George Cochran Murray
Most people think a philanthropist has more money than they can spend, but that’s not the correct definition. The reason “hundreds” mourned his death, according to this headline, is that…
Read MoreLouis LeBlanc
Louis Leblanc was born around 1854 in Santiago de Cuba, at the opposite end of Cuba from Havana. The second-largest city in the country is an important sea port on…
Read MoreJacob Koch Griffith
Steel is made from two ingredients: iron which comes from iron ore, and carbon which comes from coal. Both of these raw materials were in abundance in Pennsylvania, making it…
Read MoreJames Godman Peale
The Peale family included several well-known artists from the post-Revolutionary War era. George Washington sat for seven portraits by Charles Wilson Peale, who painted many of the founding fathers. His…
Read MoreJoel Thomas
Joel’s parents had Pennsylvania roots according to census listings, but his childhood years are a mystery. He married a New Jersey girl, Margaret Hetzel, on January 29, 1846. He was…
Read MoreJames Smyth
In the spring of 1851 two brothers left the port in Londonderry, Northern Ireland and set foot in Philadelphia. James was 19, arriving with William, 23. This may have been…
Read MoreWilliam Barkley Grubb
William’s lineage can be traced back to the arrival of John Grubb on a Delaware shore in 1677. He greeted William Penn, who arrived five years later on his way…
Read MoreSamuel Smith Cord
Sam’s father, Samuel T. Cord, was born in Indiana. His mother, Phoebe Elizabeth Fithian, was born in Georgia, but her parents were born in New Jersey. That’s where Samuel and…
Read MoreGeorge Young
It’s extremely rare to find a gravestone that mentions a person other than the one buried there, but this this man’s marker (shown below) includes a reference to Napoleon Bonaparte.…
Read MoreHenry Frorer
Henry’s parents had ten children in their native Germany, but five of them didn’t survive past their first year. The family left the past behind when they immigrated to Lancaster…
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