Monday, December 6, 2010

Follow the DLN on Twitter and get a gift card!

The Daily Local News is giving away a ton of gift cards to local restaurants and other merchants during the holidays. For a chance to win, just follow @wcdailylocal on Twitter.

Here is where you can add the the Daily Local to your Twitter feed:
http://twitter.com/invitations/find_on_twitter

Take advantage of this opportunity, before time runs out, and all the prizes are history!

Happy holidays,
Joe

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

The story behind Lincoln's first biography

Chester County holds a unique place in the annals of Lincoln lore. Indeed, the first biography of our 16th president was published in West Chester on February 11th, 1860, by the Chester County Times, a local Republican weekly that was owned by Samuel Downing and located at 14 W. Market Street.

At the time, 14 W. Market was known as the Everhart Building. Today, the building is numbered 28 W. Market, and is named the Lincoln Building.

The story behind why Lincoln's biography was published in West Chester is nothing short of remarkable. One of Lincoln's friends in Illinois was Jesse W. Fell, a native of Chester County who settled in Illinois in 1835. Fell met Lincoln while the two were staying at the same boarding house, and they struck up a lifelong friendship.

In 1858, when Lincoln ran for senate against Senator Stephen Douglas, Fell urged him to debate Douglas over the senator's signature piece of legislation, the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Lincoln thought the idea was a good one, and he challenged Douglas to a series of debates. Douglas accepted, and during the summer and fall of 1858, Lincoln and Douglas sparred over the Kansas-Nebraska Act in a series of now legendary public exchanges known as the “Lincoln-Douglas debates.”

When Lincoln started being mentioned as a candidate for president in 1860, Fell worried that his friend, still unknown outside of Illinois, would have trouble getting votes back East. He and an Illinois newspaper publisher named Edward Lewis urged Lincoln to write some autobiographical notes that could be used to introduce him as a candidate for president to Eastern voters.
The Lincoln Building

Lewis's brother, Joseph J. Lewis, was a prominent attorney who lived in West Chester, and was well-known for his antislavery views. His office was located at the Everhart Building, which as the reader will recall, also housed the Chester County Times, owned by Samuel Downing.

Sometime in early 1860, Joseph Lewis and Downing received a three-page, handwritten biographical sketch from Abraham Lincoln. The sketch was used as the primary source material for the biography.   

Lincoln's original notes to Lewis and Downing read as follows:

"I was born February 12, 1809, in Hardin County, KY. My parents were born in Virginia, of undistinguished families -- second families, perhaps I should say. My mother, who died in my tenth year, was of a family of the name of Hanks, some whom now reside in Adams and others in Macon Counties, Ill."

"My paternal grandfather, Abraham Lincoln, emigrated from Rockingham County, Va., to Kentucky, about 1781 or '82, where, a year or two later, he was killed by Indians, not in battle, but by stealth, when he was laboring to open a farm in the forest. His ancestors, who were Quakers, went to Virginia from Berks County, Pa.. An effort to identify them with the New England family of the same name ended in nothing more than a similarity of Christian names in both families, such as Enoch, Levi, Mordecai, Solomon, Abraham and the like."

"My father, at the death of his father, was but six years of age, and he grew up literally without education. He removed from Kentucky to what is now Spencer County, Ind., in my eighth year. We reached our new home about the time the State came into the Union. It was a wild region, with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods. There I grew up. There were some schools, so called, but no qualification was ever required of a teacher beyond "readin', writin' and cipherin'" to the Rule of Three. If a straggler supposed to understand Latin happened to sojourn in the neighborhood, he was looked upon as a wizard. There was absolutely nothing to excite ambition for education."

"Of course when I came of age I did not know much. Still, somehow, I could read, write and cipher to the Rule of Three, but that was all. I have not been to school since. The little advance I now have upon this store of education I have picked up from time to time under the pressure of necessity."

"I was raised to farm-work, which I continued till I was twenty-two. At twenty-one I came to Illinois, and passed the first year in Macon County. Then I got to New Salem, at that time in Sangamon, now in Menard, County, where I remained a year as a sort of clerk in a store. Then came the Black Hawk War, and I was elected a captain of volunteers -- a success which gave me more pleasure than any I have had since. I went through the campaign, ran for the Legislature the same year (1832), and was beaten -- the only time I have ever been beaten by the people. The next and three succeeding biennial elections I was elected to the Legislature. I was not a candidate afterwards. During this legislative period I had studied law, and removed to Springfield to practice it. In 1846 I was once elected to the Lower House of Congress, but was not a candidate for re-election. From 1849-1854, both inclusive, practiced law more assiduously than ever before. Always a Whig in politics, and generally on the Whig electoral tickets, making active canvasses. I was losing interest in politics, when the repeal of the Missouri Compromise aroused me again. What I have done since then is pretty well known."

"If any personal description of me is thought desirable, it may be said, I am, in height, six feet four inches nearly; lean in flesh, weighing, on an average, one hundred and eighty pounds; dark complexion, with coarse black hair, and gray eyes. No other marks or brands recollected."

Yours very truly,

A. Lincoln

Monday, October 18, 2010

I'm Abraham Lincoln, and I approved this message.

As we approach the 150th anniversary of the election of 1860, it's natural to wonder how Lincoln would fare in the age of modern politics. One can only imagine how the great man, who preferred using reason rather than emotion to persuade voters, would have navigated the current political landscape. Can you imagine him using focus groups, taking polls, and running attack ads? Just picture it-Lincoln, after implying that his opponent didn't pay Social Security taxes on a nanny that was here illegally, sent racy text messages to a young campaign staffer,  and was in the pockets of teacher's unions, ends the ad with the words "I'm Abraham Lincoln, and I approved this message," spoken in a sharp, Kentucky backwoodsman twang that would grate on the ears of voters today like fingernails going down a chalkboard.

It's interesting to consider how Lincoln would fare in today's political climate, but to some extent it's a naive exercise, as he created key elements of it. For example, image-making is perhaps the most important component of modern politics, and Lincoln was a shrewd practitioner of the craft. Indeed, by allowing his people to market him not as an established railroad attorney, but the "rail splitter" during the election of 1860, Lincoln sent a clear message to the voters- that he was not afraid to role up his sleeves and confront the issues then tearing at the fabric of American democracy.

Perhaps Lincoln's greatest contribution to the practice of political image-making was his pioneering use of visual imagery. For example,  he was the first president to make extensive use of photography, using that medium to portray himself as a resolute commander-in-chief during the dark days of the Civil War. Indeed, when looking at the picture of steely resolve above, one gains a new appreciation for the cliche "the medium is the message," and voters got the message-that Lincoln meant to win the war, preserve the Union, and bear witness to a "new birth of freedom," loud and clear.


Friday, September 24, 2010

Brandywine reflections

I recently visited Brandywine Battlefield State Park while doing some research for an article I wrote about the Revolutionary War. I had not been there since I was a small child, and I didn't have any clear  memories of the place. Just some fleeting impressions of running through tall grass, games of badminton, and images of children playing in dappled sunlight beneath a stand of trees on a lost summer's day.

Of course, the paucity of my recollection should come as no surprise, as the mind's eye is limited in terms of the visual impressions it can conjure from childhood. However, mental images of relatively poor quality are typical not just of early childhood memories, but usually memories in general. As evidence of the relatively weak powers of visual memory, one need only compare its faded stores, faintly traced in the mind's eye by withering neural pathways, to the limpidness of perception in the here and now.

While the clarity of perception stands in contrast to the haziness of visual memory, under certain circumstances, there is something of a subjective fusion between the realms of remembering and perceiving, and the two psychological domains, normally so distinct to us, are bridged by a point of contact provided by sensory impressions. A common example of this can be found when looking at your reflection in the water; the image, usually soft and blurred, is not a faded memory trace, but an immediate sensory impression gathered by your eyes. And yet, the reflection seems to resemble not a perception, but a memory, with many of the hazy impressions that characterize the mind's attempt to travel backwards in the 4th dimension.



I cannot count among my remembrances of childhood visits to Brandywine Battlefield any memories of looking at my reflection in the Brandywine River. I seem to have dull impressions of rocks and rushing black water, but the haze of childhood anamnesis makes it difficult to know if these are memories of the Brandywine or someplace else. At any rate, at that age the appearance of one's reflection in the water likely creates nothing more than a whirling eddy of curiosity in a child's stream of consciousness.

I imagine, however, that for many of the American and British soldiers, scouting the banks of the river on a hot day in September of 1777, seeing their reflection in the water produced a deeper experience. They were, no doubt, acutely aware of their own mortality, and I wonder how many of them, when they stopped along the banks of the Brandywine for a drink, paused when they saw their dull image in the glassy surface of the water. They must have wondered if they would soon cross a threshold from the realm of the living to that of the remembered, where all of us will reside one day as faded sketches, until these too are washed  away by the inexorable river of time.








Sunday, August 8, 2010

The life of Ben- change

It goes without saying that change is a part of life...

Sometimes change is thrust upon us, even if we didn't want it. And sometimes it forces us to live in ways we wouldn't choose to live. This kind of change, whether it be for better or worse, is beyond our control, and treats us like inanimate objects, buffeted about like dead leaves by the gales of fortune. 

Though change is sometimes forced upon us, there is another kind of change. There is change that we choose. We can choose to change many things about our lives. We can even choose change ourselves. Indeed, if , as some suggest, life is a play in a series of acts, are we not free to change character, costume, careers, or anything else, as we run the gamut from the opening to the drawing of the curtain?

On the world stage, few have been as adept at changing themselves as  Ben Franklin- the young man who left Boston and came to Philadelphia with only a few pennies in his pocket; the entrepreneur turned scientist who sold his business to investigate the wonders of electricity; the loyal subject of the English Crown who became a statesman and helped found a nation.

Indeed, Franklin's life reads as a virtual case study in how to reinvent oneself. Throughout his long and productive life, he did so time and time again. He was able to do this at least in part because he possessed a wide array of talents, but there was another crucial element in his self-actualization. Courage. He wasn't afraid to try new things. He didn't run from life. He started new businesses when there was certainly no guarantee of success. He began experimenting with electricity when the greatest minds in Europe had failed to understand its fundamental properties. And he signed a document of rebellion against the King of England knowing that if the revolution failed, he would be hanged and remembered not as a statesman and founding father, but a traitor.

So, no matter which way the winds of fortune may blow, don't be afraid to change yourself. Instead, fear the stagnation that comes with a safe and unchanging life, for as Poor Richard once noted, "When you're finished changing, you're finished."

Never stop reinventing yourself. Just one of the many things you can learn by studying the life of Ben.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

The life of Ben-networking

I don't know about you, but I was always kind of embarrassed by the idea of networking. It seems like such a shameless and vain attempt at self-promotion. But then I learned a bit of wisdom by studying the life of Ben.

Franklin was a social, indeed gregarious man. He had many friends, and they were from all walks of life. For example, his philosophical discussion group the Junto consisted of cabinet makers, clerks, and cobblers.

According to Wikipedia, the Junto was rooted in the concept of "mutual improvement." Its members were expected to exchange information about politics, morality, philosophy, and business management.

Great things came from the Junto. This group later became the American Philosophical Society. The statue of Franklin shown above adorns the building that houses that great organization.

As Franklin showed through the creation of the Junto, networking doesn't just have to be about self-promotion. It can also be used to promote the common good. It can be used to promote friends, their ideas, and the things you care about.

Learning about Franklin and the Junto made me realize that I had networking all wrong. It's not just about me. It's about the things and people I believe in.

Networking for the common good. One of the many things you can learn by studying the life of Ben.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

The crimes, follies, and misfortunes of Chester County - John Harper vs. a sow pig

A lawyer friend of mine once told me the law is not about seeking truth. It is, quite simply, a set of rules and procedures for resolving disputes. The truth may or may not emerge.

My friend was right. A day in court may or may not get to the bottom of what happened. But court cases have truth value in another way- their records preserve important details about people and the times in which they lived. 

This is clearly true of a case heard by West Chester justice of the peace John Graves on May 30th, 1795. One of Graves' neighbors on Walnut Street, Jonah Garret, owned a number of "free-range" pigs. One of them, a sow, dug around the gardens of  Turk's Head Tavern. The keeper of the tavern was Mr. John Harper. Harper sought damages against Jonah Garret for the sow's unpermitted foraging.

The loss to Mr. Garret was calculated at 7 shillings. Graves had the sow assessed at 14. He ordered that the  pig be sold or slaughtered, and Mr. Harper recompensed accordingly.

John Harper, justice Graves, Jonah Garret, and the pig have long since vanished. But Walnut Street remains. I walked down it last week, imagining a time when money was counted in shillings and the pigs roamed free.

We may think the world was simpler then, but this is an illusion. The municipal problems we face today are certainly ones people in the 18th century couldn't conceive of, but the reverse is also true - I suspect there aren't many residents in the borough these days who are bothered by free-ranging hogs. Life has always been complicated, and courts have existed throughout history to settle disputes in a peaceful fashion. For the historian, they also provide a glimpse of a lost world, with all of its crimes, follies, and misfortunes.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

The crimes, follies, and misfortunes of Chester County- the arsons of the 1840's

In previous posts I have said history is something of an unsolvable mystery, and Father Time is a shadowy figure, here and then gone, always a step ahead of those who seek to solve his riddles. Unfortunately, this view seems particularly suited to the series of arsons that occurred in West Chester from August 1844 to September 1845. 

According to the book West Chester to 1865: That Elegant and Notorious Place, the first in a series of suspicious fires in the borough occurred on August 8th, 1844, when the barn of Mr. Anthony Bolmar was set ablaze. A $100 reward was offered for the arrest and conviction of the arsonist. An arrest was never made. 

The winter of 1844-1845 passed quietly, with no suspicious fires occurring in the borough. Then, on the night of Monday June 2 1845, the barn of the Black Bear Tavern was set ablaze. The Tavern was located in the center of town, and embers from the fire whirled eerily through the night sky onto the rooftops of nearby buildings, including the county courthouse and the county records building. Miraculously, firemen were able to contain the blaze, and the borough was spared a major disaster. However, residents were sufficiently spooked by the incident that on July 3rd, a town watch was established in response to "numerous attempts at incendiarism."

Unfortunately, the arsonist was undeterred- on the night of Sunday, August 31st, Enos Smedley's barn on West Gay Street was set on fire. The following Wednesday the borough burgesses posted a reward of $200 dollars for the person whose tip led to the arrest and conviction of the firebug.No arrest was made, and on September 11th, the stables of the Washington House Hotel, located in the most densely populated part of the borough, were set ablaze. Once again, the fire was contained, and the town dodged a bullet. No one was certain this was a case of arson, but the circumstances of the fire were suspicious, and the incident further frayed the nerves of already anxious borough residents.

The situation was by now reaching a fever pitch, but just when it seemed the residents could take no more, the arsons suddenly stopped. Though many were relieved the ordeal seemed to be over, an arrest was never made in the case, and there was no sense of closure for the residents. The identity of the arsonist remained  a mystery.   

While the identity of the arsonist will never be known, modern psychology and criminology allow us to make some educated guesses about the type of person who committed the crimes. According to psychologists, arsonists typically have a low IQ (between 70 and 90), and report feelings of intense anger. They turn to arson because they are unable to express their anger through appropriate channels. Many of them claim they had neglectful parents, who physically abused and humiliated them.

FBI statistics indicate that half of all arsonists are under the age of 18. Many of the remaining half are in their late 20's. Older arsonists are often motivated by profit (i.e., insurance money or putting a competitor out of business). 90% of arsonists are white males. Like the firebug of the 1840's, many of them are never caught.

Monday, June 7, 2010

The crimes, follies, and misfortunes of Chester County- the John Reed murder trials

The John Reed murder trials, which took place in 1821, offer clear support for Gibbon's wry assessment that "History..., is indeed, little more than a register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind." But not for the reasons you may think.

John Reed, an African American, had been a slave in Maryland before he came to live in Kennet Square. According to Reed, he was freed from slavery by the will of his master, and he came to Chester County around 1817 to start a new life as a free man.

On the night of December 14th, 1820, a group of men arrived at Reed's home. One of the men, Samuel G. Griffith, claimed that Reed was a runaway slave, and that Reed was his property. Reed was asked to come outside. He refused, and the men tried to force their way into his house. Reed shot Griffith as he tried to enter, and bludgeoned another man, Peter Shipley, with a club. Both men eventually died from their wounds. They had in their possession handcuffs and a length of rope.

Reed was arrested and put on trial for two counts of murder. He was acquitted in the murder of Griffith, but found guilty for the manslaughter of Peter Shipley. As punishment, Reed was sentenced to spend nine years in the Penitentiary house of Philadelphia.

Though Reed was convicted of manslaughter, the real crime in this case was slavery, the folly was putting a man on trial because he used force to protect his life and liberty, and though two men lost their lives as a result of what transpired the night of December 14th, 1820, one could argue they got what they deserved, and the real misfortune was Reed's, who ended up losing his freedom because he fought to keep it.

Friday, May 28, 2010

Father Time- The crimes, follies, and misfortunes of Chester County

The great historian Edward Gibbon once noted that "History...is, indeed, little more than a register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind." Though cynical, Gibbon's observation contains a certain kind of beauty, for the simple but all important reason that it rings true. Indeed, what would history be without the wars, the scandals, and all the unwisdom that pervades human affairs? It would be a scant tale, a short story of dull, vanilla flavored fiction, rather than the long, rambling, and scandalous record of a species too clever by half.

Though as my comments indicate, studying history has made me a bit of a cynic, to me the subject is still worth learning, not for the cliche reason that "those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it", but for the simple reason that the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind often make for a great read. You don't believe me? Read about the lives of the Roman Emperors, or the twisted tale of Henry the VIII. I guarantee you, the history is stranger than any fiction you could conjure up.

Of course, Roman rulers and English Kings didn't have a monopoly on human foibles and folly, and there has been no shortage of misbehavior right here in Chester County. Indeed, what could be more interesting than the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of the place we call home? Accordingly, I am going to go through some of the early scandals and court cases in Chester County and see what I can find. Some of the names may ring a bell, and reading about the disputes that needed to be settled would do much to illuminate the type of world early residents of the county were living in. 

Check back with you soon.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Father Time- Paleo-Indians update, and an unexpected find.

Let's begin with an update. I looked for the quartz outcrop (located northeast of the intersection of West Chester Pike and Delchester Road) the Paleo-Indians may have cut spearpoints from, but I didn't find anything. I am going to keep looking, and I will let you know if anything turns up.

My search for the soapstone quarry in Embreeville Center, which the Paleo-Indians apparently mined for bowl making material, was also unsuccessful. However, while I was there I did come across something interesting. The resting place of "Indian Hannah", described as the "Last of the Lenni Lenape in Chester County" is located on the grounds of Embreeville Center.

Hannah was born in 1730, and died in 1802. No doubt the Chester County she knew was a far cry from the one we know today. Indeed, during her lifetime, it was still common for bears to steal piglets from the pens of local farmers. I'm sure one of the problems facing residents today- the swelling deer population- would be one she wouldn't have minded having.




















I am not learned enough to know if Hannah's Lenni Lenape tribe is directly related to the Paleo-Indians who first came to this area around 16,000 years ago. But it's interesting to think that despite the passage of so many years, the Chester County Hannah knew in her youth was largely as unspoiled a wilderness as the one encountered by her ice age predecessors. Of course, things would change quite a bit during her lifetime, and even more so in the comparatively few years that have passed since her death.

I am disappointed that I didn't find the Paleo-Indian sites I was looking for, but I am glad to have discovered Hannah. In life you have to play the hand you are dealt, and take advantage of opportunities as they arise. I'm sure that's something the Paleo-Indians and the Lenni Lenape understood very well. Somethings never change.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Father Time- in the footsteps of the Paleo-Indians

If you are like me, you sometimes think about the distant past. For example, I occasionally wonder, what was the world like in prehistoric times? How did people live thousands of years ago? What kind of world did they inhabit?

Of course, those questions can never be fully answered. In our minds, the past will always remain elusive - a product not only of what we know, but what we cannot know, and which is properly considered the realm of conjecture rather than certainty. As a result, history is something of an unsolvable mystery, and Father Time will forever be a shadowy figure, here and then gone, always a step ahead of those who seek to solve his riddles.  

For me, the mystery of the past is deepened by familiarity; thus, I am usually more intrigued by things that happened in places I have been than I am by events that took place in a land I have never visited. Indeed, it seems as if being in a place breeds an even greater fascination with its past, or to state this more abstractly, there is something about being in a space that serves to deepen the mysteries of time.

Which brings me, in a roundabout way, to the Paleo-Indians who inhabited Chester County. I have always been interested in what they were like, and what this region was like when they inhabited it. To this end, I have been trying to locate some of the places they frequented in the area. According to the book West Chester to 1865: That Elegant and Notorious Place, the Paleo-Indians used to mine a couple of locations in Chester and Delaware counties for materials to build stone tools. For example, they may have made spearpoints out of a quartz outcrop located northeast of where West Chester Pike intersects Delchester Road, and they seem to have mined a soapstone quarry located in Embreeville Center for the purpose of creating bowls.

I am going to try and visit these locations this week and report back on what I find. Hopefully, I can get some pictures of the stone formations and post them for you to see.

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Why is it so windy today?

Click here to see a short video clip from Accuweather on why today will be so windy.  

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Mother Nature: A portrait of the painted turtle.


It seems as if spring has finally sprung. The dreary, drab grays and browns of winter have been replaced by the lush greens of spring in Pennsylvania. With life once again teeming around us, what better time to examine some of the wildlife Mother Nature has to offer in Chester County.

In this installment, let's examine one of the reptiles commonly found in this area, the painted turtle. I happened across the one seen in the photo when I went to get some sun at Broad Run Park. It was lying by the edge of a pond when I rudely interrupted its lazy bask and it had to scramble for the water.

The painted turtle, or Chrysemys picta, can actually be divided into a number of subspecies. Two of these subspecies, the eastern painted turtle and the midland painted turtle, are commonly found in Pennsylvania.

As their names suggest, the eastern painted turtle originally inhabited the eastern half of Pennsylvania, and its midland counter part was largely confined to the interior of the state. In recent years, however, the range of the midland painted turtle has expanded eastward. Where the ranges of the two subspecies now overlap, they frequently interbreed, and most of the painted turtles found in eastern Pennsylvania (including Chester County) are an intergrade of the two subspecies.

Painted turtles can be distinguished from the other turtles that inhabit Pennsylvania by their distinctive set of colorful markings. For example, their heads are marked by a myriad of stripes, which are typically yellow in younger animals and red and yellow in a mature adult.

This species displays sexual dimorphism, with females typically growing larger than males. The largest painted turtles can reach a length of around 10 inches.

Painted turtles typically prefer ponds and still water to fast moving rivers or streams. They are omnivorous, and eat amphibians, insects, duckweed and filamentous algae.

Friday, April 30, 2010

Greetings...

Hi Everyone,
This blog will focus on the history and science of Chester County Pennsylvania. Some of the topics I will cover include the early history of Chester County, Chester County during the Revolutionary and Civil War periods, and the geology, natural history, and wildlife of this area. I plan on posting 2 or 3 times a week. Please visit often!
Thanks,
Joe