duke, Jacob Henry, Henry Shenk, Harry Sensening Very small funeral.

183

Friday, December 5, 1902 Daniel Martin (colored) had a surprise in the fold of a handkerchief for his 25th birthday. 25 one dollar bills

Thursday, March 5, 1903 rain in AM warmer More Italians arrived at Safe Harbor this morning. They say about 80 here now.

Tuesday, March 15, 1904 cold - raw wind Had intended going to work at appraisement this morning but received word by phone of the death of Clinton Johnson (colored) of Safe Harbor. Went down and took charge of body. Set funeral for Friday morning at colored church in Conestoga Centre 10 o’clock. In PM, making ready for funeral

Thursday, March 17, 1904 Charles had casket and Blanche shroud ready for tomorrow. Everything satisfactory.

Friday, March 18, 1904 Attending funeral of Samuel Clinton Johnson. Born February 10, 1869 - Died March 15, 1904, aged 34 years, 11 months, 5 days. Rev. Martin Groff preached from James 4:14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Bearers: Samuel Bond, Jerry Cooper, Simon Richardson and Daniel Stumpf 9 carriages

Monday, February 27, 1905 cold all day Received word this morning of old Mrs. Richardson formerly of this place but died at Middletown.

184

Tuesday, February 28, 1905 cold, raw windy all day Attending funeral of Mary A. Richardson (colored) Born: March 20, 1815 Died Feb 25, 1905 aged 89 years 11 months, 5 days. Rev. P. P. Gaines preached from Rev. 22:4 They will see His face and His name will be on their foreheads. Bearers: Henry Nelson, Edward Mellen, C.B. Bray, Persy (sp) Richardson, Samuel Bond and William Hallegar 6 teams, the body was shipped from Middletown

I gave Eli Richardson $1.00 toward putting new roof on colored church.

Wednesday, July 5, 1905 warm, partly cloudy, heavy rain in PM John fetched body of a colored man from Shenk’s Ferry when he was drowned

Thursday, July 6, 1905 partly cloudy all day Buried Samuel Johnson in colored cemetery this morning, along north side of fence. He was drowned in Susquehanna River on Monday and in very bad shape.

Monday, July 17, 1905 hottest day of season Received word this morning of the death of Ed Peaco[‘s] (colored) infant child. Went down and took charge of body

Tuesday, July 18, 1905 very warm, reported 100 - 106 in shade Lining casket and attending funeral of Clara Rebecca Peaco. Daughter of Edward and Ella Peaco. Born 1905 Died July 17, 1905 Aged 3 months Rev. John Peaco preached from 1 Corinthians 15:22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. Casket white ($30) - shroud ($5) paid in full

Friday, February 2, 1906 calm, clear Received word this morning of the death of Oliver Quamony’s child.

185

Sunday, February 4, 1906 clear, cold, raw all day Attending funeral of infant son of Oliver & Katie Quamony aged 7 months & 14 days. Buried at A.M.E. cemetery - East Strawberry Street, Lancaster

Friday, May 4, 1906 pleasant day Received word of the death of Jerry Cooper[‘s] grandchild.

Saturday, May 5, 1906 quite warm all day Went to Jeremiah Cooper’s to look after body to make arrangements for funeral of his grandson, J. Craig Cooper. Funeral will be held on Monday at nine o’clock at A.M.E. church Conestoga, PA

Sunday, May 6, 1906 pleasant all day Went down to Colemanville to look after body of Cooper child, found it OK.

Monday, May 7, 1906 cool all day Attending funeral of William J. Cooper (Craig) Born February 26, 1901 Died May 4, 1906 Aged 5 years, 2 months, 8 days. Rev. J. L. Hunt spoke from Matthew 19:15 Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these”. Bearers: Thomas Johnson, Isaac Jackson, Edward & Rodney Peaco 7 carriages - services held in colored church and interred in colored cemetery - Conestoga Centre

Tuesday, October 10, 1906 Received word on death of a child - Jerry Cooper (colored) Martic Forge Funeral, Friday at ten o’clock at Conestoga Centre

Friday, October 12, 1906 At Dukes early this morning looking after body and then to Coopers attending funeral of son of Howard Bond Born: April 11, 1904 Died: October 9, 1906 Aged 1 years, 5 months, 28 days Rev. J. L Hunt spoke from scripture (“God’s child) Colored Cemetery, Conestoga Centre

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Wednesday, November 7, 1906 cold, raw windy all day Received word of the death of a colored man at Harry Souders house in Pequea in A.M. John C. went down to Pequea embalmed body of William Greene, the colored man that died there and arranged for funeral Friday or Saturday.

Thursday, November 8, 1906 pleasant day but raw wind Went to Pequea and made final arrangements for funeral on Saturday at nine o’clock at house and bury at colored cemetery Conestoga Centre. They are very poor and will bury cheap.

Saturday, November 10, 1906 cloudy, cool damp day Attending funeral of William Greene who died at Henry Souders near Pequea in 94th year (supposed) no services. No one but widow, daughter, son and son-in-law and Henry Souders at the house. John C and I carried him from house to wagon. Buried him in Colored cemetery in Conestoga Centre. They expect to hold services in York Co., his former home on Sunday 18th.

Thursday January 3, 1907 damp cold all day, roads bad Called to Martic Forge to take charge of the body of Henrietta, daughter of Jeremiah Cooper. Funeral on Sunday, AM

Sunday, January 6, 1907 cloudy all day Attending funeral of Henrietta, daughter of Jerry and Mary Ann Cooper. Born April 23, 1878 - Died on January 4, 1907 aged 28 years 7 months 11 days Rev. Matt Groff spoke from Isaiah 38: 1 In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amos went to him and said, “This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die, you will not recover.” Bearers were: Thomas Johnson, Samuel Bond, Eli Richardson and Samuel Nash 12 carriages

Tuesday, March 12, 1907 raw day, windy Went to Eli Richardson’s and took charge of body of infant son. Funeral Friday morning.

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Friday, March 15, 1907 clear, pleasant day Attending funeral of Abram Thomas, infant son of Eli Richardson Born: October 29, 1905 Died March 12, 1907 Aged: 1 year, 4 months, 11 days Rev. P. P. Gaines spoke very ably from 2 Samuel 12: 22 & 23 He answered, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, “Who knows? The Lord may be gracious that he is dead, why should I fast? I bore casket; 8 carriages - Received $20. Cash

Sunday, March 31, 1907 cloudy, few drops rain Received word of the death of twin babies of Samuel Hunter at Colemanville. Will bury them Tuesday, PM -- no funeral

Tuesday, April 2, 1907 clear, pleasant day Buried twins for Samuel Hunter (stillborn) no services, buried in Colored Cemetery here.

Thursday, October 10, 1907 clear, cool day At Lancaster, took organ, sewing machine in for Ed Peaco (colored) who moved from here.

Monday, October 21, 1907 cold all day At Lancaster, had the Ed Peaco property deeded to me today. Paid $250. & $30 taxes Total $280.00 Returned home and rented the property to Isaac Jackson at $1.50/month from November 1, 1907 to April 1, 1908

Monday, March 23, 1907 cloudy Received $100 of Eli S. Richardson as first payment on property sold him known as the Butler property.

Thursday, April 30, 1908 partly cloudy Received $3.00 of Eli Richardson for rent of April on property.

Saturday, May 23, 1908 partly cloudy Sold the Kirk land to M. H. Groff (Butcher) had an agreement written by Bro. Emmanuel as found on May 20th of the diary.

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Wednesday, June 24, 1908 partly clear Received word last night by hone of the death of a colored child at Lancaster went in this morning and fetched out the body of the child to our place. The funeral will be held tomorrow at 2 PM at the house of Cyrus Turner at being stepdaughter child -- line casket PM

Thursday, June 25, 1908 partly clear - very pleasant day not near so warm as yesterday Attended funeral of Delva May Cooper Born November 8, 1906 Died June 23, 1908 Aged 1 year, 6 months, 17 days. Rev. Gray of Lancaster A.M.E. Church preached Rev. 22:7 “Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book.” Bearers: Isaac Jackson, David Cooper, Rodney Peaco and self

Tuesday, June 30, 1908 clear, warm day John Steckwirth, Jacob Rankin, John Zercher, and Simon Richardson and [my]self fetched in our hay this AM. Paid Richardson .75 for helping with hay.

Eli Richardson paid his monthly payment $3.00

October 1, 1908 Eli Richardson here to pay his rent - $3.00

Saturday, November 1908 partly cloudy Had sale of property of Henry Martin at west end of village. Sold it to F.Y. Pennypacker for $1,582.

Buried third person over 100 years of age including Nancy Sterrett (colored) mother of Elijah Levi.

Was paid $4.00 month by Eli Richardson for rent from April 30, 1908 to Jun 1908

Monday, January 11, 1909 partly cloudy It is reported that Rodney Peaco (a colored boy) son of Ed Peaco, assaulted one of Fred Rankins daughters on the eve of the 3rd just while on her way from church. I hope he will be dealt with accordingly.

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Friday, February 11, 1910 cold, stormy, snowing John C. was called to Ben Greens (colored) to take charge of little boy down near the Union-Martic Township. Funeral on Sunday

Sunday February 13, 1910 John C. and I went to the funeral of Paul, infant son of Benj. Greene, near Clearfield (colored). We took body to Abram Eshbach who prepared dinner and had the house service there and from there to the colored church near Rawlinsville. It was very kind of Mr. & Mrs. Eshbach to open their home for them. There were two funerals at the church at the same hour. Mr. Stevenson (sp?) had a Miss Steward (colored). I received pay from Mr. Eshbach for casket - $18.00

Monday, February 14, 1910 clear John C. took rough box to church, Willow Street and on his return was called to take charge of body of Mary Crosson and from there to Benj. F. Greene’s to take charge of body of their only child (a daughter) they having buried their only son yesterday. Feel sorry for them… Both funerals Thursday.

Thursday, February 17, 1910 heavy rain John C. attended funeral of Dora Belle, infant daughter of Benj. Green (colored) body taken to Abram Eshbach and the same as previous funeral and from there to the colored church where it was buried. Received pay for same $10.00

Wednesday, March 9, 1910 cold, raw day Received word in evening of death of Thomas A. Johnson (colored) at Safe Harbor. John C. and I went down and took charge of the body -- washed and embalmed.

Sunday, March 13, 1910 Funeral at Mt. Zion church of Thomas Johnson. Rev. Martin Groff preached regular sermon, Joseph McDonald exhorted and a colored gentleman, Rev. Wilson of Lancaster made a just closing remark. My class of Sunday school had charge of singing and Family very pleased with arrangements and services. Paid me $70. Cash

Thursday, May 19, 1910 Called out last night to take charge of the body of John Edward, son of Edward and Ella Peaco (colored) arranged funeral for Sunday AM

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Friday, May 20, 1910 Blanche lined casket for Peaco’s child. Cotton muslin $1.64; basket “Peaco” - .35; screws - .92; cashmere - $1.00

Saturday, May 21, 1910 Blanche and Harry put Peaco’s child in casket this evening.

Sunday, May 22, 1910 In bed all day. Something like the grippe. Have such pan in head and back. Harry and Blanche took charge of funeral of John Peaco. Their first attempt. Very well pleased. Friday, March 17, 1911 Eli Richardson here and settled to April 1st ($114) and pain on account.

Monday, August 14, 1911 cloudy A terrible incident occurred at Coatesville, Chester County. A Negro shot an officer there who died instantly. The Negro fled but was captured after having tried to commit suicide and taken to the hospital there. A mob formed and took him out and deliberately burned him alive -- See [newspaper] clipping.

Saturday, September 23, 1911 Was called out early this morning to come to Edward Peaco’s to take charge of the body of their infant son, Edward Franklin Scott Peaco. Washed and embalmed the body and arranged funeral for Monday.

Monday, September 25, 1911 very warm all day Funeral of Peaco’s child Casket - $15.00; shroud $1.50 Collection agency settlement in full for $12.00 for bills due of $25.00 - June 13, 1928.

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Sunday, January 7, 1912 cold all day - snowing in AM Attending funeral of Martha Elizabeth (twin) daughter of Benj. and Mary Greene. Born August 10, 1910 - Died January 3, 1912 aged 1 year - 4 months, 23 days Rev. Charles and John O. Stewart spoke very appropriately from Job 1: 21 And said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” Bearers: Jeremiah, David, Malachi and Samuel Stewart Services and burial at the colored church near the Union

Friday, March 8, 1912 Received word this PM of the death of infant of Benjamin Green (no funeral).

Saturday, March 9, 1912 damp all day, snowed at noon Benj. Greene’s child buried today. They fetched a small casket from here. Beatrice Green stillborn. Providence AME Cemetery Casket $3.50 - Cash received $3.50

Saturday, March 30, 1912 Settled with Eli S. Richardson this evening, leaving a balance of $78.00 due me to date.

June 7, 1912 Benjamin Greene’s child Martha casket $18.00; by cash $15.00; Added note: (cancelled rest of bill as their house burned down February 1913 -- very poor)

Monday, January 13, 1913 beautiful winter day (but much colder) Received call last night of death of Susan Wilson (colored) Shenks Ferry

Friday, January 17, 1913 damp cloudy all day Walter and Blanche attended funeral of Susan Wilson (colored) died January 12 - 13 about 88 years old. Rev. Martin Groff - Text: 1 Samuel 20:4 Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do for you.” Bearers: Thomas, Amos and Abram Wilson and S (spelling not clear) Services at house [of] Wash Martin buried at Conestoga Centre AME

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Saturday, February 15, 1913 - Zercher’s 56th birthday

Saturday, March 8, 1913 cold, raw air all day Settled with Eli S. Richardson to April 1st. Balance due from that day $43.19

Sunday August 31, 1913 Took Blanche to trolley. She went to colored camp at Pequea. I fetched sister Ellie along up. Went home in evening. Very pleasant day, quite dry and dusty. Tuesday, September 9, 1913 Stewart, the young colored man who was arrested for Highway Robbery of Mrs. Addison Benedict had his trial today and found guilty.

Wednesday, February 18, 1914 cold damp all day feels much like snow Received word this morning of stillborn a baby granddaughter of William Hallegar (sp) colored. Walter buried same in colored cemetery this PM

Annie Halligar’s (sp.) child casket $4.00 paid by cash

Wednesday April 1, 1914 damp & raining all day Deeded the property known as the Butler property to Eli Richardson. He made the last payment this evening. He is very much pleased to have a home of his own.

Friday, January 1, 1915 clear, cold all day Received word of death of Sarah Halligar (sp.) child.

Saturday, January 2, 1915 cloudy, cold raw wind all day Walter buried child of Sarah Halligar (sp.) (colored) this A.M. in cemetery here. Casket $4.00 paid by cash

Monday, February 8, 1915 cold all day and getting colder Samuel Bond (colored) of Safe Harbor died this AM. Blanche and Walter took charge.

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Thursday, February 11, 1915 rather pleasant all day Blanche and Walter attended funeral of Samuel Bond aged about 77 years. Rev. Robert Fex (spelling?) from text Matthew 25:2 Five of them were foolish and five of them were wise. Bearers: George Eckman, A. S. Benedict, Casper Hiller and Jacob Murray Small funeral at AME cemetery (colored)

Monday April 5, 1915 partly clear The Jack Johnson (colored) and Willard (white) fight came off today in Cuba. Willard taking the belt in the 26th round.

Saturday, January 15, 1916 David Hallegar (sp.) (colored) died. I went and took charge of body

Tuesday, January 18, 1916 clear, coolest day of the winter Blanche and Walter attended funeral of David Hallegar (colored) Born 1837 died Jan. 15, 1916 aged 78 years Rev. Roberts and Jacob Thomas Rev. 4 in entirety (The Throne in Heaven) Bearers: Samuel Harnish, John Hess, Maynard and Harry Warfel Small funeral - burial River Corner Mennonite Church Casket -$50.00 Received $15.00 cash from William Halliger 1/19/1916 and $35.00 check from County Commissioners (Civil War Veteran - 127th USCT)

Tuesday, April 4, 1916 cool day all day Benj. Greens got small casket to bury stillborn baby. Casket $3.00 paid by cash (0916/1918)

Tuesday, July 4, 1916 beautiful day, but cool in evening Went down to see my old colored friend, Wash Martin in PM

Nothing to note in 1917

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May 14, 1918 Sold his interest in the undertaking business to daughter Blanche, closing his 40th year in business.

Tuesday April 20, 1920 Mrs. Eli Richardson [Mary C.] (colored) died this morning. Blanche called.

April 23, 1920 Mrs. Eli Richardson buried today. Casket $150.00 Dress 7.00 Blanket 4.00 4 sprays flowers 14.00 Total $175.00 by cash on March 3, 1921

November 23, 1921 Mrs. Stewart of Lancaster Disinterring 2 bodies Grave digging $10.00 Removal permits 1.00 Outside case & trip 5.00 Total $16.00 Received payment December 7, 1921

Monday, March 13, 1922 beautiful day, but cool air Eli Richardson here this evening and agreed to farm the Amos Benedict lot at George Myers in corn this summer on shares. ½ of corn and ½ of fodder. I will furnish ½ ton of fertilize for same.

Thursday September 7, 1922 William Hallig[e]r died this PM at St. Joseph’s hospital. Walter brought body to his house. Blanche went along down.

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September 10, 1922 William H. Halliger Casket $115.00 Blanket 4.00 Shirt, collar, tie 2.05 Total $121.05 Cashed received $4.00; Check $117.05 by F. H. Sickman on April 4, 1923

Sunday, May 20, 1923 Walked down to Lucy Martin’s a short time. A beautiful day.

July 19, 1923 Sadie Halliger’s child -- William Edward Mellon 1403 West End Avenue Casket $ 25.00

By cash $1.00 - 11/6/23; $1.00 - 11/14/23; $2.00 - 11/22/23 - $1.00; 12/29/23; $1.00 - 01/16/24; $3.00- 01/24/24; $5.00 - 04/25/24; $5.00 - 05/22/24; $1.00 - 06/10/24; $1.00 - 06/24/23; $1.00 - 07/01/24; $1.00 07/09/24; $1.00 08/11/24

Thursday August 16, 1923 Called to Safe Harbor this PM. Child of Mr. & Mrs. Samuel Cunningham was accidentally shot by his cousin about 10 years old playing with target rifle. 6 years old. The family certainly has the sympathy of the community.

Monday, September 23, 1923 very warm day Brought small properly of Scott Stump formerly Wanner’s home on lower road for $75.

November 1, 1923 cold all day Benj. Hill was accidentally shot while husking corn for Mr. R J Gentzer two shot in forehead -- not serious -- too far off (rabbit season opened).

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Thursday January 17, 1924 Reported that H. H. Aston bought the Kendig Hotel properly in this place for $3,800 -- that will end the hotel business here.

Thursday, March 20, 1924 Reported here in village that Ruth, oldest daughter of Mr. & Mrs. A. L. Henry, has disappeared (very mysteriously).

Saturday, May 24, 1924 partly cloudy Paid Frank Martin $3.00 for cast iron manhole for pump bed (concrete)

Friday, May 30, 1924 quite cool all day/w brisk wind, clear Martin Ressel - I put flags on graves of deceased soldiers of the cemeteries of the township this AM

Monday, June 16, 1924 beautiful day, quite warm The barn on the ore mine farm burned down last night - cause unknown

Friday, August 29, 1924 clear, not a speck of clouds to be seen The Klu Klux Klan had their first meeting in our village this evening, speaking at Aston Garage. I was not at meeting.

Saturday, October 11, 1924 clear Ira Duke’s Baby died this morning. Blanche called.

Wednesday, January 21, 1925 clear, pleasant day Eli S. Richardson was shot (not fatally) on his way home from work at Lancaster; about 6:15 PM near his home. Frank Martin, living a short distance away is accused.

Thursday, January 22, 1925 beautiful day, quite war Frank Martin was arrested for shooting Eli Richardson yesterday evening.

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Monday January 26, 1925 partly cloudy, snow melting quite warm Few drops of rain Went down to see the Martin family to extend sympathies with regard to son Frank’s actions.

Friday, May 29, 1925 light rain in AM Martin Ressel and I put flags on soldier’s graves at River Corner, Colemanville, Mt. Zion and colored cemetery in [the] AM.

Saturday, July 11, 1925 clear, warm all day Daniel Stump’s child died. Blanche called.

Sunday, July 12, 1925 clear 96 very warm all day Blanche & Walter attended funeral of Daniel Stump’s adopted child at Green Hill this PM

Thursday, September 3, 1925 clear, warm all day The K.K.K. held a meeting in the town last night at Aston’s Garage.

Tuesday, December 22, 1925 pleasant day, colder in eve w/high wind Took flower plant to Lucy Martin (colored) gift of Blanche to her. Very thankfully received.

Wednesday, January 13, 1926 very cold Walter and I went to Tucquan, Martic Township, and my old friend Washington Martin passed away.

The following was copied from the discharge papers of Washington Martin [by Darlene Colón]. Enlisted December 21, 1863 at the age of 30 years from Conestoga Township, Lancaster, PA and mustered into the U S Service at Philadelphia to serve 3 years under Captain William B. Clark and Colonel James B .Kidds as a private in Co. K. 22 Reg US Colored Infantry. The Regiment was assigned to the 3rd Brigade - 10th Division 18th Corp Army of the James. Comrade Martin shared the fortunes of his Regiment in the following engagements: Petersburgh - June 15, 1864; Chapin’s Farm, September 29, 1964;

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Deep Bottom, April 6, 1865 where he was wounded by a minney(sp) ball on forehead and confined to hospital a short time. Rejoined regiment and took part in Battle of Malvern Hill. June 15 also did guard duty at Fort Harrison and participated in the expedition to Texas, May 15. He was honorably discharged October 16, 1865 at Brownsville, Texas by reason of A. G. D. No. #54 War Department. Member of Capt. Hess Post #571 - Safe Harbor GAR Died January 13, Inst 10:30 AM at home of Maris Green in his 94th year. 5 foot 2/12 in tall when enlisted -- Interred in African M. E. Cemetery Conestoga.

Saturday, January 16, 1926 Clear beautiful day. Helping Walter with funeral of Washington Martin.

Washington Martin Casket $75.00 Shirt, tie 1.35 Phone, NJ 1.05 Phone, Reading .40 Total $77.80

Paid by: money order Nora Greene 02/01/26 $2.80 Check - county commission for soldiers 75.00

Tuesday, March 2, 1926 cold high winds all day, ptly cloudy Went down to Eli Richardson’s helped load his household goods. He moved to Lancaster. A good citizen left our township. A very good friend of mine.

Saturday, November 13, 1926 cold, raw air all day The K.K.K. held a meeting in H. H. Aston’s garage here this PM, he being a member.

Sunday, March 6, 1927 damp all day Walter went to County Hospital and brought out body of Joseph Turner (colored) formerly of this place.

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Monday, March 7, 1927 Went down to Lucy Martin told her of the funeral of Joseph Turner tomorrow. March 8, 1927 rain in morning, very pleasant Had funeral of Joseph Turner here at house this PM. Rev. Sands of M. E. Church had charge of services. Buried at ME Cemetery. Aged 74 years, 8 months, 27 days

Joseph Turner (colored) Casket & Services Including 2 trips & 2 cars $75.00 Open grave 8.00 Minister 3.00 Total $86.00

Cash paid by William Cramer of Drumore [Township]

Monday, January 21, 1929 Frank Martin (colored) paid the balance of money borrowed last May - $25.00

Saturday, January 26, 1929 cold raw air all day Very sorry to hear of the death of Lucy Martin (colored), a very nice old lady. A kind friend to all. Blanche called - brought body here and will hold funeral from our home on Tuesday, PM.

Sunday, January 27, 1929 Gave Dan Martin loan of $10 to get things for funeral of mother.

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January 29, 1929 very high wind & below freezing point all day About house and getting ready for funeral of Lucy Martin this PM. Had short service here at home and went to ME church where further service was held. A good attendance and a fine display of flowers from her friends. Blanche and Walter attended funeral of Lucy Martin at M.E. Church here.

Lucy Martin Casket $165.00 Comfort 8.00 Slippers 3.00 Total $176.00 Paid by cash Frank Martin $160.00 Credit for friendship 16.00

Friday, February 15, 1929 clear spring-like day Samuel Cunningham’s Safe Harbor house burned down this evening. Cause not known.

Saturday, April 29, 1929 Had Daniel Martin plant 1 bushel potatoes in lot at house.

Sunday, June 23, 1929 Walter and I at Lancaster to Men’s Christian Movement meeting at Ebenezer AME Church at corner of Lime and Locust. A very good meeting - 2 colored choirs and splendid singing.

Sunday, October 29, 1929 a most beautiful day - warm Wife and I went over to Annie Martin’s (colored) and spent some time.

Friday, August 22, 1920 partly cloudy, cool all day Mirt(sp?) Groff, Safe Harbor (merchant) robbed of $200.00 by colored man, escaped but arrested afterward by State Police of this place.

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Saturday, September 27, 1930 clear, cool Called out of bed this morning at 2 o’clock to take charge of body of Daniel Martin (colored) who was struck by a hit & run auto driver and killed near Mt. Zion cemetery. The result of drink. I feel very sorry for his sister, Annie, who gave he and Frank a good home.

Sunday, September 28, 1930 clear, beautiful but cool day Brought body of Daniel Martin into parlor ready for viewing PM and was a great many of his friends from village and Safe Harbor Works where he was one of the water boys, called to view his remains.

Monday, September 29, 1930 clear beautiful day Held funeral services for Daniel Martin here at our home this AM and buried at M.E. cemetery here in village.

Sunday, October 19, 1930 quite cold all day Blanche called to St. Joseph’s Hospital for body of Chester Hallegar (sp) colored killed by accident, Lancaster.

Monday, October 20, 1930 Lancaster New Era Article Victim Driving Without License Deputy Coroner, Dr. J. L. Ressler reached a verdict of accidental death after investigating the crash which took the life of Chester Halliger, local Negro, who died in St. Joseph’s hospital yesterday of a fractured skull. Patrolman Cross, who also investigated the accident, learned that Halliger purchased the car recently and had never applied for a learner’s permit nor was he a licensed driver. The car left the Harrisburg pike and crashed into the side of the concrete bridge at Oreville while Halliger was enroute to this city early yesterday. The victim is survived by his mother, Mrs. Elmira Halliger and the following brothers and sisters: Mrs. George Miller and Walter Halliger, Lenover; Sarah and William at home and Mrs. Levi Thompson, Christiana. Funeral services will be held at the home Wednesday morning at 10 o’clock with burial in the River Corner Mennonite Cemetery.

Wednesday, October 22, 1930 clear day Blanche and Walter attended the funeral of Chester [Halliger], Lancaster buried at River Corner Mennonite Cemetery.

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October 23, 1930 Chester Halliger Casket $135.00 Blanket 6.00 Shirt 1.50 Press & clean suit 1.25 Minister 5.00 Open Grave 7.00 $156.25

Paid by cash October 28, 1930 $156.25

Wednesday, December 24, 1930 light snow this AM, cold all day Called to Safe Harbor to take charge of body of colored man who was burned in one of the frame shacks destroyed yesterday.

Friday, December 26, 1930 very damp light rain, heavier rain PM Went along with Walter and Blanche with regard to body we have here that was burned at Safe Harbor. Another case of going under fictitious name. Hard to locate.

Wednesday, December 31, 1930 cloudy, 20° Helped Walter get body of colored man that burned at Safe Harbor on the 24th. Buried in colored cemetery here.

December 31, 1930 Henry Rodgers Pine basket & service $18.00 Grave (Eli Richardson) 2.00 Open Grave 5.00 Total $25.00

Paid by check by County Poor Directors February 25, 1931 $25.00

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Sunday, January 11, 1931 clear, beautiful day Had a call from St. Joseph Hospital for body of Jack McNeil, shot by half blood Indian, “Indian Bill” Craig. All of Safe Harbor works.

Wednesday, January 1931 Ed Morrison, our neighbor sued Lester Cramer for keeping bawdy house. My, Oh, My

Saturday, February 7, 1931 cloudy, cold raw air To Safe Harbor for colored man, laborer in dam, fetched him to morgue in AM

Friday, February 13, 1931 partly cloudy 36° Went along with Blanche to Safe Harbor to see Mr. Angel, manager of the Arundel Co. with regard to the burial of a colored man that died at the hospital last Saturday. After having an understanding, he agreed to pay for burial.

Saturday, February 14, 1931 very high wind all day, very much colder Getting body of colored man of Safe Harbor ready for burial after one week here in morgue and then did not have him buried on account of a call to Millersville to take charge of a body.

Sunday, February 15, 1931 a beautiful day Buried the body of A. Hughes (colored) in colored cemetery here at 1:30 PM. Rev. Elliott of M.E. Church officiated.

Friday, April 17, 1931 quite warm all day Had three colored men removing stone, they handled a lot of it.

May 8, 1931 partly cloudy, damp part of day Went along with Walter to Safe Harbor Hospital for body of Moses McQueen (colored). It’s body who was drowned April 27, in river at Safe Harbor. Body found at 50 feet from where he fell in.

Tuesday, May 12, 1931 50° damp all day with rain Body of Moses McQueen (colored) was called for by undertaker from Philadelphia.

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Sunday, May 24, 1931 cool in AM, warmed during day & evening Blanche called to take charge of man (colored) who was killed on Port? Road by train. Body literally cut to pieces. Walter & Charles brought body here to morgue.

Monday, October 26, 1931 Blanche called to take charge of body of Thor Snipe (sp) colored of Safe Harbor who was shot by a state policeman in self-defense at Carolina Hill camp.

Tuesday, October 27, 1931 cool, pleasant all day Walter and William buried colored man who was shot by state police at Safe Harbor In colored cemetery here.

December 23, 1931 William, our colored man, digging garden this PM. I gave him a chicken for his Christmas dinner.

Saturday, April 30, 1932 I handed the two deeds that Daniel Martin (colored) several years ago had given me to take care of for him. The one was Lewis Martin and the other Aaron Martin to Annie Martin, Daniel’s sister.

Friday, April 29, 1932 Edna Hurst Alley. I received the two Martin deeds that Daniel Martin had left In my care to return to Annie Martin, his [only] sister

Friday, December 23, 1932 cold, damp air all day Gave William, our colored man, chicken for his Christmas dinner.

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